Giants daunting schedule will reveal if theyre legitimate playoff contenders

Now it really gets difficult. The Giants didn’t lose their grip on first place in the NFC East by falling 24-21 to the Commanders, but they did squander a chance to add breathing room against the second-worst opponent on the schedule between this week and New Year’s Day. Considering the Giants have built their 5-3-1 record by beating teams with a combined .317 winning percentage, the jump over the next six games to a .607 level of competition sounds daunting. “We don’t live in that scared world,” head coach John Harbaugh said.“I said it was an important game before the game for that very reason, but now we don’t sit back and go, ‘We have to beat a heavyweight.’” And the first game of 2027 might be the most important of all if the Cowboys can get enough defensive stops and wins that Week 17 in Dallas is what decides the NFC East. “We want all the smoke with all those teams,” edge Abdul Carter said.

“We’re not ducking no smoke.Everybody’s going to get our best.

There’s no team that we’re looking at like, ‘Oh, my goodness.’ No.We’re going to play every team the same way.” How do the Giants avoid seeing their season go up in flames when their probability to reach the playoffs dropped from a potential 78 percent by beating the Commanders down to 50 percent with the loss? “I think we’ll respond fine,” left tackle Andrew Thomas said, “but if we want to go where we want to, we have to win games like this.” Here’s a look at the gauntlet ahead that will either prove right or wrong the critics who believe the Giants are phonies propped up by a bad division and soft schedule: Jaguars (6-2): Ranked No.

4 in scoring offense and No.2 in scoring defense and No.

3 in both most takeaways and fewest giveaways, the Jaguars started the week with three all-in trades to fuel Super Bowl aspirations. “Every one of these games is going to be hard to win,” Harbaugh said.“Starting with the Jacksonville game, that will b...