Good morning fellow Giants fans, and welcome to Hump Day after the Tuesday that the NFL 2012 regular season schedule was announced. Boy, they sure do make a big deal out of everything in the NFL these days. What's not on prime time anymore? I mean, now that the first night of the draft is a prime time event, and so is announcing the schedule, what will be next? Televising the Combine? Oh wait. Yeah. Anyway, our Hump Day calendar says there are just 20 weeks until the start of the NFL regular season. Let me put that in perspective--the Super Bowl was a little over 10 weeks ago, meaning we're a third of the way through the offseason. Not bad, eh? Let's see what is being said out there this morning following the release of the schedule...
2012 NY Giants schedule: Big Blue opens against Cowboys, plays Steelers in Week 9, Saints in Week 14 - NY Daily News
If the Giants are going to repeat as Super Bowl champions, the NFL is going to make them earn it. The defending champions will finish the 2012 season with a brutal six-game stretch that features four games against 2011 playoff teams and two divisional games. In that stretch they’ll play host to two of the biggest threats to their NFC crown — the Green Bay Packers and the New Orleans Saints — and finish the season on Dec. 30 at home against the Philadelphia Eagles.
Giants' 2012 regular-season schedule includes tough opponents, logistical challenges | NJ.com
The Giants’ 2012 regular-season schedule is one befitting of a defending champion: five scheduled prime-time games, a tough closing slate and seven opponents that made the playoffs last season. Hey, at least Tom Coughlin got his bye week close to the middle, as he prefers.
Giants' schedule presents daunting task in attempt to repeat as Super Bowl champs - Yahoo! Sports
You can't coast in the NFL. You can't lean on last year. You can't expect everything to work out again. The NFL released its 2012 schedule Tuesday and the message for the Giants is clearer than ever. New York's slate appears, at this point, not only stout and not only filled with teams seeking revenge, but back loaded with particularly tough games. The Giants may not be able to afford to start slow and hope to gather focus as the season goes on.
Schedule release does Giants no favors - Stats & Info Blog - ESPN
The Giants will face the league’s most difficult schedule this season, including a lethal stretch that will pit them against four of last year’s playoff teams (vs Green Bay Packers, vs New Orleans Saints, at Atlanta Falcons, at Baltimore Ravens) in the final six games. In fact, each of their last 11 games is against a divisional opponent or team coming off a postseason appearance. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, New York is the first defending champion to have the toughest schedule, and the club with the hardest slate has failed to make the playoffs in six of the last seven years.
Okay, okay. The schedule sucks. It sucked last year too. I'm really not concerned, because as Ed mentioned on Tuesday night, you just don't know how good or bad some teams will be. I can't wait, though, to see all of the pundits picking the Giants to finish third in the division. The man-love for the Eagles and Cowboys is always a bit ridiculous.
NFL.com news: New York Giants 2012 NFL Schedule Analysis
The Cowboys will be tough on the national stage in Week 1, but the 49ers, looking to get revenge for the NFC title game, could be the matchup to watch out for early on. With a late bye (Week 11), the Giants should be fresh for a rough last leg of the season, which includes games against the Packers, Saints and Ravens.
New York Giants schedule analysis - NFL Nation Blog - ESPN
Hey, when you finish in first place, your schedule the next season is going to feature a lot of teams that also finished in first place. Add in the fact that the NFC East this year is playing the AFC North -- a division that sent three teams to last season's playoffs -- and the New York Giants have a schedule that would have been pretty challenging in 2011. After Week 5, every game the Giants play is against either a division opponent or a 2011 playoff team.
Manning, Broncos open vs Steelers - Yahoo! Sports
The last time the Steelers played, Tim Tebow sent them home from the playoffs with one stunning play. The next time Pittsburgh plays a game for real, it also will be in Denver. Tebow won't be the opposing quarterback, though. Peyton Manning will be - and he's certainly capable of an 80-yard TD pass in overtime.
Giants re-sign MLB Chase Blackburn - NFL News | FOX Sports on MSN
The New York Giants have re-signed middle linebacker Chase Blackburn, a key to their run to last season's Super Bowl title.
Whew. I love this guy and I know many of you do, and appreciate what he did down the stretch and in the playoffs last season.
Giants' Chad Jones participating in offseason workouts as recovery from leg injury continues | NJ.com
So in short, Jones is here working out with the Giants, just as he promised he would. Next month, we should have a better idea for whether this remarkable comeback can be completed.
Archie Manning looking forward to Eli's 'SNL' appearance
"He told me he was going to do it and I said, 'Good, I'll be there.' As a parent, I don't look at it like, 'Will he be better than (New York Yankees shortstop) Derek Jeter?' It's an honor.'
New York Giants 2012 Draft Preview | Fox News
The defending Super Bowl champions enter the draft seeking replacements for a pair of key contributors to their latest championship run, wide receiver Mario Manningham and running back Brandon Jacobs. And with leading rusher Ahmad Bradshaw a significant health risk due to chronic foot problems, acquiring some protection in the form of a first or second-day selection figures to be in the team's plans. Manningham's exit leaves New York without a dependable No. 3 receiver, while the ACL tears that tight ends Jake Ballard and Travis Beckum sustained in the Super Bowl has created a dangerously thin situation at that position even after the recent signing of ex-Cowboy Martellus Bennett.
Well, gee dude, thanks for painting a grim picture. Between that and the schedule, we may as well forfeit the season!
And I'll leave you folks with this....
Peter King tweeted last night that Alabama linebacker Dont'a Hightower visited the Giants on Tuesday and will visit the Bears today.