EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Add a trip to Miami to the Giants’ 2021 schedule.
The NFL announced that each team will play 17 regular-season games beginning this year, the first expansion of the schedule since it increased from 14 to 16 games in 1978. The four NFC East teams will travel to the AFC East teams that finished in the same position in the standings in 2020. The Giants and Miami Dolphins were the second-place teams in their respective divisions and will meet this season in Hard Rock Stadium.
The additional game gives the Giants – and all NFC teams – nine road games and eight home games in 2021. Their 17th game will be played in MetLife Stadium next year.
The NFL is expected to release its full schedule with dates and times in May. NFL Kickoff Weekend will begin Thursday night, September 9, and the regular season will end Sunday, Jan. 9, 2022. The 2022 Pro Bowl will be played on Sunday, February 6 at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas and the season will conclude with Super Bowl LVI at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022
Because of the additional game, the Giants and Dolphins will square off for the second time in three seasons. The Giants have won the last four games in the series, which were played in three different cities on two continents – London, East Rutherford (twice), and Miami.
The teams most recently met on Dec. 15, 2019 in the last game Eli Manning played in his career. Manning threw for 283 yards and two touchdowns in a 36-20 Giants victory in MetLife Stadium. The Giants last visited Miami on Dec. 14, 2015, when Manning completed 27 of 31 passes, a career-best 87.1 percent (minimum 20 attempts) in a 31-24 victory. The Giants are 3-0 in Miami – also winning in 1993 and 1996 – and lead the all-time series with the Dolphins, 7-2.
In addition to the added interconference game, the NFC East will play the NFC South and the AFC West in 2021. Because they finished second in the NFC East, the Giants will host the second-place team from the NFC West (the Los Angeles Rams) and visit the second-place team from the NFC North (the Chicago Bears). The Giants will visit Chicago for the third consecutive season.
The Giants will have their traditional home-and-home series with NFC East rivals Dallas, Philadelphia and Washington and will host the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos, Las Vegas Raiders and the Rams. They will play road games against the New Orleans Saints, Los Angeles Chargers, the Bears and the two teams that met in Super Bowl LV, the champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs,
This will be the first season in which the Giants play both participants from the previous Super Bowl since they faced the St. Louis Rams and Tennessee Titans in 2000 – a season in which the Giants advanced to the Super Bowl.
The NFL also announced that beginning in 2022, all 32 clubs will play internationally at least once every eight years. The scheduling of up to four neutral-site games per year in a country outside the United States will focus initially on Canada, Europe, Mexico, South America and the United Kingdom. In addition, interested clubs can continue to volunteer to play home games internationally, as is currently the case.
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