Copr. Amsterdam News 2025
The 252 day wait is nearly over. The last time we saw the New York Giants playing a regular season football game they performed mop-up duty on a less than enthusiastic Dallas squad in a 34-17 victory at MetLife Stadium. More than eight months later, the Giants will return home to the Meadowlands with a new coaching staff, receiving unit, and flashy rookie linebacker all looking to bring big change to big blue.
The Giants have failed to score consecutive victories against ‘America’s Team’ since 2016, and one of the main keys to regaining momentum in this once lauded rivalry will be containing Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott and his various array of offensive weapons. Although they showed some level of promise in the preseason, the Giants are considered to have one of the worst secondary units in the league on paper coming into 2026. They’ll immediately have to contend with one of, if not, the best wideout combos in the NFL in CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, the latter having a breakout year last season in his first campaign with the ‘Boys. The former 2022 second round pick out of Pittsburgh set career highs by a large margin in all major statistical categories with 93 receptions for 1,429 yards and nine touchdowns to establish himself as one of the league’s premiere WR2’s. Cornerbacks Greg Newsome II and Deonte Banks will have to keep pace with this dynamic duo if New York has any hope of victory on Sunday night.
Backfield containment should also be a major point of emphasis for what looks to be a solid front seven defensively for the Giants. New York had a notoriously awful run defense last season, finishing 31st in rushing yards allowed with over 145.3 yards per game given up on the ground. Cowboys running back Javonte Williams had a renaissance of a season in 2025, rushing for 1,201 yards (4.8 YPC) and eleven touchdowns in what was easily his best season as a pro. Giants’ head coach John Harbaugh’s emphasis this offseason on stuffing opposing rushers at the line of scrimmage will have to carry weight this weekend to halt Williams’s resurgence.
Prescott will be calling the signals in Dallas for an 11th consecutive season and has proven himself to be a consistent top-10 quarterback in the NFL when healthy, with some of his best work coming when playing against his East Rutherford rivals. Prescott has an all-time record of 14-3 when matching up with the g-men, posting a total passer rating of 101.5 while tossing 31 touchdowns to nine interceptions with 4,346 receiving yards to boot. Giants defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson hopes to unleash a ferocious pass rush on the Mississippi State product in his first game as the DC for NYG and send the veteran scrambling for answers outside of the pocket as the night progresses.
Copr. Chris Carlson-AP 2026
Offensively, Malik Nabers has been a massive question mark in regards to his week 1 status for the past number of months. Although the former first round pick has been a full participant in practice for multiple weeks now, Harbaugh has refused to give any indication as to whether or not the star WR will play on Sunday.
“I’m not gonna tell you because when you know, the Cowboys know,” Harbaugh stated during a presser. “And that’s not in the competitive interest of our football team. Does that make sense?”
While it may be somewhat honorable for Harbaugh to do battle with the ruthless New York media (and nothing he said was wrong either) it still leaves us fans in the dark. More recent reports have stated that Harbaugh has left the decision up to Nabers himself, which would lead us to believe that there appears to be a complete 50/50 chance of the Giants’s WR1 dressing with the team.
Outside of Nabers, the Giants are noticeably thin in credible receiving personnel. Notre Dame rookie Malachi Fields would most likely take the reins as quarterback Jaxson Dart’s go-to target with offseason acquisition Darnell Mooney lining up opposite him and either Odell Beckham Jr. or Dalen Cambre lining up in the slot.
With that in mind, former Ravens tight end Isaiah Likely will most likely (pun somewhat intended) take the bulk of the targets from Dart in MetLife in this pivotal week 1 showdown. The Giants running package, something they’ve put a massive emphasis on in new offensive coordinator Matt Nagy’s offensive scheme, is also somewhat in question. With the signing of former Steeler and Charger Najee Harris during the preseason, the Giants now boast four capable running backs on their roster, although we’ll probably see them rotate healthy scratches from the depth chart with each other on a weekly basis as the season rolls on. Although Cam Skattebo is certainly a lock to play this week coming off of injury, it’ll be intriguing to see who’ll be trading time with him in the backfield in the first game of a new era of Giants football.
-Jack Barber
Works Cited
https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/4426354/george-pickens
https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/_/id/4361579/javonte-williams
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