The Dallas Cowboys have a problem with the Arizona Cardinals, spanning the course of 20 years and 10 matchups. A few teams have had the Cowboys’ number over that same time period, but none have a hold over Jerry Jones’ organization quite like the Cardinals. 

The Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers are the prime examples of giving the Cowboys a tough time recently, but Dallas has won three games over the Packers and five over the 49ers in the last 20 seasons. Despite being the more consistent team over the past two decades, the Cowboys have rarely been able to solve the Cardinals’ riddle. 

In the last 20 years, the Cowboys are just 2-8 against their former NFC East opponents. The unbelievable facts during that time span include:

• Cowboys are 0-4 vs the Cardinals at AT&T Stadium, they haven’t won at home against Arizona since 2006 when they were still playing at the old Texas Stadium.

• Arizona has the most road wins against the Cowboys from any team outside the division, and they only trail the New York Giants and Washington Commanders, by just one win, in total road victories against Dallas.

• The Cardinals have a four-game winning streak against the Cowboys but haven’t had a winning record in any of those four seasons with an overall record of 19-48.

• In just two of those eight wins, the Cardinals had a winning record that year.

• Two overtime losses.

The Cowboys are in a spot during the current season where they cannot afford a loss to a subpar team. After being beaten by the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who were playing an undrafted rookie free agent quarterback, the Cowboys used up their bad loss for the year. Brian Schottenheimer’s team is at the stretch of their season where they need to stack wins, not get embarrassed by the 2-5 Cardinals.

However, it won’t be a walkover for the Cowboys. The Cardinals were competitive in a road defeat to the 49ers and beat the Los Angeles Rams two weeks ago. And with a losing record themselves, the Cowboys are in no position to take any team lightly.

It’s been a wild 20 years of matchups between the two teams, with the Cardinals inexplicably getting the better of the Cowboys. That’s a trend that cannot continue if the Cowboys want to compete for a postseason berth in 2026; they cannot be humiliated by the Cardinals, again. The franchise desperately needs their first home win against Arizona at AT&T Stadium.

Dallas needs to have an answer for the Cardinals' test in Week 8.