3. Week 3 vs Dallas
This is a tremendous early season showcase game. Under the New York primetime lights, in one of football’s biggest rivalry games, this offers a huge chance for Jones to show the quarterback he is. In his three-year career, Jones is 0-8 in primetime games. He would make quite the statement if he could end that streak in this game.
The Cowboys are still the favorites and considered as the class of the NFC East. Despite losing Randy Gregory, Amari Cooper and Cedrick Wilson this offseason, the Cowboys will still bring a team littered with stars to New York. This game will be a measuring stick as to how close the Giants are to competing and will be the first chance for the young Giants to feel what it is like to play on one of the biggest stages in football.
Jones is just 1-5 against the Cowboys in his career and has never beaten Dak Prescott. If you want to be the quarterback of the New York Football Giants, and win the division, you have to beat the Cowboys every year. Jones would send a strong message to the league if he can pull off this early season upset.
2. Week 12 at Dallas
The last time the Giants played on Thanksgiving Day was five years ago, and there’s no better showcase opportunity than turkey day, the football holiday. Last Thanksgiving, the Las Vegas Raiders traveled to Dallas to take on the Cowboys, and beat them 36-33 in a thrilling overtime game. CBS reported that 38.53 million viewers were tuned into the game.
Since New York is the No. 1 media market in the world, there is real potential for the NY Giants taking on the Cowboys, who are proclaimed “America’s Team,” to get at least as many viewers as last season’s turkey day Raiders game.
Most people outside of New York believe Jones was a major draft bust, and there’s no better way for Jones to debunk that narrative than have a great game in front of around 40 million viewers, around 12 percent of the entire population of the United States.