This Sunday marks the eighth all-time meeting between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans.
While Dallas has more deep-seated rivalries with fellow NFC East teams and other longtime foes, Texas' passion for football has made this in-state conflict a fun one from the start.
Let's look back on the last 24 years ahead of this showdown in Week 4 of the 2026 NFL season.
Dallas Cowboys lead Houston Texans 4-3 in all-time series
Houston waited six years to get NFL football back after the Oilers became the Tennessee Titans in 1997. For the opening of Reliant Stadium and the expansion franchise's first game in 2002, the league went with a very predictable choice of opponent: the Dallas Cowboys.
We'll get to the outcome of that inaugural meeting shortly.
Hooking up about every four years, the Cowboys and Texans have traded shots to a nearly even all-time record. The close nature of the series is best shown in their 2014 and 2018 matchups: both games went to overtime, with Dallas winning the first and Houston taking the other.
Coincidentally, both Texans teams have been marked by decades of disappointments. Neither has reached their conference's championship game since the Texans were founded, and Dallas' drought goes back even futher: to 1995.
Regardless of how up or down either team is in a given season, their games tend to be hard-fought and tense. They also meet often in the preseason, generally after the Cowboys return home from Oxnard, CA.
The rivalry always adds a little extra sizzle to those August games, and Houston leads that series 4-3.
Hopefully, the Cowboys can increase their all-time lead over the Texans in real games this Sunday, though. They're 1-2 all-time in games played in Houston, with their only win coming in 2010. That was Wade Phillips' only victory that season before getting fired that November.
Signature Moment: Texans shock Cowboys in first franchise game
Let's go back to the first-ever matchup. Again, this was the Texans' regular-season debut and the first game played at Reliant Stadium, which they still call home.
While the Cowboys were still America's Team and brought plenty of eyes to the big event, these were dark times in franchise history. Dallas was coming off two straight 5-11 seasons under Dave Campo and enduring the death of its 90s dynasty.
Emmitt Smith, Larry Allen, and Darren Woodson were still hanging on, but the team was being rebuilt poorly by Jerry Jones. Still, few expected what happened in that 2002 season opener.
The Texans became only the second expansion team in NFL history to win its first regular-season game, stunning Dallas 19-10. Rookie QB David Carr threw two touchdowns, compared to none for Dallas' Quincy Carter, in what was a generally ugly game.
This surprising result set a tone for the rest of the series, and left a big mark on the Cowboys. It was another huge embrassment for Jerry Jones, who fired Campo at the end of the year and made a franchise-changing decision to bring in Bill Parcells in 2003.
Last Time Around: Joe Mixon pummels Cowboys defense in 2024
Yep, Houston also won the most recent game in the series. It was another low in a bad overall year for the Cowboys, which would prove to be Mike McCarthy's last as head coach in Dallas. The Texans, led by running back Joe Mixon's 109 yards and three touchdowns, torched Dallas 34-10.
The Cowboys were 3-6 going into the game, and Dak Prescott was out with a leg injury. Cooper Rush threw for 354 yards, but the offense couldn't finish drives with points.
This one-sided defeat was one of the clearest signs that year that both McCarthy and defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer needed to go, leading to a regime change the following offseason.
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