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When the 2023 regular season schedule was released on Thursday night, it became immediately apparent the New York Giants got the raw end of the deal.
Their season will start three games over the first 11 days, including back-to-back games out West in Weeks 2 and 3. Four of their first six games will be on prime time and seven of their first 11 games will come on the road, which is the toughest stretch in modern NFL history.
But at least one of those things was by design.
The Giants requested that their games with the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers be played in back-to-back weeks to allow for the team to stay out West as opposed to making two separate trips throughout the season.
The New York Post was among the first to report that news.
The Giants requested and were granted back-to-back road games for two of their longest trips and as a result will be able to stay in Arizona between Week 2 (at the Cardinals) and Week 3 (at the 49ers), eliminating one cross-country trip.
The Giants had no say on when that trip would come and probably didn’t expect to see it mixed in with all of the other variables they face over the first 11 weeks.
Art Stapleton of USA TODAY had previously reported that the Giants will square off with the Cardinals in Glendale before immediately jetting off to Santa Clara for a week.
The Giants will be headed out West early in the season to play the Cardinals in Arizona (Week 2) and the 49ers in Santa Clara, Calif. (Week 3, Thursday night). All along the belief was that would set up a situation where Daboll will keep his team out there to practice in between games rather traveling back home to New Jersey.
The decision to stay out West actually reduces some of the team’s travel time and air miles, which were estimated in the 22,600 range prior to the schedule release.
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