Kickoff time.
Sunday night, 8:15 p.m., at MetLife Stadium. The despised Cowboys are in the building. The joint is jumping, and the Giants are on the field, ready to embark on a 2026 season burgeoning with much higher outside expectations than anyone can recall in quite some time.
What does the main builder of the roster, general manager Joe Schoen, know about his new head coach as the action soon gets underway?
Not what he suspects. What does Schoen believe he knows about John Harbaugh?
“We’re gonna be prepared,’’ Schoen said Wednesday. “We’re gonna be prepared for the game, we’re gonna be physical, they’re going to have to go 60 minutes to compete with us and we’re gonna be disciplined on both sides of the ball, we’re gonna be ready to go. I know we’re gonna be ready to go, week in and week out. We’ll be ready.’’
Prepared. Ready. Disciplined. Physical. There are plenty of words to describe why the Giants went after Harbaugh with such gusto, and those four are atop any list.
It is not Schoen’s job to coach the team, to get the guys ready, to prepare for the next opponent or to get the squad to play with physicality.
It is his job to hand over to the head coach a roster that has more answers than questions, more positives than negatives and more solutions than problems.
There is no way to know right now if Schoen succeeded in this mission. He spoke the day players worked and then went on a four-day break to, as Harbaugh said, “kind of gather themselves and get some rest and recovery and get their spirit ready for the haul.’’
There are always personnel decisions to be made, but the bulk of Schoen’s job — fortifying the roster — is complete, for now. He will not speak again publicly until the bye week. That comes in early November, seven games into the season. We will know much more at that point how Schoen’s roster is shaping up.
“I do,’’ Harbaugh said, when asked if he believes he’s been handed a strong roster. “I do. I’m optimistic, I feel good about our guys, but that’s always something that has to be proven. Our mission statement is to be the best team in the National Football League and prove it, because that’s what it requires.’’
Every team — make that most teams — welcomes in September thinking big thoughts about the season to come. One year ago, the Giants were coming off a three-win season but felt the drafting of Jaxson Dart and signings of Russell Wilson and Jameis Winston stabilized the quarterback position for the present and the future. Dart ended up starting in Week 4, and although he showed great promise, the team won only four games, leading to the firing of head coach Brian Daboll.
This is Schoen’s fifth roster with the Giants, and it should be his best. Not perfect, of course. There are questions about the interior of the defensive line — can they stop the run? — whether there is a true No. 1 cornerback, and whether the wide receiver talent is sufficient, even if Malik Nabers returns to form.
“I feel good about the group that we have and expect us to be competitive week in and week out,’’ Schoen said. “I really like the group, both sides of the ball, special teams. The cutdown was very difficult this past weekend from a depth standpoint, some difficult decisions we had to make.’’
It really has to be now, as far as turning the corner and heading toward winning ways. Schoen received a contract extension, and so ownership is pleased with the way he went about the hiring process to land Harbaugh and the way the franchise’s two most significant decision-makers coalesced and developed a relationship where none existed beforehand.
“I feel good,’’ Schoen said. “We have a young quarterback on a rookie deal, going into his second year. We’ve got a No. 1 receiver in Malik Nabers. Not to go position by position, I think we’ve got a strong defense, our offensive line we returned four of five starters, and the No. 10 pick [Sisi Mauigoa] is being plugged in at right guard. So, we should be able to protect the quarterback. So, I feel good about where we are. I feel good about the roster.’’
It is good to feel good now. It is far more meaningful to maintain those good vibes as the season pushes forward.
“I know they’ll go out there and be the very best football team that they can be, that’s my expectation,’’ Harbaugh said. “What that ends up being depends on how good we are. That’s what you find out when you play the games. Everything else is just talk.’’
And, as two-time Super Bowl-winning Giants head coach Tom Coughlin used to say, talk is cheap, play the game.
