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New York Giants Will Have To Be Road Warriors In 2017

By Kenneth Teape

Dec 22, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; The New York Giants take the field for action against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. The Philadelphia Eagles won 24-19. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 22, 2016; Philadelphia, PA, USA; The New York Giants take the field for action against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. The Philadelphia Eagles won 24-19. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /
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The New York Giants will be tested with their road trips during the 2017 regular season.

The New York Giants knew who they would be playing during the 2017 regular season once the 2016 regular season ended. Now, we know when they will be playing against those teams. The NFL released their 2017 regular season schedule and the Giants received no favors.

The Giants will have arguably the most difficult schedule in the NFL in 2017. While they may not have the most difficult schedule in terms of opponents winning percentage, the travel will more than make up for it.

We knew coming into the offseason that the Giants would be playing against both the AFC and NFC West division this season. The Giants caught a break by not having to go to CenturyLink Field in Seattle, but that is about the only break they caught.

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The Giants will be making four trips into the Mountain and Pacific time zones; they have road games against the Denver Broncos, San Francisco 49ers, Oakland Raiders, and Arizona Raiders. The game against the Raiders comes after a road game against their NFC East division rival Washington Redskins in primetime on Thanksgiving Night.

The Giants will be traveling more than any other team on the East Coast that does not have to leave the country. The Jacksonville Jaguars will travel more, but that is because they play over in London once again.

Bye weeks are an important part of the season as well. The Giants will have theirs in Week 8, which is a good time to have it as it will be right in the middle of the season. The Los Angeles Rams will be at a disadvantage traveling to take on the Giants after their bye week.

That will be a situation the Giants are in numerous times in 2017. The Giants will be facing off against a team coming off a bye week four times in 2017, the most of any team in the NFL. That puts the Giants at a net rating of minus-22 days of less rest than the teams they will be playing against. That is a significant number when the second worst team is the Detroit Lions at minus-10.

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That could be a huge factor for the Giants as the season wears on. The Giants also do not have the luxury of playing any home division games early in the season. For whatever reason, the Giants do not host an NFC East team until Week 14 when the Dallas Cowboys visit MetLife Stadium. That late in the season, those home divisional games could be meaningless.

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