Opponent Preview: New York Giants face Dallas Cowboys in Week 1, Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2
The National Football League (NFL) has announced schedule for the 2012 season and after finishing their respective offseason voluntary activities, the teams are now heading to training camp, which will be followed by preseason and then regular season.
In this space we are going to briefly review the opponents every team is going to face in the 2012 season.
Let’s start with the defending Super Bowl champions New York Giants, who will play the first game of the season against their National Football Conference (NFC) East divisional rivals Dallas Cowboys.
Week 1: Dallas Cowboys
It is as exciting as it can get. Apart from handling the divisional rivalry, the Cowboys have to settle the score with Giants. After all, it was Giants, who eliminated the Cowboys in the regular season finale last time to qualify for the playoffs.
Had Cowboys won that game, they would have reached the playoffs instead of Giants, and they might have even won the Super Bowl as well (it’s a long shot though).
Nevertheless, the Cowboys are desperate to win the title and they have made some drastic changes in their defensive scheme after selecting Morris Claiborne as sixth overall pick in this year’s draft. Giants must watch out for that.
Head-to-head
Giants and Cowboys have faced each other 100 times. Giants have won 42 games while Cowboys have an edge with 56 victories. Two games were tied. The Giants will face Cowboys twice in the 2012 season.
Week 2: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
By the looks of the things, it is a seemingly less threatening encounter for Giants, especially considering Tampa Bay’s last season performance.
The Bucs started the season well and won four out of their first six games. However, they underwent a slump and lost 10 games in a row to end the season on a humiliating note.
That being said, the ride is not going to be easy for the Giants because the Bucs have introduced a few surprises during this offseason.
They have brought in new head coach Greg Schiano, who has reportedly adopted a rather strict approach in an attempt to discipline the players. The management has also added a few veterans to the squad.
Head-to-head
Giants and Tampa Bay have played 18 games against each other. Giants have an edge as they are leading with 12 victories while the Bucs have only been able to win six games. The Giants will play only one game against the Bucs in the 2012 season.
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