Three Most Difficult Opponents on Giants' 2025 Schedule

Whenever the Kansas City Chiefs are on another team’s schedule, it usually turns out to be one of the most difficult battles they will face, given the electricity the team always seems to play with when they are at full strength. 

The Giants are set to host the Chiefs, who will be making their first return to MetLife Stadium since the 2023 season when they beat the stadium’s co-tenant, the New York Jets, 23-20, in a Sunday Night Football thriller. 

More importantly, the Chiefs are coming back from a humiliating 40-22 rout against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX last February in what was one of the more unfathomable defensive performances seen from the Giants’ divisional foe, forcing Kansas City into three total turnovers, six sacks and shutout for nearly three quarters of the title game. 

As the Chiefs look to bounce back from an impressive 15-2 campaign and get back to the pedestal of the NFL that they’ve ruled for the past several years, the Giants are going to be one of the opponents that they look to dominate to show the rest of the NFL that they are a force to be reckoned with. 

Led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes, one of the sport’s most gifted passers, the Chiefs offense can get hot in a flash and fire at all cylinders with a solid core of receivers that includes Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy, Mecole Hardman, and All-Pro tight end Travis Kelce who helped the team produce 11 touchdowns on a combined 192 receptions. 

Their only loss in the receiving realm was DeAndre Hopkins, who was acquired from the Titans in the middle of the season and became a free agent to sign with the Baltimore Ravens. That leaves the Chiefs locked and loaded out wide, and Rice's return from a season-ending injury ensures they will return to elite offensive status if they stay healthy. 

It will be a big challenge for the Giants’ young defense to step into the spotlight and shut down a versatile unit with one of the best players to ever chuck a pigskin in Mahomes, who seems to get better with each season he adds to his resume. 

The Giants' ability to find ways to do damage against the Chiefs' defense will also tell how well they compete in this matchup. 

Led by defensive tackle Chris Jones, their captain, the Chiefs ranked fourth in points and ninth in yards allowed to opponents. Their strongest work came in the trenches, where they limited teams to the eighth-lowest yards and seventh-fewest yards per rushing attempt. 

As the Eagles showed in the big game, the Chiefs can be had if you throw enough at them and don’t just let Mahomes put on a passing clinic. It’ll be interesting to see if the Giants can bring the same level of pass rush that Philadelphia did to give the runners-up a fight in this matchup.

Detroit Lions

When it comes to seeking that old-fashioned dose of hard-nosed football, few teams in the NFL provide it better than the Detroit Lions. The Giants will travel to Ford Field to face the Dan Campbell-led franchise and this meeting could be one of the chippiest games of the entire season. 

The two sides last saw each other in a less meaningful environment during the 2024 preseason, when they held joint practices before evaluating each other’s talent in an exhibition contest. That didn’t stop them from butting heads on a few occasions during that span, and it’s very likely that the heat will be turned back up when the result matters this time around. 

The Lions are coming off a 15-2 season, tied for the best record with the Kansas City Chiefs, and captured the NFC North crown for the second consecutive year. Compared to the 2023 season, Detroit would fall short of the ultimate goal after losing in the NFC Divisional round to the Washington Commanders, 45-31, in a game worse than the final score might suggest. 

The Lions' run was powered by the explosiveness of their offensive attack, led by quarterback Jared Goff. The 2016 No. 1 overall pick excelled in his third year with the franchise, posting 4,629 passing yards on a career-high 72.4% completion percentage with 37 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. 

The stat line marked Goff’s fourth consecutive crossing the 4,000-yard threshold and third with at least 29 touchdowns, which helped spark Detroit to its final spot as the most productive offense in the league and top five in several different passing, rushing, and possession-based metrics. 

It certainly helped Goff having one of the NFL’s best receiving arsenals to dish the ball to every drive. Like the Chiefs, the Lions have no shortage of playmakers, two of whom, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams, amassed over 1,000 yards and 19 combined touchdowns to gash their opponents with both vertical speed and niftiness in open space. 

They also have one of the best tight ends in Sam LaPorta, who can stretch the field and make contested catches as a big body target for Goff to count on in a pinch. Add to that a pair of powerful, gritty ball carriers in David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs, who aren’t afraid to punish defenses on the ground with a thunder and lightning style approach to the run game. 

When they’re gelling at the right times, the Lions are hard to slow down, and the matchup with the Giants will be another big challenge for Shane Bowen’s defense. At the same time, it could become an old-fashioned street fight between two teams hungry to dig themselves out of the gutters of recent history with revamped rosters filled with big names.  

The last time the Giants and Lions faced off was November 20, 2022, at MetLife Stadium when the visiting Lions came in and punched New York in the mouth en route to a 31-18 victory. It should be time for the Giants to return the favor with their improved offense and defense with their own group of ballhawks. 

Philadelphia Eagles

The New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles have already had a long, documented, and disdain-filled history dating back decades in the NFC East, but it seems like their relationship will only be uglier in the aftermath of the Saquon Barkley debacle, which saw the Pro-Bowl running back switch sides in the heated rivalry. 

No matter what happens for both franchises, every matchup between them is bound to return to the same talking point about Barkley and the Giants' mistake in letting him walk to a team where he can now torch his old squad twice a year. 

That was certainly the case in the first year of Barkley’s new home in the City of Brotherly Love, as the Eagles throttled New York in both meetings to inflict pain on the Giants fanbase that once viewed him as a long-term face of the organization. 

Philadelphia took a routing at MetLife Stadium in Week 7 that saw Barkley run for an incredible 176 yards and a touchdown in a 28-3 win before the Eagles repeated in the season finale with their backups earning most of the action, defeating the Giants 20-13 as the final touch to a miserable 100th season for the Giants. 

The Eagles certainly got their money’s worth out of Barkley, who earned the league’s rushing crown with a 345-carry for 2,005-yard and 13-touchdown performance that nearly shattered the NFL’s single-season rushing record held by Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson since 1984. Those historic numbers helped push the Eagles over the top to their second Super Bowl championship in the last seven seasons. 

The Giants will mainly have their hands full trying to contain Barkley and company after their bad effort last season, clogging up the gaps. Injuries to key guys like Dexter Lawrence II certainly didn’t help the cause, but the team also lacked proven depth behind him, which led to finishing in the basement with the 27th-most rushing yards and 18th-most touchdowns allowed.

Adding key pieces in rookie Darius Alexander, Chauncey Gholston, and Abdul Carter on the edge should boost the Giants' chances of giving Philadelphia some trouble up front. However, it's still half the battle when the Eagles' front has been among the best in the sport for a long stretch.

Then, the Giants will have to figure out ways to threaten the birds on the offensive end against what will return as one of the most efficient pass rushing groups that led the competition in sacks produced and gave the Eagles a 43% pass rush win rate that ranked eighth in the NFL. 

Philadelphia's weakness used to be the secondary, but even that area has improved with some bright young players that general manager Howie Roseman has dug out of the draft. 

The Eagles have had the Giants’ number for far too long, and this problem reared its ugly head twice more last season. The stakes for landing an upset win, or maybe two, are higher than ever, and the Giants will need their best football if they want to flip the script of the rivalry. 

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