The New York Giants have a new coach in Brian Daboll and are hoping to be better in 2022, and that journey will begin in Tennessee as they battle the Titans in their season opener.
New York will have two nationally-televised games against NFC East rival Dallas – one on a Monday night in MetLife Stadium, the other on Thanksgiving in Texas – an early three-game homestand and an October that includes trips to England, Florida and the West Coast highlight the Giants’ 2022 schedule, released today.
Other notable nuggets from Daboll’s first season as head coach are five division games in the final seven weeks, including four in a row from Nov. 24 to Dec. 17 or 18, and playing three of their final four games as visitors, the last their first season finale on the road since 2016.
In the second season of the NFL’s expansion to a 17-game schedule, the Giants will play nine home games for the first time since their inaugural season in 1925. They have played nine games in their home stadium six times when they were the visitors against the Jets and a game in 2005 that was moved from New Orleans to Giants Stadium because of Hurricane Katrina.
In 2022, the NFC East will play the NFC North and the AFC South. Because they finished fourth in the NFC East, the Giants will host the fourth-place team from the NFC South (the Carolina Panthers) and NFC North (the Baltimore Ravens) and visit the fourth-place team from the NFC West (the Seattle Seahawks).
The Giants begin their season against an AFC opponent for the third consecutive season and the fourth time in five years and will open on the road for the first time since 2019, when their first game was in Dallas.
The Giants can then settle in for a three-week stay at home. They will play their MetLife Stadium opener in Week 2 against the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, Sept. 18 at 1 p.m. That will be followed by the Monday night game against the Cowboys on Sept. 26 at 8:15 p.m. and a third straight game in MetLife Stadium vs. the Chicago Bears on Oct. 2 at 1 p.m. The Giants will play three consecutive home games for the first time since Nov. 6-20, 2016, when they defeated Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Chicago. As it is this year, the middle game then was on a Monday night and the final game of the homestand was against the Bears.
The rest of October will challenge the Giants with an arduous travelogue that will include three trips totaling 13,374 air miles.
The Giants will first fly to London to play their third game in the capital of the United Kingdom when they face the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, Oct. 9 in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The Packers will become the 32nd and last NFL team to play in London. Kickoff is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. eastern time. On Oct. 28, 2007, the Giants defeated the Miami Dolphins, 13-10, before 81,176 fans in Wembley Stadium in the first regular season NFL game played outside of North America. Nine years later – on Oct. 23, 2016 – the Giants edged the Los Angeles Rams, 17-10, in Twickenham Stadium.
The Giants elected not to take their bye the week following an international game and will return home to host the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, Oct. 16 at 1 p.m.
They then head back out on the road for two more games, facing the Jaguars in Jacksonville on Sunday, Oct. 23 at 1 p.m. and the Seahawks in Seattle on Sunday, Oct. 30 at 4:25 p.m.
After playing two games three weeks apart in cities separated by almost 5,000 miles – with another trip in-between – the Giants will have their bye in Week 9, which includes Sunday, Nov. 6.
The Giants return to the field with two games in MetLife Stadium, facing the Houston Texans on Sunday, Nov. 13, and the Detroit Lions on Nov. 20. Both games will be at 1 p.m.
Four days later, the Giants face the Cowboys in Dallas on Thanksgiving at 4:30 p.m., beginning a stretch of four straight games against their NFC East rivals.
They host the Washington Commanders on Sunday, Dec. 4, and the Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 11, with both games scheduled for 1 p.m.
The Giants’ final four games will include three road games, two against division foes in which dates and kickoff times will be announced later in the season.
On Saturday or Sunday, Dec. 17 or 18, they will visit the Commanders in FedExField. The Giants’ final game in calendar year 2022 will be played on Saturday, Dec. 24 at 1 p.m. against the Vikings in Minnesota.
The Giants begin the new year by hosting the Indianapolis Colts in their final home game of the season on Sunday, Jan. 1, at 1 p.m.
