As we move closer to what we hope will be the start of the 2020 NFL season, big news came out on Thursday as the schedules for all 32 teams were released. There is a lot to point out with the New York Giants‘ schedule this season, so let’s dive right into three of the biggest takeaways.
Judge’s Prime-Time Debut
Judge will kick his NFL head coaching career off under the bright lights of his home stadium. Whether or not there will be fans in attendance to witness remains to be seen, but nonetheless, the pressure will be on right from the get-go.
The opponent won’t be so easy either, as the Giants will host a talented and hungry Pittsburgh Steelers team who just fell short of making the postseason last year. It will be a very tough test, and the Giants won’t have much room for error if they want to start the season off with a win.
The Steelers have had their hand against the Giants recently, winning 3 of the last four matchups. And, while this team has some questions marks, the return of Ben Roethlisberger combined with a good defense and one of the elite head coaches in the game in Mike Tomlin definitely will not make things easy for the Giants.
NFC East Three-Peat
The Giants won’t see any of their division rivals until Week 5 when they travel to Dallas, which is a little out of the ordinary. This marks the first time where the Giants’ first road game of the season won’t be in Dallas since 2014.
On top of that, they will be facing each of their division rivals one after the other from Weeks 5-7. After they travel to Dallas in Week 5, they come back to Jersey to host Washington and then travel to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles for some Thursday night action.
This crucial three-game stretch can either really help the Giants chances of making the playoffs or absolutely destroy them. If the Giants come away with two or more wins here, then they will be in a great position and have a firm grip on the division, but on the flip side, if they lose more than one of these games, it will become tough to overcome that even with the extra wild card team being added.
Aside from divisional games always being tough, the Cowboys, Eagles, and Redskins each got better, so none of these games will be easy. The Giants also got substantially better, so it should make for some entertaining football.
Post-Bye Brutality
The Giants’ schedule overall is very challenging. Over the first ten games of the season, 8 of those games will be against teams who won at least seven games last season, and most of them only improved over the offseason.
Things aren’t getting any easier for the Giants after the bye week as they play three more teams who won at least eight games. Two of those teams, Seattle and Baltimore, won at least 11 games and aren’t slowing down anytime soon. They also will be playing a rising Arizona Cardinals team who should be much better in the second year of Kliff Kingsbury’s offense, especially after adding Deandre Hopkins via trade.
Let’s not forget about their Week 14 reunion with an old friend when Odell Beckham Jr. and the Cleveland Browns come to MetLife, too. They’ve added some bug talents and plugged some significant holes, especially along the offensive line, so expect them to be better as well.
So, if the Giants wish to surprise people and sneak into the playoff conversation this season, the road will be anything but smooth. With the difficult schedule, the new coaching staff, the pandemic-affected offseason, and the developing roster, the Giants will undoubtedly have their work cut out for them.
We shall see how it all gloriously unfolds, and it should be very entertaining nonetheless.