The New York Giants schedule was released last night. The Giants have one of the toughest schedules in the NFL this season. The schedule features three prime time games and a slew of divisional matchups in a row. Here are my top three takeaways from the 2020 schedule:
Week One Monday Night Football
It is going to be a long opening weekend for Giants fans. The team will not play on kickoff Sunday. New York will have to wait until Monday night to play its first game of the season, matching up at home with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Fans are used to watching prime time games in week one. But those games are usually on Sunday night against Dallas. It will be a nice change of pace this season, facing an AFC opponent in week one. But I have to admit, I am not looking forward to waiting an extra day to watch my Giants play in 2020.
No Sunday Night Football
Giants fans have grown accustomed to the Sunday night battles against Dallas in recent years. But this year, there will be no such game. The Giants do not have a single game scheduled on Sunday night in 2020. It is possible that some games could get flexed to prime time, but as things currently stand, the Giants will play two Monday night games and on Thursday night game.
One game that I am surprised not to see placed on prime time is the matchup with the Cleveland Browns. The Giants will host the Browns in Week 15. This game, though, will be played at 1 p.m. Considering the obviously dramatic storylines heading in, I am surprised it is not a prime time matchup. Odell Beckham Jr. will make his way back to MetLife Stadium for his revenge game against the Giants. It will be an exciting matchup, and it would have made a lot of sense to schedule it for prime time.
Many Potential Playoff Teams
The Giants have an extremely tough schedule in 2020. They face a number of teams that could contend for playoff spots. The Giants start the season with five tough matchups in a row. The Steelers and Bears, depending on how their divisions play out and what the Wild Card seeding looks like, are both potential playoff contenders.
The Giants then face the last two Super Bowl losers in back to back weeks. The 49ers are fresh off of a Super Bowl-losing season in 2019 and the Rams were in the Super Bowl as recently as 2018.
The schedule then gets, arguably, even more difficult. Five of the Giants’ next six opponents are division rivals. The only break from the division comes in week eight against the new and improved Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That key Monday night matchup will see the Giants host Tom Brady and the Bucs on prime time.
On top of all these great teams, the Giants also have to face a few more playoff contenders in their final stretch of games. The Giants will host the Cardinals, a team that could break out this year. They also have to travel to Seattle and face the Super Bowl contending Seahawks with Russell Wilson. New York even has the privilege of playing the best team from the 2019 regular season, the Baltimore Ravens, on the road in Week 16.
The most winnable games for the Giants will be against the Redskins (twice) and the Bengals. But, really, there are no gimmes on this schedule. It will be a tough season for the Giants, but hopefully, with this new and improved roster, plus a new and excellent coaching staff, the Giants could surprise some people and win more games than expected.