The 17th and final game of the season will be played on Saturday or Sunday, Jan. 7 or 8, vs. the Eagles in Philadelphia.
Some highlights from the Giants’ 2022 schedule:
*The Giants will play a franchise-record 17 regular-season games for just the third time in their 97-year history. They were 13-4 in 1930 and 4-13 in 2021.
*The Giants play six games against 2021 playoff teams: Dallas and Philadelphia twice each and once each against Green Bay and Tennessee.
*The Giants play four teams with new head coaches: Chicago (Matt Eberflus), Minnesota (Kevin O’Connell), Houston (Lovie Smith) and Jacksonville (Doug Pederson).
*The Giants play consecutive home games three times (Sept. 18-Oct. 2, Nov. 13-20 and Dec. 4-11) and consecutive road games twice (Oct 23-30 and Dec. 17 or 18 and Dec. 24).
*Eight of the Giants’ nine home games are scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. The exception is the Sept. 26 Monday night game against Dallas.
*The Giants will open the season on the road against an AFC opponent for the first time since 2001, when they lost in Denver, 31-20. Last year, they lost to the Broncos, 27-13. They also fell to Pittsburgh, 26-16, in 2020 and Jacksonville, 20-15, in 2018. All three of those games were in MetLife Stadium.
*The Giants will begin a season vs. the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans franchise for the first time since a 34-14 victory against the Oilers in Yankee Stadium on Sept. 16, 1973.
*The Week 3 Monday night contest vs. Dallas is the Giants’ only currently scheduled night game. For the fourth consecutive season, the NFL’s original schedule does not include a Sunday night game for the Giants. But their home game vs. Cleveland on Dec. 20, 2020 was flexed to Sunday night.
*The Giants face the Bears for the fifth consecutive season, the first time that’s happened since 1939-43.
*The Giants host the Ravens on Oct. 16, their first home game vs. Baltimore since 2016 – which was also played on Oct. 16. The Giants won that contest, 27-23.
*The Giants are 7-5-3 on Thanksgiving but have played on the holiday just four times since 1938. They last played on Turkey Day on Nov. 23, 2017, a 20-10 defeat in Washington. They also lost in Denver in 2009 and Dallas in 1992. The Giants’ most recent Thanksgiving Day victory was at Detroit on Nov. 25, 1982, a 13-6 triumph highlighted by Lawrence Taylor’s fourth-quarter, 97-yard interception return touchdown.
The Giants first played on Thanksgiving in 1926, their second year of existence, when they defeated the Brooklyn Lions, 17-0. After a two-year hiatus, they played a Thanksgiving Day game every season from 1929-38. They did not play again on Thanksgiving until 1982.
*The Giants have lost their last six games played on Thursday, when they are 15-13-3 overall. Their last Thursday victory was on Sept. 24, 2015 (32-21 vs. Washington). The Giants most recently won a Thursday road game on Sept. 25, 2014, a 45-14 triumph in Washington.
*The Giants ended their season at home in each of the previous five and 10 of the last 11 seasons. They were 1-4 in their most recent stretch, beating Dallas in 2020. The Giants last played their season finale as visitors on Jan. 1, 2017, a 19-10 triumph in Washington. They last ended their season vs. the Eagles in 2019 (a 34-17 loss) and last concluded a campaign in Philadelphia in 1998 (a 20-10 victory).
*This season, “flexible scheduling” for Sunday night may be used twice between Weeks 5-10, and during Weeks 11-15 and Week 17. In weeks of the season eligible for “flexible scheduling,” the games listed for the Sunday night window are tentative and subject to change. Only Sunday afternoon games are eligible to be moved to Sunday night, in which case the tentatively scheduled Sunday night game would be moved to a Sunday afternoon.
*The Giants’ preseason opponents were also revealed today. Since the increase in regular season games to 17, each team plays three preseason games. The Giants’ preseason foes (dates and times will be announced in the future):
