EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The New York Giants’ 2023 schedule was released along with the rest of the NFL slate Thursday.
The Giants start with the rival Dallas Cowboys in prime time and finish with the Philadelphia Eagles. It’s a much more difficult schedule than last year, ripe with early trips to Arizona and San Francisco, where the Giants plan to stay on the West Coast for the week.
Their success last season in the first year under coach Brian Daboll has the Giants with five prime-time games, including four in the first six weeks. And they're prime-time matchups for a reason: the Giants will face the Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks and Buffalo Bills.
Here's what's in store for the Giants:
Schedule
Sept. 10: vs. Dallas (SNF)
Sept. 17: at Arizona
Sept. 21: at San Francisco (TNF)
Oct. 2: vs. Seattle (MNF)
Oct. 8: at Miami
Oct. 15: at Buffalo (SNF)
Oct. 22: vs. Washington
Oct. 29: vs. Jets
Nov. 5: at Las Vegas
Nov. 12: at Dallas
Nov. 19: at Washington
Nov. 26: vs. New England
Dec. 3: BYE
Dec. 11: vs. Green Bay (MNF)
Dec. 17: at New Orleans
Dec. 25: at Philadelphia
Dec. 31: vs. Rams
Jan. 6/7: vs. Philadelphia
Strength of schedule: .55 (tied for fourth-toughest)
Over/Under: 8.6
Biggest takeaway
It will be imperative for the Giants to get off to a strong start, but it's not going to be easy. They don’t just have a Week 1 matchup with the team they can’t beat in the Cowboys, and an early West Coast swing, but they have four of their first six games and seven of their first 11 on the road. That includes a three-week stretch at Las Vegas, Dallas and Washington in November. The flip side is that if the Giants survive the first 10 weeks, they finish with five of their last seven at home, with the Eagles being the sole playoff team they face in that stretch.
Revenge game
For tight end Darren Waller, it’s Nov. 5 against the Las Vegas Raiders, who traded him this offseason six months after signing him to a contract extension. For the rest of the Giants, it’s on Christmas Day when they get another crack at an Eagles team that beat them by 31 in the playoffs and won all three meetings last season. Think the Giants don’t remember? Well, Daboll is reminding them.
“Yeah, got smoked in the playoffs,” the Giants coach emphasized when listing the teams' "accomplishments" earlier this year.
Put an extra star on the calendar next to Christmas Day this year.
Bold prediction
The Giants beat the Cowboys in the opener. Hey, any win over Dallas is a bold prediction these days, especially when you figure this will be the seventh time in the past 12 years they've met in the opener. The Giants have only won once. The Cowboys have won 11 of the last 12 meetings between the teams, but this is a different team under Daboll and general manager Joe Schoen.