The New York Giants were almost handed an unwanted 33-year first in the release of the NFL schedule - but fortunately leaks proved to be just wide of the mark.
Throughout this week, various matches for the 2023 regular season have been announced. The full schedule was released on Thursday, but there were some games that were announced beforehand.
For starters, the NFL International Series was officially announced on Wednesday, which will see two matches played in Frankfurt, Germany, while there will be three in London. The Jacksonville Jaguars will become the first NFL team to play overseas matches in one season when they travel to England in October.
Some other high profile games include a new first for the NFL which will see matches played on Black Friday for the first time. And after Thursday evening’s announcement, the full schedule for all 32 NFL teams are now known.
However, the Giants may not be too happy with the schedule they have been presented with. Their regular season will see them play seven of their first 11 games on the road and away from MetLife Stadium.
Reports of the schedule initially claimed that they would be away for seven of their first ten games, which would have been the first time that had happened in 33 years, since the bye-week was brought in back in 1990. The NFL have never had a team play seven of their first 10 weeks of the season, never mind seven in the first 10 games away from home.
The Giants will start the season with a home opener against the Dallas Cowboys. After that they will have an away double-header in Weeks Two and Three with matches against the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers.
This is then followed by another away double-header in Weeks Five and Six against the Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills. Then the Giants will have three away matches on the spin in Weeks Nine, Ten and Eleven when they go to the Las Vegas Raiders, the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Commanders. They get their bye in Week 13.
The Giants are also scheduled to play in five primetime games across the season, with four of them coming within the first five weeks of the season. One game still to be decided in terms of date is their home game against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Head coach Brian Daboll will hope that the Giants will have an improved season compared to last year. The 2022 season saw the Giants have a record of 9-7-1, and managed to reach the NFC Divisional Round of the Play-Offs before losing to the Eagles in January.
