The New York Giants face a much easier schedule in head coach John Harbaugh’s first season, unlike last year’s minefield that only resulted in four wins, including two late-season ones in games that didn’t matter.
The Giants, who have the 16th-easiest schedule according to the “strength of schedule” (SOS) metric, also have the third-hardest schedule among NFC East teams (Dallas, Washington, and Philadelphia), with the Commanders right behind New York in the SOS metric.
While on the surface that doesn’t appear to be a break for Big Blue, the optimism that has followed Harbaugh in the door has many people overlooking any scheduling challenges and breaks the Giants might have.
So now that the schedule has been out for a couple of days, let’s dive into the good, the bad, and the ugly of the order.
The Good: Early Season Soft Spot
Weeks 3 through 6–Tennessee, Arizona, Washington, and New Orleans–represent the easiest part of the Giants’ schedule based on, again, the strength of schedule aspect, with an average won-loss percentage of .250.
Granted, none of the opponents are the same as last year, but there are significant questions about each of the four.
The Titans have a new coaching staff, led by former Jets head coach Robert Saleh, and a second-year quarterback, Cam Ward, who is coming off a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder suffered in Week 18. Although he didn’t need surgery, how much will he be limited throughout the spring when he has to learn to run Titans offensive coordinator Brian Daboll’s complex system?
Washington, meanwhile, has new offensive and defensive coordinators, David Blough taking over on offense for Kliff Kingsbury, and Daronte Jones for Joe Whitt, Jr. With those changes came other changes to the assistants on each side of the ball.
Arizona doesn’t have a long-term quarterback in place, having parted with Kyle Murray this past offseason. They appear to be leaning toward running with veteran journeyman Jacoby Brissette.
And the Saints, who appear to have found their franchise quarterback in Tyler Shough, lost some quality depth on both sides of the ball as they reshaped their franchise.
Is a four-game win streak, which would be the first time the Giants have pulled that off since their 2022 season (Weeks 4-7), possible? It sure looks like it could be if things fall into place.
The Great: Bye Week Placement
Over the last three seasons, the Giants have been on the short end of the bye-week stick, as the league has given them a late-season break. That is not the case this year, however,r as the Giants get their bye in Week 8, the middle of the season and right before they begin the more challenging part of their schedule.
As noted above, the Giants have a real chance of entering the bye with a 5-2 record if they take care of business in Weeks 3-6 and split their first two games of the season. And after having seen the Giants be knocked out of any meaningful football by Halloween, how nice of a change would that scenario be?
The Bad: Two Primetime Games to Start
The league wasted no time in capitalizing on the excitement that Harbaugh’s arrival has generated. The Giants will have two of their four scheduled prime time games right out of the chute, the first of which is a Sunday night contest against–who else?–Dallas.
The second one landed in the nation’s second-largest media market, Los Angeles, where the Giants and Rams will be the only NFL show on the docket that day in a Monday night clash.
For whatever reason, primetime games just haven’t been good for the Giants. Since 2020, Big Blue is 1-5 in Sunday night games, having been outscored 125-51.
Monday night hasn’t been much better. Again, since 2020, the Giants are 3-17 in primetime Monday night games and have been outscored 473-304.
That said, the hope is that the Giants split those first two games.
Their best chance should come against Dallas, as between the excitement and newness of the Harbaugh era getting underway and the emotions expected to accompany tributes to the 25th anniversary of 9/11, the Giants will hopefully come out ready to roll over their division rivals.
The Ugly: Weeks 16-18
It’s not always about how one starts the season so much as it’s all about how they finish it, and the Giants have their work cut out for them in the last three weeks of the season.
In Week 16, the Giants are scheduled to play a Monday night game on the road against Detroit, which automatically sets up for a short work week.
They then have to turn it around a few days later to head back on the road to face the Cowboys, where they haven’t won a game since 2016.
If that’s not bad enough, there is also the uncertainty of when their Week 18 regular-season finale (at home) against the Eagles will be played.
If there are postseason implications on the line by then, the Giants-Eagles game could be tapped to fall on Saturday, which would make for yet another short work week for Big Blue.
That all amounts to quite a demand if, again, the Giants are in the thick of the hunt for a postseason berth, but on the flipside, it will provide a really good insight into just how tough the Giants’ mettle is if they do indeed have something to fight for at that point in the year.
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