Chris Mara and the Giants have spent all summer talking like a team ready to turn the page. John Harbaugh has been even more direct about it. Now comes the part where all that confidence has to show up on the field.
Sunday night against the Cowboys at MetLife Stadium is the first real test of whether the Giants’ new tone means anything. Ownership already made its statement by giving Harbaugh $20 million a year and full authority to reshape and run the organization. The expectation now is that he and his team back it up by beating Dallas in the season opener.
Harbaugh has never been shy about setting the edge. In May, at a town hall in Manhattan, he made the point as bluntly as possible.
“I could care less about what’s happened last year or the year before that or 10 years ago,” Harbaugh said. “Honestly, I don’t give a crap about any of it, not one bit.
All I care about is tomorrow’s practice. Because if tomorrow’s practice is the way it’s supposed to be, that’ll be one more step in the direction of being a good enough football team to kick the Cowboys’ ass.”
That kind of language has helped define the Giants’ buildup to Week 1, and the final stretch has felt sharper and more tense around the building. Harbaugh cut veteran receiver Darius Slayton, snapped at a press conference and watched Malik Nabers’ uncertainty about his playing status add another layer of intrigue.
The players have matched that edge. Jaxson Dart, who wanted the spotlight all offseason, said “most rivalries I’ve totally dominated” in his football career. Greg Newsome was just as confident, saying “I like our chances” against the “dynamic” Dallas receiver duo of CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens.
That confidence fits right in with Mara’s recent declaration that “I don’t hope we win this year; I expect it. And I think everybody else does, too.”
Harbaugh has said the same thing in his own way.
“We expect, we plan, we’ll be playing to win every single one of our games this year,” Harbaugh said.
Still, not everyone in the locker room is talking in absolutes. Brian Burns took a more grounded approach when he spoke with the Daily News on Thursday. Asked whether a win over Dallas would announce the Giants as a contender, he pointed to the bigger picture.
“Winning this game would be a great win, something that we need, the momentum we need, because we’re about to go to the West Coast after that,” Burns said. “But what I believe is you have to continue to do it over and over again.
One win isn’t gonna define you as a contender or anything like that. It’s what you do repeatedly, in my opinion.”
Then he laughed and added, “Now when we stack some wins and we keep stacking, then ask me that and then I’ll say it.”
For all the focus on the defense, the offense is the unit carrying the most questions into the opener. Dart and the offense did not have a strong camp or preseason, and the receiver and running back rooms are still unsettled with new pieces moving in and out.
The matchup itself only adds to the pressure. Dak Prescott’s Cowboys have averaged 28.5 points per game in his six full career games at MetLife Stadium. The Giants, meanwhile, have managed just 12 total points in their last two season openers.
The recent history against Dallas is ugly, too. The Giants are 1-9 in their last 10 meetings with the Cowboys, 2-16 in their last 18 matchups and 3-14 all-time against Prescott. They have not won a season opener since 2022, and they have not won at home in Week 1 since 2010 against the Carolina Panthers.
Harbaugh knows the danger of opening day. Looking back on his coaching debut with the Ravens in 2008, he said, “my first thought was, ‘Hey, don’t mess this thing.'”
“And that might be my first thought in this game, too,” he said. “Try not to mess it up.
It’s probably everybody’s thought. You want to be more plus than you are minus.”
But Sunday night has to be more than careful. It has to feel like a statement, the kind that comes from physical play, violence and forcing an NFC East rival to play on the Giants’ terms.
That means finishing for four quarters and protecting any lead they build. The Giants lost five games last season after holding double-digit leads in the fourth quarter. Harbaugh’s final season in Baltimore opened with a 41-40 loss to the Bills, a game in which the Ravens led 40-25 with 11:42 left and still let it slip away.
Burns believes this year’s defense is better equipped for those moments under Harbaugh and coordinator Dennard Wilson.
“I would say the details,” Burns said. “The detail on the back end and the accountability that the vets and the leaders in each respective group are holding everybody to. I would say that would be the main thing that would help us capitalize on those leads that we had last year.”
“It’s understanding ball, understanding situations,” he added. “That’s the biggest thing. That’s what comes down to those plays right there.”
Harbaugh has made those details a daily part of the job. Situational work is built into every practice, a clear change from what came before.
The bigger question is whether all of the offseason overhaul - from the way the roster was built to the way the team practices - will produce immediate results.
The Giants are 7-27 over the last two years, including a 4-13 mark last season. They are desperate for wins, and their words have already been loud enough. On Sunday night, they finally have to answer for them.
“I think that there’s a ton of extra motivation from this past season, and I want to do something special,” Dart said. “And all the guys in the locker room are, too, and we’re starving for this.”
In Other News...
Giants Just Added Real Suspense To Malik Nabers Week 1 Status
The Giants made a roster move ahead of Week 1 by promoting wide receiver and special teams contributor Dalen Cambre from the practice squad to the 53-man roster before facing the Cowboys. It was the kind of depth-chart shuffle that usually slides by unnoticed, but this one landed with extra weight because it came amid lingering questions around Malik Nabers and the offenses opening-night plans.
Nabers has practiced fully and is not on the injury report, yet his status for Sunday still has not been made fully clear because New York has not announced its final lineup. For a Giants team trying to settle its pecking order before a division game, that leaves at least one of its most important offensive pieces in a bit of suspense right as the season begins. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Just Created New Week 1 Tension Around Malik Nabers
The Giants made a small but telling roster move ahead of Week 1, elevating wide receiver and special teams contributor Dalen Cambre from the practice squad to the 53-man roster before their matchup with the Cowboys. It is the kind of transaction that usually flies under the radar, but at this point in the calendar every promotion and depth-chart shuffle gets a closer look, especially when it comes this close to opening weekend.
What makes the move worth watching is the uncertainty still hovering around Malik Nabers. He has been a full participant in recent practices and does not carry an official injury designation, yet the Giants still have not said whether he will be active for the opener. The final answer will come before kickoff, but until then the team has left a little tension hanging over a game that already carries plenty of attention. [Read more 🡒]
Giants Just Caught A Huge Break Before Rams Matchup
The Giants will not have to deal with one of the leagues most disruptive pass rushers when they line up with the Rams, as Myles Garrett is undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery and has been placed on injured reserve. That moves him out for at least the next four games, which includes the upcoming meeting with New York, and it gives the Giants a little more room to breathe as they prepare for a defense that can still create problems in other ways.
Aaron Donalds status for that game is still unclear, which keeps plenty of attention on the Rams front even without Garrett in the picture. There is also the off-field uncertainty involving potential NFL discipline cases for Puka Nacua and Alaric Jackson, adding another layer of questions around a matchup that already looks different than it did a few days ago. [Read more 🡒]