Giants face worst opening stretch in modern NFL history

The New York Giants will face one of the worst stretches to open an NFL season in modern history — and it’s actually tougher than it sounds.

The New York Giants will play seven of their first 11 games of the 2023 regular season on the road. Three of the first four will be in prime time and three will also come over the first 11 days.

If that stretch sounds bad, it’s actually worse. It’s the most difficult opening stretch in modern NFL history — since bye weeks were reinstated in 1990.

Whether bye weeks were included or not, the Giants will set a historic NFL mark for time on the road over the first two-and-a-half months of the regular season.

The 11-week stretch will include a road trip that sees back-to-back games out West, as well as trips to Buffalo, Washington, Dallas and Miami. The only home games will come against the Dallas Cowboys, Seattle Seahawks and New York Jets in Weeks 1, 4 and 8, respectively.

Even if the Giants were a road team against the Jets at MetLife Stadium, the circumstances would be the same.

In total, the Giants will travel more than 22,600 miles in 2023. That is among the top half of the league, which is combined with the third-hardest NFL slate in terms of strength of schedule.

The NFL has also scheduled the Giants to play on two National holidays: Christmas Day against the Philadelphia Eagles and New Year’s Eve against the Los Angeles Rams.

The Giants will close with an equally difficult task, facing the Eagles twice over the final three weeks.

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