A first-year Giants regime walks into SoFi Stadium against a Rams team that traded for a top-5 pass rusher and just paid its 38-year-old MVP quarterback like he's got five more years left in the tank.
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TUE SEP 22 · 5:15 PM PT
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Giants
Rams
Jaxson Dart gets his second full season as the Giants' starter under John Harbaugh, who left Baltimore after over a decade to take over a franchise that finished 4-13 a year ago. Dart flashed at minicamp, including a deep touchdown to Odell Beckham Jr., but reports out of camp also flagged him as indecisive pushing the ball downfield — the exact swing skill this Rams defense, now featuring Myles Garrett off the edge, is built to punish. Kickoff is 5:15 PM PT.
Cam Skattebo is trending toward a Week 1 return from the ankle injury that ended his rookie year, which matters because Malik Nabers is not a lock to be ready by Week 3 — he had a second knee procedure in May and the Giants haven't ruled out easing him back on a snap count. On the other side, Alaric Jackson's felony domestic violence arrest in June is still an open case with no suspension handed down yet, a real complication for a Rams offensive line protecting a soon-to-be 38-year-old quarterback.
None of that changes the shape of this roster mismatch on paper. Matthew Stafford just signed a one-year, $55 million extension off an MVP-caliber year, and he's throwing to Puka Nacua and Davante Adams — arguably the best receiver duo in the league. Garrett's arrival gives Los Angeles a defensive centerpiece it didn't have during last season's run to the NFC title game.
New York Giants
Los Angeles Rams
The Giants did close last season on a two-game heater, blowing out the Raiders 34-10 and the Cowboys 34-17, proof this offense can go off when the pieces click. Harbaugh brought in Beckham, Smith-Schuster and Berrios to give Dart bodies to throw to while Nabers works back, but that's a lot of new faces to sync up against a defense that just added a former Defensive Player of the Year.
The Rams, for their part, aren't walking in unscathed — they blew a late lead to Seattle in the NFC Championship and know firsthand how quickly a big roster can come up empty in a big moment. Health up front will decide how much of that star power on both sides actually gets on the field Monday night.
New York Giants
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Fully healthy — no injuries to report
Los Angeles Rams
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Fully healthy — no injuries to report
Put it together and this reads like a measuring-stick game for Harbaugh's rebuild against a Rams team that spent its offseason capital trying to close the gap that got exposed in January. The Giants have the flashes; the Rams have the ceiling.
