Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Giants 2020 Schedule Features Two Monday Night Home Games for First Time in MNF's 51-Year History
The Giants’ 2020 regular-season schedule will feature two Monday night home games, including the Week 1 visit by Pittsburgh and the Week 8 visit by Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as part of the inaugural Joe Judge era.
It is the first time the Giants will host two Monday night games in the same season in the 51-year history of Monday Night Football. The Giants are 25-41-1 on Monday nights, including 9-11 at home.
The home opener against the Steelers, which is scheduled for a 7:15 p.m. kickoff, will be the Giants’ first Monday night season opener since 2014 when they lost in Detroit and their first Monday night home opener since 1995, when they lost to Dallas; and the first time their opening home game will be played on a Monday night since 2011 when they defeated the St. Louis Rams in Week 2.
“For me, any game is going to have the same amount of juice,” Judge said about making his head coaching debut on Monday night. “I think everyone is going to have a lot of energy for the opener, us and Pittsburgh. It’s going to be a situation where look, you get to play under the lights, you get to play at home. But it’s the opening game for both teams. Both teams will be coming out of training camp sick of beating up on each other and ready to see an opponent.”
The Giants’ other Monday night home game against the Bucs will pit Judge’s Giants against a couple of familiar faces from his days with the New England Patriots, quarterback Tom Brady, who left the Patriots via free agency to sign with Tampa Bay, and tight end Rob Gronkowski, who unretired to join Brady with the Bucs.
“I think we’ll be very aware of Tom being on the other team,” Judge said. “At that point of the year, I’m sure everyone is going to get used to him wearing a different color jersey. I’m in a different jersey myself.
“We’re more conscious of the opponents we’ll be playing. The Buccaneers have a very good defense, they have tons of receivers, tons of weapons, and they made some great additions in the offseason with Tom and Rob (Gronkowski). Seeing those guys over there, no matter where our paths may have crossed in the past, all that’s going to matter is that Monday night.”
The Giants’ first road game of the new season will, believe it or not, not be at Dallas, the team they’ve opened against on the road every year since 2014. Instead, the Giants will visit Chicago for a Week 2 meeting and their second meeting in a row.
New York’s lone Thursday night game will come in Week 7 against the Eagles on the road. And the Giants, who visit Dallas Week 5, will close the 2020 regular-season campaign on January 3, 2021, at home against their NFC East foes.
“I’ll tell you what, when you get the schedule, it definitely does give you a little surge of energy,” Judge said in a statement issued by the team to announce the schedule.
“The number one positive is we’re getting ready to play football, so that’s the biggest thing. Once you get the schedule, it starts moving a little bit faster in your mind in terms of preparing for what’s in front of you.
The Giants are scheduled to play back to back games in Weeks 4 (Los Angeles Rams) and 5 (Cowboys) west of the Mississippi. In the past, the Giants haven’t stayed over when faced with such a situation, and it’s not known if Judge is planning to start that process this year.
Meanwhile, Judge is contemplating having the team travel an extra day on the West Coast trips, which include the visit to the Rams and a Week 13 visit to Seattle.
“I’d say for the most part, historically, we’ve gone out on Fridays and given them an extra day to get out there and get acclimated to a few things,” Judge said. “But that’s nothing that’s locked in concrete. We’ll talk as a coaching staff and make sure we hammer what we think is best for this team. We’ll have a game plan to go out there early and be prepared to cancel the extra day if we need to as we get a feel for how our team goes throughout the season.”
The Giants will have their bye week after they host the Eagles in Week 10, which would put the break on November 22. This is the third consecutive season the Giants bye week falls during November.
The Giants' schedule also includes three short work weeks for the team—the two following the Monday night games (Weeks 1 and 8) and after their Week 6 game at home against Washington, after which the Giants will play the Eagles in a Week 7 Thursday night game.
“Whether it’s a short week or a long week, we’re going to do everything we can to just line it up and get prepared for our opponents regardless of if you play them on a short week or you play them home or away,” Judge said.
“I don’t think we want to make too much of the length of the weeks. It is what it is. You’re fortunate to be able to play in some primetime games. You’re lucky to be able to be under the lights. We’ll make sure we prepare for those teams a little bit more on the front end to account for a day or so after the game.”
The Giants will have two back-to-back road trips this season, the first in Weeks 4 and 5 (Los Angeles and Dallas) and the second coming out of their bye week, in Weeks 12 and 13 (Cincinnati and Seattle).
“I don’t think too much about if it’s a home or away game,” Judge said. “I look at it more as the opponent we have to play. They are all teams that have a lot of explosive qualities on their offense and tough defenses. I’m looking more at who the team is as opposed to where we’re playing them.”
The much-anticipated return of former Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr, whom the team traded to Cleveland last year, will have to wait until Week 15 (December 20), when the Browns visit the Giants for a 1 p.m. scheduled kickoff.
The Giants preseason schedule will include road games vs. the Jets and Tennessee, and home games against Green Bay and New England. Specific dates and times will be announced at a later date.
“I think we have four great opponents to go against in the preseason,” said Judge. “They’re all going to show you something different you have to adjust to and get the team ready for.”
Giants 2020 Schedule
