Saquon Barkley will be featured heavily in prime time in 2025. The Giants wait to see if they’ll be so fortunate.
Barkley and the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles have been paraded around the early schedule announcements by the NFL’s rightsholders, with four of Philly’s games already announced and none of them coming on a Sunday:
Jeffrey Lurie’s team will open the 2025 NFL season by hanging the banner with Jerry Jones’ Dallas Cowboys in South Philadelphia on the night of Thursday, Sept. 4 on NBC.
The Eagles will visit the Green Bay Packers on Nov. 10 for ESPN’s Monday Night Football at Lambeau Field.
Philly will host the NFL’s Black Friday game on Nov. 28 against the Chicago Bears on Prime Video.
And the Eagles and Washington Commanders will headline a huge FOX doubleheader on Saturday, Dec. 20 along with the Packers and Chicago Bears.
The NFL will announce its entire 2025 season schedule Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
John Mara, Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll’s Giants are trying to turn their program around in 2025 and return to the limelight as one of the NFL’s coveted prime time assets.
Last season, the Giants played only four prime time games, including a morning Germany game against the Carolina Panthers. And the Giants posted an 0-4 record while being outscored 83-57 in those games, or an average deficit of 20.7 to 14.2.
The NFL understandably cut down on the Giants’ prime time games in 2024 after thrusting New York into the spotlight backfired tremendously in 2023.
The Giants drew four prime starts in the first six weeks of the 2023 season and went 0-4 while being outscored 108-24 (a 27-6 average score).
They finished 1-4 in prime time games that season after beating the Packers, 24-22, at home in Week 14 after their bye week.
That marked the Giants’ first prime time win since Week 15 of the 2022 season, a 20-12 road win at Washington on Dec. 18.
The Giants only drew three prime time games in that 2022 season, as well, given their low expectations.
They went 2-1, including a London 27-22 win over the Packers, and made their only postseason appearance since 2016.
But after following up that 9-7-1 season with a 6-11 dud while thrust into prime time — and then backing it up with a 3-14 horror show in 2024 — it would be no surprise if the Giants stay sidelined on the NFL’s prime time radar until they prove otherwise worthy.
In the meantime, Barkley and the Eagles are the ones who will be playing in unchallenged exclusive national windows on a television near you.
