My annual disclaimer is that this is an impossible exercise -- predicting the outcomes of games to be played between five and eight months from now. But just because something's impossible and a bit silly doesn't mean it can't be fun. So take this with a half-cup of salt and journey with me, if you will, into the murky future that is the New York Giants' 2015 regular-season schedule.
Week 1: Sunday, Sept. 13, at Dallas, 8:30 p.m.
Third year in a row opening on the road, third time in four years opening against the Dallas Cowboys, who won the NFC East in 2014 and are hungry to build on the success that took them to the brink of the NFC Championship Game. The Giants won their first four games in what is now called AT&T Stadium, but they've lost their last two there and four straight overall to the Cowboys. Dallas will miss DeMarco Murray, but they have plenty of weapons with which to beat a Giants team still piecing things together on defense. Cowboys 21, Giants 14. Record: 0-1.
Week 2: Sunday, Sept. 20, Atlanta, 1 p.m.
The Atlanta Falcons will have a new head coach -- New Jersey's own Dan Quinn -- eager to put his stamp on a team that has failed to meet expectations two years in a row. The Giants beat the Falcons at home last year in a game that will best be remembered as the NFL debut of wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. He wasn't a big factor in that game, but this year the Falcons will surely focus a large part of their preparation on him. Giants 24, Falcons 20. Record: 1-1
Week 3: Thursday, Sept. 24, Washington, 8:25 p.m.
A short week, but it helps that both games are at home and this one's against a familiar division rival the Giants managed to beat twice in 2014. Washington will still be figuring out its quarterback situation at this point, and they don't appear to have any great answers there. The Giants have a ton of confidence against this team. I don't expect Larry Donnell to catch three touchdowns again, but they'll have enough to win this one. Giants 14, Washington 3. Record: 2-1
Week 4: Sunday, Oct. 4, at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
The last time the Giants played in Buffalo was Dec. 23, 2007, when they clinched a playoff spot en route to their Super Bowl XLII title. The Giants got a scheduling break here, as their trip is early enough in the season that it won't be bitter cold there yet. (Unlike the trip to Minneapolis you'll see below.) The Buffalo Bills also have a new head coach, and it's one with whom the Giants are extremely familiar. Rex Ryan will have his pass-rush ready to get after Eli Manning, and the Giants will be disappointed to see old nemesis LeSean McCoy even before they see his former team. Bills 21, Giants 10. Record: 2-2.
Week 5: Sunday, Oct. 11, San Francisco, 8:30 p.m.
The theme continues as the Giants will face another first-time head coach in San Francisco's Jim Tomsula. It's hard to know what the San Francisco 49ers will look like, though their defense is missing quite a number of familiar pieces and their offense is missing longtime mainstay Frank Gore. This is a rematch of a 2014 game the Giants lost 16-10 and in which Eli Manning threw five of his 14 interceptions. Yes, they'd have won if he'd only thrown four. The Giants get revenge against a San Francisco team still wobbling to its feet after an offseason of major change. Giants 24, 49ers 13. Record: 3-2.
Week 6: Monday, Oct. 19, at Philadelphia, 8:30 p.m.
Eerie feeling here, as it was in a Week 6 prime time game in Philadelphia last year that Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz tore his patellar tendon and missed the rest of the season. The hope is that Cruz will be back and the offense humming by this point around him and Beckham. But the Philadelphia Eagles have a lot of new faces as well, and if they're both healthy the running back tandem of DeMarco Murray and Ryan Mathews is going to be tough for a team with questions on the defensive line to stop. Eagles 31, Giants 14. Record: 3-3.
Week 7: Sunday, Oct. 25, Dallas, 4:25 p.m.
The Giants need a win here, and assuming my Week 1 prediction comes in, they'll not have beaten the Cowboys in nearly three full calendar years. That's too long, and because in this space we always give the Giants three home division wins and three road division losses when predicting the schedule from this far out, I say it stops here. The Giants outscore the defending division champs in a wild one and keep their hopes alive. Giants 34, Cowboys 31. Record: 4-3.
Week 8: Sunday, Nov. 1, at New Orleans, 1 p.m.
