The start of the 2022 NFL season is just over two months away and the 2022 NY Giants are poised to look significantly different than in 2021. The team has replaced the previous incompetent leaders in Joe Judge and Dave Gettleman. Now Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll are in town.
On top of that, NY has revamped the offensive line, drastically reducing the average age on the defensive side, and added a franchise pass-rusher in Kayvon Thibodeaux. Yup, the 2022 Giants are new and improved.
While there are still significant question marks at important positions on the field, like the quarterback room and the secondary, Giants fans have hope for the future after seeing the steps Daboll and Schoen have already taken this offseason and, although the stated team goal is to build a sustainable long-term franchise, it is possible that results may come quicker than expected.
One benefit of a horrible 2021 season is that the Giants will play a fourth-place schedule in 2022, getting matchups against Baltimore, Carolina and Seattle while their arch rival the Dallas Cowboys will get matchups against Cincinnati, Tampa Bay and the LA Rams.
While expectations should not get out of hand, and the goal of building for the future with the new, young team should remain the focus, with this ease of schedule it is not unreasonable that the 2022 Giants could pull off some upsets and make the playoffs for the first time since 2016. Here are four upsets the Giants could pull off this season.
4. Week 1 at Tennessee
Last season, the Tennessee Titans went 12-5 and were the No. 1 seed in the AFC before losing 19-16 to the Cincinnati Bengals in the divisional round. Last season’s Titans team was nowhere near as good as their record says they were, as they went 6-0 in the AFC South, the worst division in football (even worse than the NFC East) and, over the offseason, the Titans saw many departures including guard Rodger Saffold and wide receivers Julio Jones and AJ Brown.
With new wide receivers coming in, there will be significant growing pains and lack of chemistry between the massively overrated Ryan Tannehill, rookie Treylon Burks and veteran Robert Woods. While Derrick Henry may be the best running back in football, the trio of Leonard Williams, Dexter Lawerence and Justin Ellis on the defensive front of Wink Martindale’s 3-4 defense will be able to slow down Henry.
With Daboll and Mike Kafka likely to be aggressive in Week 1, looking to make a statement, the Giants will get their skill players involved early and often, looking, finally, like a modern offense. They’ll be ready to make the game a track meet, which the Titans won’t be able to stop. The Giants have a real chance to start the season 1-0 and be over the .500 mark for the first time since Jan. 1, 2017.