It’s only the middle of May. But the fireworks have already started.
With nearly four months to go before the Cowboys and Giants kick off their 2026 regular-season schedules against one another at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 13, the smack talk has gotten a rather early start, at least for Big Blue.
The Giants on Monday held their annual Town Hall, where some of the team’s coaches, current players, past legends, and front office executives gather with fans for an event that’s part state-of-the-franchise press conference, part preseason pep rally.
New head coach John Harbaugh leaned heavily into the latter at one point, providing the first bit of bulletin-board material for the Cowboys well in advance of their Week 1 Sunday night showdown.
As a fan started a question about the Giants’ rivals across the NFC East, a “Cowboys suck” chant broke out within the Manhattan theater, with Harbaugh smiling and pumping his fist in time with the crowd.
The question continued, with the fan bemoaning the fact that, especially of late, “they just kick our butts.”
It’s a spot-on assessment. The Cowboys have won 16 of the last 18 meetings between the two clubs, with the only two Giants victories coming in meaningless Week 18 matchups (to end the 2020 and 2025 seasons). The Giants’ recent head-to-head marks against the Eagles and Commanders haven’t been much better.
“How confident are you, Coach,” the fan went on, “that going into this season, we’ll go into those Dallas games, those Eagles games, and those Commanders games, and we’ll take them down?”
An iconic moment for John Harbaugh at Giants Town Hall pic.twitter.com/kAJizJsVum
— Art Stapleton (@art_stapleton) May 18, 2026
The 14th-winningest head coach in NFL history wasted no time working the crowd into a lather with his response.
“I’ll be nice and politically correct,” Harbaugh said with a smile. “I could care less about what’s happened last year, or the year before that, or ten years before that. Honestly, I don’t give a crap about any of it. Not one bit. All I care about is tomorrow’s practice. Because if tomorrow’s practice is the way it’s supposed to be, that’ll be one more step in the direction of being a good enough football team to kick the Cowboys’ ass.”
Harbaugh pretty clearly implied that his squad is not there yet, pointing out, “We’ve got to make ourselves good enough to do that.”
But by then, the audience had already exploded into wild cheers at the coach’s swagger.
Time will tell if Harbaugh has the Giants players looking like a different opponent than the one the Cowboys have grown used to seeing.
But he already has the Giants fans ready to go with a new outlook.
Todd is on X at @ToddBrock24f7. Also, follow Cowboys Wire on Facebook to join in on the conversation with fellow fans!
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Giants HC John Harbaugh starts Cowboys trash talk well ahead of Week 1
