Today was NFL schedule release day. Only the NFL can turn the release of its schedule into a Must-See TV event. We say that every year, and it never ceases to be true. As the defending Super Bowl champions, the Giants get to open the season at home in a nationally-televised Thursday night game. That game moves to Wednesday this year because of the President's speech at the Democratic National Convention, but we already knew that, and we already knew that the Cowboys were going to be the opponent. Today we found out the rest of the Giants' schedule.
Since they finished first last year, you knew that the Giants were automatically going to have a more difficult schedule in 2012 because they'll play all of the other first-place teams. That's always the case the season after you win your division (although New England somehow manages to get the easiest schedule in the league every season, even though it wins the AFC East every year). Throw in the fact that the NFC East's interconference division is the AFC North, and you've got seven games against playoff teams on the Giants' 2012 schedule. And don't forget the two games each with Dallas and Philadelphia, which officially gives the Giants the NFL's toughest schedule in 2012, based on last year's winning percentage.
Winning the Super Bowl also means you're bound to have a lot of primetime games, especially early in the season. In fact, three of the Giants' first four games are nationally televised. After their Wednesday night game against the Cowboys in Week 1, the Giants play the Panthers on a Thursday night in Week 3, then are back on NBC to play the Eagles in Week 4. I'm a little confused why Carolina is a primetime game, though. They play Pittsburgh, Baltimore, San Francisco and New Orleans this season. All of those would be better choices for a Thursday/Sunday/Monday night game. In fact, I fully expected Giants-49ers to be a Monday night game.
For those of you that haven't seen it yet, here's the Giants' 2012 schedule:
Wed. 9/5 vs. Dallas-I don't care what anybody says, the Giants-Packers game should be in Week 1. Put the last two Super Bowl champions against each other. Instead, we've got back-to-back Giants-Cowboys games at MetLife Stadium, and three straight Giants-Cowboys games on NBC. Dallas opens the season in New York for the second straight year (they opened at the Jets in 2011). Instead of having them play each other in Week 1, I would've had the Giants play the Packers and have the Giants and Cowboys meet in Dallas on Thanksgiving.
Sun. 9/16 vs. Tampa Bay-This is their only Sunday afternoon game in the month of September, and their only FOX game prior to Week 6.
Thu. 9/20 at Carolina-Again, I have no idea why this game is in primetime. With the expanded NFL Network package, every team was guaranteed a primetime game this season. But Cam Newton and Co. were going to get one anyway. The Giants have much better games than this one. Those should be in primetime instead.
Sun. 9/30 at Philadelphia-Their second appearance on NBC in the season's first four weeks. Seeing as the Giants lose in Philadelphia on NBC every year, I don't really expect that to change.
Sun. 10/7 vs. Cleveland-After playing back-to-back road games, the Giants get an easy home game. Once again, the "easy" games on the schedule are front-loaded, like they seemingly always are. (However, the Giants DID lose at home to Seattle in early October last season.)
Sun. 10/14 at San Francisco-You would've thought the NFC Championship Game rematch would be in primetime. I was all about one of those Giants-49ers Monday night classics like they had every year in the late 80s/early 90s. There's no reason this should be a run-of-the-mill Week 6 late game.
Sun. 10/21 vs. Washington-The Redskins swept the Giants last season. I'm glad I'm not the only person who's completely confused by that last statement.
Sun. 10/28 at Dallas-FOX is guaranteed to finally actually have a Giants-Cowboys game. Even though I think this game should be on Thanksgiving, I don't think scheduling it here was completely wrong. It's the doubleheader game that also serves as the lead-in to Game 4 of the World Series (which has been across the parking lot from Cowboys Stadium two years in a row).
Sun. 11/4 vs. Pittsburgh-I'm shocked that they didn't make this a primetime game, but as one of the best interconference games they were gonna get this season, CBS might've protected it. This is the start of a span where the Giants play six of seven games against playoff teams.
Sun. 11/11 at Cincinnati-The Bengals usually mix one year of being good around three or four of being, well, the Bengals. But between the Steelers and the bye week, this one's got "trap game" written all over it.
Sun. 11/25 vs. Green Bay-They've got the latest bye possible in Week 11, but that also means they've got two weeks to prepare for the Packers. As my brother-in-law pointed out to me when he saw the schedule, I "got it backwards." They open with the Cowboys and play the Packers on Thanksgiving weekend, instead of the other way around. This game could technically get flexed out of Sunday night, but it won't.
Mon. 12/3 at Washington-A Monday night game in Washington seems right. I don't care how bad the Redskins are. They've got a primetime game against each of their NFC East opponents. That's the way it should be.
Sun. 12/9 vs. New Orleans-This is the start of a brutal four-game stretch to end the season. The Giants got slaughtered on a Monday night in New Orleans last season. They aren't going to forget that. I'm curious to see if this game will still be as relevant as it is now come December. Will the Saints without Payton be like the Colts were last season without Peyton?
Sun. 12/16 at Atlanta-A rematch of last year's Wild Card Game, when the Falcons scored a grand total of TWO! points. It was the first time in playoff history that a team's only points came on a safety. In Atlanta against a Falcons team that could be closing in on a division title, I think things will probably be a little different this time.
Sun. 12/23 at Baltimore-The final road game is a tough one. Knowing how the AFC North usually plays out, the Ravens will either already have a playoff spot locked up or have a chance to clinch one in Week 16. If it's like last year and they've got a chance to wrap up the division title, that makes this game even scarier.
Sun. 12/30 vs. Philadelphia-You kind of saw this one coming. This is the third season since the NFL went to only divison games in Week 17, and they've played the Redskins and Cowboys in the finale in each of the last two seasons. It also means the Eagles will open the 2013 season at MetLife Stadium. The Giants have opened the season by playing the same team they ended the previous one against (and in the same place) three years in a row now (2009-10 vs. Carolina, 2010-11 at Washington, 2011-12 vs. Dallas).
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