Scheduling plays a huge role in the outcome of every NFL season. So the Athlon NFL editors will spend the next month dissecting each and every week of the 2012 slate for all 32 teams in the league.

New York Giants 2012 Schedule:

Week 1: Dallas (Wed.)

Week 2: Tampa Bay

Week 3: at Carolina (Thur.)

Week 4: at Philadelphia

Week 5: Cleveland

Week 6: at San Francisco

Week 7: Washington

Week 8: at Dallas

Week 9: Pittsburgh

Week 10: at Cincinnati

Week 11: Green Bay

Week 12: BYE

Week 13: at Washington

Week 14: New Orleans

Week 15: at Atlanta

Week 16: at Baltimore

Week 17: Philadelphia

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- In the NFL, heavy is the head that wears the crown normally. Starting the year with two mid-week games in three weeks will likely keep the Giants from getting into any sort of normal rythmn until Week 4. Having said that, the defending Super Bowl champions start with a pretty easy slate. The first playoff team the G-Men will face will be an NFC title game rematch with the 49ers in Week 6. Even though the Cowboys and Eagles will be brutal NFC East tests, the Giants wonât face a team with a winning record from last year until that Week 6 game with San Francisco. A 4-1 start is almost all but certain.

- One of those primetime games early on is a road game against Cam Newton and the Panthers. The Giants will have a round robin with NFC South this year, giving the Giants a two back-to-back tough late season games against the Saints (home) and Falcons (road). Tampa Bay in the New Meadowlands should pose little problem to the nasty Giants front seven.

- Speaking of a tough way to end a season, the Giants have one of the nastiest finishes to 2012. After the bye in Week 12, the G-Men will face four playoff teams in six weeks to end the year. Toss in a road division game with the improved Redskins and home season finale against the Eagles, and the Giants will have their work cut out for them come December.

- Having to face the AFC North in crossover play offers few breaks as well. A home game against Cleveland is an easy win, but a November trip to Cincinnati and a December trip to Baltimore wonât be too kind to the Giants, on the field or on the Doppler radar. Mixed in is a home game against the Pittsburgh Steelers to make matters worse. Unfortunately for New York, the North appears to be the deepest and toughest division in the AFC.

- On the whole, the Giants will face seven teams that made the playoffs a year ago, including three of the four teams who earned byes a year ago. Additionally, the Giants will face 11 weekends in which the opposition posted at least a .500 record a year ago. Meaning, New York will face only four teams, the Redskins twice, with a losing record from 2011. And three of those five games will come in the first five weeks of the year.

- The Giantsâ two floating games are tough tests as they are forced to play the top two seeds from the NFC a year ago. The Packers (home) and 49ers (road) were the best two teams in the regular season a year ago and could both be on bye in the first week of the playoffs again this fall. New York landed arguably the toughest floating schedule in the NFL. The Colts, for example, will face Cleveland and Kansas City in their extra two games while Oakland gets Miami and Jacksonville. As Super Bowl champs, fans should expect this type of challenge in 2012.

-by Braden Gall

Follow @bradengall

2012 Athlon Sports NFL team-by-team schedule analysis:

AFC East

Buffalo Bills

Miami Dolphins

New England Patriots

New York Jets

AFC North

Baltimore Ravens

Cincinnati Bengals

Cleveland Browns

Pittsburgh Steelers



AFC South

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

Tennessee Titans

AFC West

Denver Broncos

Kansas City Chiefs

Oakland Raiders

San Diego Chargers

NFC East

Dallas Cowboys

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Washington Redskins

NFC North

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Minnesota Vikings



NFC South

Atlanta Falcons

Carolina Panthers

New Orleans Saints

Tampa Bay Buccaneers