7 takeaways from the Giants’ 2026 NFL schedule

The Giants get primetime games in Week 1 (Sunday Night Football) and Week 2 (Monday Night Football on the road vs. the Los Angeles Rams).

They get four primetime games in all. The others are:

• Week 10: Nov. 12 vs. Commanders (Thursday Night Football) 8:15 p.m.
• Week 16: Dec. 28 at Lions (Monday Night Football) 8:15 p.m.

The Giants and primetime games have not always gotten along very well. Let’s see if that changes with Harbaugh at the helm.

A gauntlet to end the season

Is this the NFL schedule-makers idea of a cruel joke? The Giants finish the season as follows:

• Week 16: Dec. 28— Giants at Detroit Lions (Monday Night Football)
• Week 17: Jan. 3 — Giants at Cowboys
• Week 18: TBD— Giants vs. Eagles

The Lions missed the playoffs a year ago when they finished 9-8. In 2024, though, Detroit was 15-2. The Lions will probably be good, and this figures to be a massive game with playoff implications — provided the Giants have held up their end of the bargain.

Finishing with back-to-back NFC East games at Dallas and then home to end the regular season against the Philadelphia Eagles is an entirely predictable scenario for the NFL to set up.

How interesting would a Week 18 game against the Eagles be if it was a winner-take-all scenario with a playoff berth on the line? Making the playoffs by knocking the Eagles out would be a fantastic ending to the regular season. Of course, watching the Eagles send the Giants home for the offseason — and having their fans rub it in at MetLife — would be miserable.

For what it’s worth, here is a season-ending scenario for you to ponder. What if the Giants are 8-6 entering that final three-game stretch? That, by the way, is something I believe to be possible.

No wins in that stretch they have a losing season and almost certainly miss the playoffs.

One win, they finish 9-8 and might have a chance to sneak into the playoffs based on tiebreakers.

Two wins, they finish with their first double-digit win season since 2016 and almost certainly make the playoffs.

No holiday games!

Hooray!!

The Giants don’t play on Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s Day. Selfishly, that means no planning holiday meals around work. Of course, I will guess that a year from now the Giants pay for that.

No international games

All 17 Giants games will be on U.S. soil. That means that in an unbalanced 17-game schedule the Giants get nine games at MetLife Stadium. The big, gray airport-hangar looking building has not exactly provided a home field advantage in recent seasons. Can the Giants change that this year?

Danny Dimes’ revenge game

This had to happen eventually. The Giants will face former quarterback Daniel Jones for the first time when they travel to face the Indianapolis Colts in Week 12. The Giants are a much different team than they were when Jones was the quarterback, and Daboll is gone, but you know he will want to play well in this spot.

Jaxson Dart, Cam Skattebo revenge game

The Giants faced the New Orleans Saints last season in the second start of Dart’s NFL career. It is a game the Giants should have won, except for the fact that they turned the ball over a ridiculous five straight times while losing 26-14. Dart threw two interceptions and lost a fumble, and Skattebo lost a fumble.

The Giants led that game 14-3 before the turnover-fest began. The game marked one of five the Giants lost last season after building a double-digit lead.

This may not seem like the most important game on the Giants’ schedule, but I am guessing it is one Dart and Skattebo will have circled.