The New Orleans Saints are yet another team that went through a lot of change this offseason, and it's hard to know whether their overhaul of the run game and their effort to re-commit to defense will bear fruit, because much of the latter depends on what they do in the draft. But teams that are committed to running the ball are tending to have success in this exercise against the Giants, whose front four is one of the bigger questions they face. Big day for Mark Ingram, C.J. Spiller or whichever New Orleans back is healthy at this point. Saints 24, Giants 20. Record: 4-4.
Week 9: Sunday, Nov. 8, at Tampa Bay, 4:05 p.m.
The last time the Giants played the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was Week 2 of 2012, when Eli Manning set a career high with 510 passing yards and Hakeem Nicks was the NFC Offensive Player of the Week. The last time the Giants played in Tampa Bay was Sept. 27, 2009, when they beat the Bucs 24-0. That was the Giants' last shutout. They won't shut out Jameis Winston & Co., but they should handle them in spite of the back-to-back road games. Giants 31, Buccaneers 10. Record: 5-4.
Week 10: Sunday, Nov. 15, New England, 4:25 p.m.
Oh yes, Manning and Tom Coughlin have the New England Patriots' number. We're all well aware of this, as NFL history always will be. But the Super Bowl XLVI victory was a long time and a lot of roster overhaul ago. And obviously, based on the results of the most recent Super Bowl, the Patriots are sitting at a better time in their franchise history than the Giants are in theirs. The champs come away with a hard-fought win in MetLife. Patriots 27, Giants 20. Record: 5-5.
Week 11: BYE
Teams always hope for a middle-of-the-year bye week, so their stretches without one aren't too long. This is a bit deeper into the season than the Giants would like the bye, but it could be worse.
Week 12: Sunday, Nov. 29, at Washington, 1 p.m.
The Giants haven't lost to Washinton since Dec. 3, 2012. As was the case with the losing streak to Dallas, it's time for this one to end. A disappointing loss to a division rival coming out of the bye put the Giants' playoff chances in peril with five games left in the season. Washington 17, Giants 16. Record: 5-6.
Week 13: Sunday, Dec. 6, N.Y. Jets, 1 p.m.
The battle for New Jersey, joined in the regular season for the first time since Christmas Even 2011, when Victor Cruz went 99 yards for a touchdown just before halftime and the Giants began the run to their most recent Super Bowl title. The Giants haven't lost to the New York Jets since 1993, and their owners care about this game as much as they care about division games. The Giants will break their two-game losing streak against rookie coach Todd Bowles and whoever his quarterback is. Giants 27, Jets 17. Record: 6-6.
Week 14: Monday, Dec. 14, at Miami, 8:30 p.m.
Monday Night Football in Miami in December counts as a major break for a Northeast team looking to get a break from the cold. But on the field, I don't think this year's Miami Dolphins can be assumed to be a pushover. Ndamukong Suh should be dominating in the middle of that defensive line, and Ryan Tannehill's making steady progress as a quarterback. The Giants get tripped up in the Sunshine State and the Coughlin job speculation kicks into high gear. Dolphins 27, Giants 17. Record: 6-7.
Week 15: Sunday, Dec. 20, Carolina, 1 p.m.
The last time the Giants played the Carolina Panthers produced one of the ugliest games in recent memory -- the 38-0 road loss in Week 3 of 2013 in which Eli Manning was sacked six times in the first 17 minutes. Greg Hardy is gone, but the Panthers are very tough late in the year recently, and this is going to be a tough one. I say the Giants gut it out in a last hurrah that keeps their slim playoff hopes alive for one more week. Giants 17, Panthers 16. Record: 7-7.
Week 16: Sunday, Dec. 27, at Minnesota, 1 p.m.
Adrian Peterson and the Minnesota Vikings have made up, Teddy Bridgewater has emerged as one of the bright young quarterbacks in the league and the Giants can't get anything going in temperatures that struggle to climb above single digits. It's an undignified way for things to end, but the Giants are eliminated by the Vikings and miss the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. Vikings 20, Giants 17. Record: 7-8.
Week 17: Sunday, Jan. 3, Philadelphia, 1 p.m.
The Eagles are still playing for something, but this Giants team is a bit more competent than the one that couldn't give an eliminated Eagles team a game in Week 17 of 2014. They muster enough motivation to dent their division rival's postseason hopes and finish .500 for the first time since 2012. Whether it's enough to avoid major organizational changes in the offseason remains to be seen, but at least the Giants end the season on an up note. Giants 34, Eagles 27. Record: 8-8.