It’s Week 1, 2026, and the unbelievable just happened: our Seattle Seahawks, the *defending Super Bowl champions*, fell to the Dallas Cowboys with a final score of 17-7. Talk about a gut punch to kick off the season. This isn’t just any loss; it’s a statement right out of the gate for the Emerald City’s heroes.
Wait, So We Lost To *Those* Cowboys?
Yeah, you read that right. The same Dallas Cowboys that a top-tier advanced computer model, one that simulates every NFL game 10,000 times, is actively telling folks to *shy away from* in their Week 1 survivor pools. This model, up well over $7,000 for $100 players on top-rated NFL picks since it started, gave our Hawks a hard dose of reality. The Cowboys, who finished 2025 with a 7-9-1 record and then lost four of their last five games to miss the postseason, just handed us a 17-7 defeat. They were only -143 favorites on the money line against the Giants, for crying out loud, and the model actually favors the Giants to win in 49% of simulations for their Week 1 matchup. Dak Prescott, in his 11th season, is coming off a 4,552 yard, 30 TD, 10 INT year, but their overall team form last season was… questionable. Meanwhile, the New York Giants, who went 4-13 last season, brought in former Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh and have QB Jaxson Dart hoping to build on his 2,272 yards, 15 TDs, and 5 INTs. It just makes our opening day loss sting even more knowing what the experts think about *them*.
Early Season Jitters Across the League
Our game wasn’t the only divisional matchup getting people fired up or nervous. Week 1 is always wild because there’s no in-season data to lean on. We saw other rivalry games like 49ers vs. Rams (-3.5), Packers vs. Vikings (+1.5), Commanders vs. Eagles (-4.5), Cowboys vs. Giants (+2.5), and Broncos vs. Chiefs (-2.5). The biggest spread of the week was Cardinals vs. Chargers (-10.5). And speaking of the Chiefs, remember them? They’re looking to rebound after missing the postseason for the first time in 10 years, falling to 6-11 in 2025 after making three straight Super Bowls and winning two. They’ve been there, done that, and now they’re trying to climb back. Our Hawks, on the other hand, are starting from a very different position this year. This early season shocker against the Cowboys sets a tone, and it’s not the one any of us in the 12s were hoping for as defending champs.
What does this mean for our Super Bowl champion Seahawks? It means every single game now has an extra layer of urgency. We just opened the season with a loss to a team that a top model is telling people to avoid in survivor pools. It’s a wake-up call, plain and simple. The season is long, but starting 0-1, especially at home to a team with a sub-.500 record last year, puts pressure on Mike Macdonald and the entire squad right away. We know this team has heart, we know they’re champions, and now they’ve got to prove it all over again, starting with Week 2. Get ready, Seattle, because this season just got a whole lot more interesting, and we’ll be watching every snap.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by CBS Sports.
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