The One Non-divisional Game Giants Fans Might Want to Circle on Their 2026 Calendar

Forget about the annual clashes with the Philadelphia Eagles or the Dallas Cowboys.

The upcoming regular-season game that New York Giants fans will want to circle on their calendar once the 2026 NFL regular-season schedule comes out in mid-May is one that occurs once every four years.

That would be the Giants' home game against the Tennessee Titans, a game that will mark the return of several former players, such as receiver Wan’Dale Robinson, tight end Daniel Bellinger, center Austin Schlottmann, and cornerback Cor’Dale Flott.

It will also include several members of the previous Giants coaching staff, including head coach Brian Daboll, now the Titans’ offensive coordinator; offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo; defensive backs coach Marquand Manuel; and quarterbacks coach Shea Tierney.

The matchup is significant because Daboll knows Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart better than anyone in the game right now, having taken a personal, hands-on approach to developing the young signal caller out of Ole Miss.

The same can be said of Tierney, who assisted Daboll with getting Dart ready for his NFL debut as a starter, which came last year in a Week 4 start (and win) against the Los Angeles Chargers.

Daboll, as a former Giants head coach, undoubtedly knows a bit about the returning Giants' players' strengths and weaknesses, particularly on defense, which he will look to exploit.

It also doesn’t hurt that the Titans' former defensive coordinator, Dennard Wilson, is now the Giants’ defensive coordinator, and that the Titans' defenders who were on the team the last year or two might be able to provide additional insight beyond the film.

Should the Giants be worried?

Former NY Giants head coach Brian Daboll, now the Tennessee Titans Offensive Coordinator, has a very good knowledge of the Giants' returning players from his tenure with the team. | DENNY SIMMONS / THE TENNESSEAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Daboll, who won the “Coach of the Year” honors in 2022, was said to be particularly helpful to the Giants in their recruiting of current head coach John Harbaugh, showing no hard feelings toward the franchise that fired him mid-season last year.

But when it comes to winning on the field, don’t expect Daboll or any of the former Giants assistants or players, for that matter, to let sentimentality settle in.

The Giants, for their part, are expected to be different on offense and defense after adding several new faces in free agency. And they’re also not going to be worried about anyone on the Titans having any kind of inside track, not when there are hours of film on the players available to consult.

And this isn’t as though Harbaugh hasn’t been down this road before with his former players and assistant coaches from his time in Baltimore, who went on to other teams, only to eventually return to face his old Ravens.

Still, ask anyone associated with the Ravens, and they’ll probably admit the game against the Giants is one they'll circle on their calendar once the date is revealed.

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