The 2016 schedule was released on Thursday night and early predictions hit the Internet shortly thereafter.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano released his game-by-game projections for the New York Giants and the G-Men make a paltry two-game improvement. That record has them missing the playoffs for a fifth-straight season.
The Giants open their season in Jerry World against the Dallas Cowboys. They’ve faced Dallas in the season opener three times in the past four years. New York will face a healthy Tony Romo; the Giants are 1-6 against Romo in the past four years. Graziano has them going 0-1 to start the season once again.
Graziano has the Giants splitting each game with their division opponents. “Even though it hasn’t been working out this way for the Giants, I’m sticking to my tradition of giving them wins in their home division games and losses in the road ones. If you have a better idea for how to pick a game like this nine months out, I’m all ears.”
In another game of note, the Giants will play the New Orleans Saints in a rematch of last season’s 52-49 TD-fest ending in a game-losing penalty and field goal. Eli Manning threw six touchdowns only to be one-upped by Drew Brees who threw seven. Graziano has the Giants winning this contest at home avoiding an 0-2 start for the fourth straight season.
It’s difficult to argue with any of Graziano’s predictions, especially 4+ months away from the season opener. Graziano does have the Baltimore Ravens coming to MetLife Stadium and beating the Giants. The Ravens finished 5-11 last season, but that was without Joe Flacco or Justin Forsett for a sizeable number of games. That game could be a tight one that the Giants end up pulling out at home.
The Giants win the games they are supposed to win in Graziano’s scenario. The Browns, Rams Lions and Bears on paper should be wins, but there’s some uncertainty at quarterback for two of those games.
If the Los Angeles Rams are starting a rookie quarterback, which is looking more likely to be the case, the Giants overhauled defense should be able to get the best of either Carson Wentz or Jared Goff in what would be at most his seventh game.
The Cleveland Browns may also be starting a rookie, but the Giants may have to deal with Robert Griffin III who has given them fits in the past. RGIII is an unknown entity at this point and may not be on the field, but adds a question mark to that Week 12 matchup.
Missing the playoffs isn’t what Jerry Reese had in mind when he spend over $200 million in the offseason, but at this point, it’s tough to find more games the Giants could put in the W column.
How do you have the Giants finishing 2016?