The New York Giants have a brutal schedule to start the season as five of their first seven games are against teams that made the playoffs last season.
It’s a good thing that New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman was busy upgrading the roster this offseason because the Giants are tied for the eighth toughest schedule in the NFL.
They play six teams that made the playoffs last season including having to face the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles twice. Carson Wentz should be back healthy after missing the playoffs due to injury.
We’re only in May and teams will make changes to their rosters before week one, but’s it’s never too early to do game by game predictions.
Here’s our early game by game prediction for the Giants.
Week 1: Jacksonville
Tom Coughlin makes his return to MetLife stadium as Executive VP of football operations for the Jaguars, and with it, he brings the second-ranked defense from a season ago. This is a tough matchup to start the Pat Shurmur regime as the Jaguars have Super Bowl aspirations.
The game will be closer than people think but the Jaguars will come away with the victory.
Loss (0-1)
Week 2: @Dallas
The last two times the Giants have played the Cowboys with Odell Beckham Jr in the lineup they’ve won.
Barring something happening between now and week two, the Giants will have OBJ as opposed to the Cowboys who try to get accustomed to life without Dez Bryant and Jason Witten.
The Giants earn their first win of the season against their biggest rivals.
Win (1-1)
Week 3: @Texans
This will be one of the more entertaining games of week three. This game will come down to which quarterback-receiver duo makes bigger plays Eli Manning to Beckham or Deshaun Watson to DeAndre Hopkins?
We’ll go with Eli to OBJ as the Giants come out with their second win in a row in Texas.
Win (2-1)
Week 4: New Orleans
The Giants are much better than they were in 2017, but they’re still not ready to deal with the elite teams in the NFL. The Saints are one of those teams.
Drew Brees and Alvin Kamara will be too much for Big Blue.
Loss (2-2)
Week 5: @Carolina
The Giants seem to always struggle against mobile quarterbacks.
Now they face one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the league in Cam Newton. Newton will make enough plays with his arm and legs to give the Giants their second loss in a row.
Loss (2-3)
Week 6: Philadelphia
The Giants have a quick turnaround as they play the rival and reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles on a Thursday night.
This will be a huge test for the Giants revamped offensive line as they go against the dominant Eagles front seven that included Michael Bennett and Haloti Ngata in the offseason.
The Giants are not ready for the champs.
Loss (2-4)
Week 7: @Atlanta
The Giants will head to Atlanta to take on the Falcons on Monday Night Football. The addition of Calvin Ridley will help the Falcons sneak by the Giants in a high scoring affair.
Loss (2-5)
Week 8: Washington
The Giants get back to their winning ways as they pick up their first home win of the year as they head into their bye week. Expect a strong performance by the defense.
Win (3-5)
Week 9: Bye Week
Week 10: @San Francisco
The Giants don’t get the full benefit of coming off a bye as the 49ers have a semi-bye. They have 11 days off coming into this matchup.
Jimmy Garoppolo will outplay Manning in this one as the 49ers get the win.
Loss (3-6)
Week 11: Tampa Bay
The Giants will surpass their win total from last season and avoid being swept by the NFC South as they come away with a double-digit victory.
Win (4-6)
Week 12: @Philadelphia
For whatever reason, the Giants struggle in Philadelphia and haven’t won there since the 2013 season. Their woes in Philly continue as the Eagles sweep the season series.
Loss (4-7)
Week 13: Chicago
The Giants defense will clamp down on the Bears passing attack and make life miserable for quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and come away with an easy win.
Win (5-7)
Week 14: @Washington
The Redskins get revenge for their week eight loss to the Giants and avoid the season sweep.
This loss ends the chances of the Giants having a winning season.
Loss (5-8)
Week 15: Tennessee
Saquon Barkley will go over 1,000 yards for the season in this game. He would become the first Giants running back to rush for 1,000 yards since Ahmad Bradshaw in 2012.
He’ll find the end zone twice in this game as the Giants get the victory.
Win (6-8)
Week 16: @ Indianapolis
Eli Manning will finally get his first career win over the Colts as he outplays Andrew Luck as the Giants win this one by a touchdown.
Win (7-8)
Week 17: Dallas
The Giants close out the season on a high note as they sweep the season series from the Cowboys thanks to a dominant ground game spearheaded by Saquon Barkley.
Win (8-8)
The Giants will experience growing pains in the first half of the season as the defense gets accustomed to converting into a 3-4 from a 4-3.
But the Giants will come on strong in the second half of the season and finish the year at a respectable 8-8.
