The New York Giants facing off against the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots in Week 1 is a real possibility.
We could see a rematch of Super Bowls 42 and 46 come Week 1 of the 2019 NFL season.
According to John Ourand of the Sports Business Journal, the NFL could have the New York Giants face the New England Patriots Week 1. It also very well could be the Sunday Night Football game on NBC.
This, instead of the usual Thursday night game for defending Super Bowl champions. In honor of the NFL’s 100th season, the league is leaning towards putting the Packers and Bears on the Thursday night game instead. The Packers and Bears hold the longest and oldest rivalry in NFL history.
This would make it the first time since 2003 that the defending Super Bowl champions wouldn’t play Thursday night Week 1. The Patriots would thus host the Sunday night game. Possible opponents include the Browns, the Chiefs, the Steelers, and yes, the Giants.
“My guess is that the NFL picks the Giants over the Steelers because the NFC’s schedule is much stronger than the AFC’s this year, and the league will want to save AFC games for later in the season,” writes Ourand. “The NFL seems likely to want to schedule the high-profile Patriots-Chiefs game for later in the season. While the Browns and their quarterback Baker Mayfield may be exciting, the NFL could decide that the franchise has not earned such a high-profile scheduling position.”
The Giants and Pats would make sense for a primetime matchup. Although Big Blue has struggled in recent years, they’re still a big market for night games, being that it’s New York and they have big-name players including Odell Beckham Jr., Saquon Barkley and Eli Manning.
Big Blue has also played on Sunday Night Football during Week 1 numerous times in recent years. They played in that time slot in Week 1 in 2006, 2007, 2013, 2015 and then again in 2017. Four of those were against their NFC East rival, the Dallas Cowboys.
The NFL has yet to finalize the schedule, which is typically released in April.
