With the release of the New York Giants schedule, oddsmakers and writers have been speculating on over/under totals and which games the Giants will win and which ones they will lose.
With all due respect to those people, we won’t, at least until we have a look at the Giants’ roster as well as that of their opponents for the regular season.
But in this Year 2 of the Brian Daboll-Joe Schoen administration, we’ll try to define what we mean by a “successful” season.
Victory margin. The Giants’ victory total in 2023 and whether it will top the stunning nine victories the squad managed to compile against the third-easiest schedule last year appear to be the main topics of discussion.
The Giants won the playoffs for the first time in more than ten years under Brian Daboll’s leadership in his first season as head coach. The Cowboys stole two games by a single point, while the Commanders tied a game, contributing to the Giants’ stunning nine victories last season. This team may be put to the test by the 2023 schedule, or the Giants may once again shock bookmakers. I don’t want any part of this, any way.
Based on strength of schedule, the Eagles, Cowboys, and Commanders all had simpler schedules in 2022 than the Giants. However, ESPN is fairly confident in the over for the Eagles (10.5 games) and Cowboys (9.5 games). Side Note: Online sportsbooks have the Giants total win over-under at only 7.5 wins this season.
Only one conclusion can be drawn: according to ESPN, the Giants did not close the talent gap with the Eagles and Cowboys enough to challenge them in the competitive column.
If such is the case, we believe that it is premature to draw that conclusion since rosters have not yet been finalized and one or two significant injuries might drastically alter the makeup of a roster.
The statistic that needs to be improved the most is the average team scoring margin, which will increase the Giants’ chances of exceeding their predicted win total and demonstrate development.
