USA TODAY predicts last-place finish in NFC East

The New York Giants were one of the surprise teams of 2022, posting a 9-7-1 record before winning a postseason game in head coach Brian Daboll’s first season.

The challenge now is to repeat or even better that record this season. That won’t be a simple accomplishment, as the Giants have been handed one of the league’s toughest schedules.

In his preseason piece predicting the records of all 32 NFL teams this year, USA TODAY’s Nate Davis sees the Giants taking a big step backwards, finishing last in the NFC East.

New York Giants (6-11): Despite a feel-good 2022 – when this decidedly average team did enough to qualify for a wild-card berth and win a playoff game before getting thoroughly embarrassed by the Eagles in the divisional round – it was hard to get too enthused about Big Blue with such a daunting schedule ahead, including 2022 playoff teams in five of the first six weeks. Then the good feels were further diluted by the failure to reach a contractual commitment to franchised RB Saquon Barkley, who very much appears to be the offense’s linchpin after accounting for nearly 30% of its yardage last season. Seems another team may have to carry the Big Apple’s hopes in 2023.

Giants fans may not want to admit it, but Davis notes some unavoidable realities here.

The Giants will not only run a gauntlet of the NFL powerhouses, they’ll also have to travel an unusual amount of miles to to do it.

They also have several national games, something they have not handled well the past decade. Sure, things have changed a bit under Daboll, but the Giants may come up short this year more often than fans expect.

This season could see the Giants on the outside looking in but that doesn’t mean they will have regressed. They can have a losing season and still make progress for the future.

The best part of predictions such as this for Giant fans is that expectations are  still low, which means they can be a surprise team again this year, believe it or not.