5 most important NY Giants games for the 2024 season

The 2024 NFL schedule has finally been released, bringing us one step closer to the season and what it could look like for the NY Giants. How the schedule is set up can play a big role in how any team's year pans out, and as of right now, things are looking pretty solid for New York.

Only time will tell how things go, but just looking at the schedule now shows some games are definitely more important than others. Depending on how they go, these five games could make or break the Giants' season:

5. Week 1 vs. Vikings

In the last 10 years, the Giants have won their Week 1 matchup just twice - once in 2016, and again in 2022. If you don't know, these are also the only two times New York has made the playoffs in the last decade. While this is no doubt a coincidence, it never hurts to start the season off strong, and doing so against the Vikings, whom the Giants bested in the Wild Card Round of the 2022 playoffs, could be huge.

This Vikings team is likely going to be much weaker than in previous seasons. Not only did they lose Kirk Cousins to the Falcons, but Danielle Hunter also left in free agency as well. With two of their top playmakers on both sides of the ball gone and a rookie J.J. McCarthy making his NFL debut, this could be a huge opportunity for New York to start the season off hot.

In addition to this, second-year corner Deonte Banks will be faced with a tough matchup against Justin Jefferson. If this goes well for Banks, it could give him insane amounts of confidence that could carry on for the remainder of the season. Regardless, given their history of Week 1 wins, the Giants have to take advantage of this matchup. If all goes well, maybe we could see a return to the postseason for the second time in three years.