The full 2026 NFL schedule was released Thursday. Here is how the Giants schedule shapes up:

Three toughest games 

Week 2 at Rams

This is a good one to get out of the way early. Traveling cross-country is rarely conducive to peak performance and the Giants will need everything they’ve got against Matthew Stafford and a Rams team that is a bona fide Super Bowl contender.

Week 9 at Eagles

Jaxson Dart is 1-1 vs. the Eagles and that is encouraging, but he is 0-1 at Lincoln Financial Field, which means he is part of a club every Giants player would like to quit. The Linc is the worst of places for the Giants, who will lug a 13-game losing streak in Philly into this matchup.

Week 14 at Seahawks

Traveling out to the Pacific Northwest to face the Super Bowl champions is not anyone’s idea of a good time. Lumen Field is always a cauldron of noise and intimidation and in mid-December the weather conditions might be equally uninviting. The Giants get to reconnect with two of their former players, Julian Love and Leonard Williams, who will be able to show off their Super Bowl rings, if they wish.

Three easiest games

Week 3 vs. Titans

The Titans were 3-14 last season, so this home game should be a good spot for the Giants. But be forewarned: Brian Daboll was dismissed 10 games into the 2025 season and he was heartbroken about not being able to continue developing Jaxson Dart. You know Daboll, as the Titans offensive coordinator, will want to put many points on the scoreboard against his former team. 

Week 4 vs. Cardinals

The very next week, another 3-14 team visits MetLife Stadium. The Giants had running back Jeremiyah Love as a top-five player on their draft board; the Cardinals took him at No. 3. Now the Giants must devise a defense to stop him and they were 31st in the league last season against the run.

Week 15 vs Browns

Who will be playing quarterback for the Browns this late in the season. Deshaun Watson? Shedeur Sanders? Garbiel Dillon? Tim Couch? This is the last game for the Giants against a perceived weak opponent, so they need to make it count.

Three notable games

Week 1 vs. Cowboys

They say you always remember your first, right? This is John Harbaugh’s debut as the Giants head coach and it comes in a nationally televised “Sunday Night Football’’ showcase against a despised division rival. Lights, camera, action!

Week 12 at Colts

This should be the first time quarterback Daniel Jones gets to play against his former team. Jones is coming off surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon but this late in November, he figures to be fully recovered.

Lest we forget, the Colts were 8-4 last season before Jones went down. He won’t admit to wanting to stick it to his former team but this will be personal for him.

Week 16 at Lions

For the second consecutive year, the Giants play in Detroit. Last season’s visit to Ford Field was a wild affair, won by the Lions 34-27 as Jahmyr Gibbs ran 69 yards for a touchdown on the first play in overtime. The Giants blew yet another 10-point lead and afterwards, interim head coach Mike Kafka fired defensive coordinator Shane Bowen.

When’s the bye?

The Giants get a Week 8 bye, seven games into the season, not quite at the halfway point. Most coaches prefer the timing for the break a week or two later than this. There will be 10 games after this respite. The players are advised to get their rest, as they come out of their bye with a game in Philadelphia against the rival Eagles and then, four days later, face the Commanders on Thursday Night Football.

Overall takeaway

The Giants have four primetime games (two on Monday night, one apiece on Sunday and Thursday night) and those spotlights have to be the Harbaugh Effect, plus the groundswell of optimism about Jaxson Dart. The first two games are rough but then there is a workable four-game stretch and this is where the Giants must stack wins together. Ending with the Cowboys and Eagles could be NFC East-defining.

The schedule makers did a good job adhering to co-owner John Mara’s annual request to avoid scheduling home games on the Jewish High Holy days. The Week 1 game at MetLife Stadium comes after sundown after the second day of Rosh Hashanah and in Week 2, the Giants avoided playing on Yom Kippur with a Monday night game against the Rams on the road in Inglewood, Calif.