NFL Schedule | Four Giants' 2020 Matchups Best Suited For Primetime

The Giants already know who they'll face and what stadiums they'll visit in 2020, but when the NFL schedule releases this week, they'll find out when their slate of games will take place.

Perhaps most importantly, the Giants will find out which matchups are getting the primetime treatment.

Despite coming off a four-win season, the privilege of playing in the nation's media capital and most heralded division will surely earn the Giants a handful of contests in front of a national audience this year.

The only question is, which of their 2020 opponents are worth facing under the lights?

at Dallas Cowboys

Giants and Cowboys primetime games have become just as much of an NFL tradition as they've become a rating juggernaut.

Don't expect that to change in 2020. The same star power that fans have come to expect will be there with running backs Saquon Barkley and Ezekiel Elliot; quarterbacks Dak Prescott and Daniel Jones; and the debut of Giants first-round draft pick Andrew Thomas trying to stave off Demarcus Lawrence while receiver CeeDee Lamb, the Cowboys' first-round pick, goes against the Giants revamped defensive secondary.

Then there is the "other" story, that being the return of Jason Garrett, who, after a decade leading the Cowboys as head coach, will be on the opposite sideline for this matchup as the new Giants' offensive coordinator.

Garrett was the longest-tenured Cowboys head coach since Tom Landry but will return to AT&T Stadium as an opponent that had a less-than-graceful departure this past offseason.

A disappointing 2019 season spelled Garrett's departure from Dallas, and after it was announced that he would not be retained for 2020.

Garrett wasted no time finding new work in the division, becoming the Giants' new offensive coordinator, and now he has Daniel Jones and Saquon Barkley in his arsenal. Can the Garrett-led Giants offense light up the Cowboys defense? Hopefully, we'll be able to find out if the game does take place as it's a recipe for must-see TV.

at Los Angeles Rams

The Rams' $5 billion stadium is set to open in 2020 after three years of construction, and its shaping up to a venue fit to host a matchup between the two teams that represent the nation's two biggest media markets.

While the Giants and the Rams have been on opposite sides of the NFC standings in recent years, recent additions by the Giants and departures from the Rams might make for the best chance at a competitive game between these two teams in a while. Things certainly couldn't get anymore one-sided than the most recent meeting.

The last matchup between these two teams, a 51-17 Rams blowout in 2017, marked a franchise low-point for the Giants and a victory that solidified the eventual emergence of the Rams.

Since that game, the Giants have gone through two head coaching changes, and the Rams have been to a Super Bowl, one they lost partially due to the work of the Giants' newest head coach Joe Judge, who coordinated the Patriots special teams efforts in Super Bowl LIII.

Now Judge and McVay will face off as the two youngest head coaches in the NFC in 2020, in the inaugural season of the newly constructed So-Fi Stadium. It might just make for a gem of a primetime event.

Tampa Bay Bucs

Quarterback Tom Brady brings a spotlight wherever he goes, and that spotlight might shine a little bit brighter when he comes to Metlife Stadium in 2020. Brady's history against the Giants is a defining part of his career one way or another, as two of his biggest losses were delivered by Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin in Super Bowl 42 and 46.

Now, after two straight regular wins against the Giants since Super Bowl 46, Brady will get his first chance to take on a new Giants regime without the overshadowing presence of Bill Belichick.

This game could get end up getting circled on the schedule by both starting quarterbacks, as it will mark a rematch for Daniel Jones against his first NFL opponent after a dramatic 32-31 victory for Jones in his rookie debut last year. Last year's win gave a lot of hope to Giants fans, and a win over Brady and Bucs could prove the legitimacy of that hope in 2020.

If this game ends up getting the primetime treatment, it might prove to be an appropriate backdrop for a halftime ceremony that sees Manning's induction to the Giants' Ring of Honor and his official jersey retirement ceremony.

The image of Super Bowl 42 and 46 highlights flashing on the Metlife Stadium jumbotron as Brady runs into the tunnel at halftime could be a product that any of the three major networks can't afford passing up.

Cleveland Browns

Once upon a time, the Giants and the Browns represented the gold standard of football as the NFL's premier rivalry, dominating the decade of the 1950s with ten combined conference titles.

Fast forward to 2020 and the matchup between the Giants and the Browns will be headlined by a now 27-year-old and one-time Giants receiver who was supposed to be a Giants for life but who struggled with handling the spotlight and drove the team's management to conclude that despite his talent, he wasn't worth the headache.

That receiver is Odell Beckham Jr, and his return to Metlife Stadium as an opponent of the Giants already makes the matchup against the Browns one of the most intriguing games on the entire NFL slate for 2020.

But the draw doesn't stop there.

After questioning the Giants' decision to draft Jones in last year's draft, Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield will go toe-to-toe with Jones in a matchup between two of the NFL's young and unexpected quarterback stars.

The draft reactions of Mayfield and Jones were eerily similar among Browns and Giants fans. Yet, both went on to pleasantly surprise their respective fan bases as rookies, and will now face off as two rising stars at the positions, but ones with polar opposite personalities.

There are, of course,e other side stories to this matchup, including edge rusher Olivier Vernon, traded to the Browns in exchange for guard Kevin Zeitler, going against a Giants offensive line that should have Zeitler on the field. The rest of the Browns offense going against the three defensive players--safety Jabrill Peppers and the two draft picks acquired in the Beckham trade (defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence and edge Oshane Ximines).

However, the main story figures to be Beckham vs. his old teammates. The week leading up to this game and whatever social media activity ensues will surely set the stage for one of the most contentious games of the season, and all it needs is the aura of primetime to shine a national spotlight on that stage for all those involved.

The Giants 2020 Opponents

In addition to Dallas, Philadelphia, and Washington, the three NFC East teams the Giants will face at home and on the road, here is a reminder of the other opponents they'll meet in 2020.

HOME: Arizona, San Francisco, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay

AWAY: Seattle, Rams, Chicago, Cincinnati, Baltimore

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