Giants Announce 2021 Schedule by Michael Eisen
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Giants Announce 2021 Schedule By Michael Eisen EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Three prime time road games, including Monday night contests against Super Bowl LV participants Kansas City and Tampa Bay, and three NFC East games in the last four weeks, two at home, highlight the Giants’ 2021 schedule, which was announced today. The third night game is at Washington on Thursday night in Week 2. With the expansion of the NFL schedule, each team will play 17 games this season. The Giants will play eight home games and nine road games. Their three-game preseason includes two at home. “Once you first see the schedule you get excited,” said Joe Judge, whose initial season as the Giants’ coach ended with a 6-10 record and second place finish in the NFC East. “It starts to become real in terms of not just knowing the opponents you’re going to play, but when you’re going to play them. You start thinking about the opener, you start looking at your division games, you start mapping out the west coach trip and the longer trips on the road. You start thinking about the best way of setting up the team travel. You start looking at some of the short weeks coming off Monday night games and how you’re going to map out your practice that week.” What else does Judge look for as he studies the schedule? “The first thing you look at in terms of road games, how they all lay out – the distance of the trips, are they back-to-back, the short weeks associated with it,” Judge said. “Then you want to look and see the division opponents, when we play them. This year it’s really pushed more toward the back end for us. “You start looking for all the little details. Number one, obviously the first game, are you home or are you away. Where’s the second game? That west coast trip against the Chargers, is that after a home game or is it a back-to-back away game, as it ended up being for us. You start mapping out the best way to do it for your team. “We look at similarities in the schedule, we look at opponents with common systems, we look for things like back-to-back road games and back-to-back home games, short week turnarounds and things of that nature. We try to find as many times that we have an opportunity to tell the players, ‘This is really the same as we’ve already done.’ And show them it’s a pattern of how the week’s going to go and how we’re going to prepare.” Perhaps the most challenging segment of the schedule will be the three-game period in which they visit the Chiefs and Buccaneers in prime time. Those contests against the Super Bowl teams are separated by a home game against Las Vegas and the Giants’ bye week. “It’s obviously a challenge playing Kansas City or Tampa,” Judge said. “They’re obviously two outstanding teams, well coached, very, very talented. We knew we were going to play those teams on the road. In terms of Monday night, I really don’t think that makes the biggest difference – although it will be a great atmosphere playing in both places. But we’re excited to get going and prepare for all those teams.” The Giants will play four of their six games against NFC East opponents in the season’s final seven weeks. “For the league, I always think that’s a great thing to end the season with division games,” Judge said. “It keeps a lot of parity in what you’re doing, and it keeps a lot of competition down the stretch. I do like the way the league structures that, so you play a significant amount of your division games toward the end of the season. I think that’s something that’s very good for the competition and the parity of the league.” Judge’s second season as head coach will begin on Sunday, Sept. 12, in MetLife Stadium against the Denver Broncos at 4:25 p.m. “Denver is a good team and obviously they’re coached well,” Judge said. “They have some great systems in place. It’s definitely going to be a great challenge for us opening up against Denver. These are experienced coaches who will definitely have their team ready out of the gate. It’s going to take a lot for us to get ready. We’re going to have to have a good training camp and get ready for that opener.” The Giants will then have a short week before playing their first road game and first NFC East game against the defending division champion Washington Football Team in FedExField on Thursday night, Sept. 16 at 8:20 p.m. Is it to the Giants’ advantage to play their Thursday night game so early in the season? “It’s all how you manage those weeks,” Judge said. “You can argue sometimes that having (the Thursday night game) later in the season is more of an advantage, because your players are a little more fluid with the systems. Maybe coming off Week 1 to Week 2 that’s a little bit different. I think early in the season gives you more advantages as well. It evens itself out. It’s all based on how the teams handle it as you go into it.” On Sunday, Sept. 26 the Giants will return home to face the Atlanta Falcons at 1 p.m. That will be followed by a pair of road games – at New Orleans on Sunday, Oct. 3 at 1 p.m. and at Dallas on Oct. 10 at 4:25 p.m. The Giants will close October with their only consecutive home games of the season, hosting the Los Angeles Rams on Oct. 17 and the Carolina Panthers on Oct. 24. Kickoff for each game is scheduled for 1 p.m. The two-time defending AFC Champion and Super Bowl LIV-winning Chiefs will host the Giants in GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Monday night, Nov. 1 at 8:15 p.m. Six days later, on Sunday, Nov. 7, the Giants will be back in MetLife Stadium to host the Raiders at 1 p.m. The Giants’ annual bye will be in Week 10 (Sunday, Nov. 14). “The bye is in a good spot if you manage your team in the right way and give them an opportunity to rest up during the bye,” Judge said. “Also, work on some self-scout and make sure you take a jump coming out of the bye. Whether it’s an early bye or a late bye, it all comes down to how you manage your team throughout the season.” Following the bye, the Giants will face another daunting challenge when they will be the visitors in a Nov. 22 Monday night game against Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who defeated Kansas City in Super Bowl LV on Feb. 7. Each of the Giants’ final three home games will be against an NFC East opponent. The first will be on Sunday, Nov. 28, vs. the Philadelphia Eagles at 1 p.m. The Giants will then play four of their next five games on the road. They will begin with a pair of games at warm weather sites, visiting the Miami Dolphins on Dec. 5 at 1 p.m. and the Los Angeles Chargers on Dec. 12 at 4:05 p.m. The meeting with the Dolphins was added when the NFL approved a 17-game schedule. This year, each NFC East team will visit the AFC East team that finished in the same place in the standings in 2020. The Giants return home on Sunday, Dec. 19 to face the Dallas Cowboys at 1 p.m. That will be followed by two more road games, Dec. 26 at Philadelphia and Jan. 2 at Chicago, each with a 1 o’clock kickoff. The season will conclude with the Giants’ latest ever regular season game on Sunday, Jan. 9, against Washington at 1 p.m. Some highlights from the Giants’ 2021 schedule: *The Giants will play a franchise-record 17 regular-season games for just the second time in their 96-year history. They were 13-4 in 1930. *The Giants play back-to-back road games on three occasions: Oct. 3 and 10 at New Orleans and Dallas, Dec. 5 and 12 at Miami and the Chargers, and Dec. 26 and Jan. 2 at Philadelphia and Chicago. They play consecutive home games just once, Oct. 17 and 24 vs. the Rams and Carolina. “What it (playing consecutive road games) ends up doing is it gives you a little bit of a flow sometimes to how to get your team prepared,” Judge said. “The team gets a feel for how that week of recovery is a little bit different than it is with back-to-back home games.” *The Giants will play seven games against 2020 playoff teams: Washington twice, plus New Orleans, Tampa Bay, Chicago, the Rams and Kansas City. *With their visits to Kansas City and Tampa Bay, the Giants will play both teams from the previous Super Bowl for the first time since they faced the St. Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans in 2000 – a season in which the Giants advanced to the Super Bowl. *The Giants are 7-24 in regular-season games against defending Super Bowl champions (plus 3- 0 in the postseason).