The 2020 season was the New York Giants' 96th in the National Football League (NFL) and their first under head coach Joe Judge.
For the first time since 2003, long-time quarterback Eli Manning was not on the roster, as he announced his retirement on January 22. Manning led the Giants to six playoff appearances, three NFC East titles, and two Super Bowl wins in the 2007 and 2011 seasons, winning the game MVP title in both Super Bowls.
Despite starting the season 0–5 for the third time in eight years, the Giants improved on their 4–12 record from the previous season with their week 13 upset win over the Seattle Seahawks and rallied to finish 6–10, but despite beating their divisional rival, the Dallas Cowboys, the Giants failed to win the NFC East or make the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year, following the Washington Football Team winning their final game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 17. The Giants would have needed the Eagles to win in order to win the NFC East due to their head-to-head record against Washington, and it would have made them the first team in the Super Bowl era to make the playoffs with a double-digit losing record, as well as the first team to make the playoffs after starting 0–5.Inside the Numbers: Giants' playoff history, Giants.com, December 29, 2020
On July 20, 2020, the Giants confirmed that their home games would take place without fans in attendance due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.
Offseason
Signings Position Player Age 2019 team Contract CB James Bradberry 26 Carolina Panthers 3 years, $43.5 million ILB Blake Martinez 26 Green Bay Packers 3 years, $30.75 million TE Levine Toilolo 28 San Francisco 49ers 2 years, $6.2 million OLB Kyler Fackrell 28 Green Bay Packers 1 year, $4.6 million OT Cameron Fleming 27 Dallas Cowboys 1 year, $3.438 million SS Nate Ebner 30 New England Patriots 1 year, $2 million QB Colt McCoy 33 Washington Redskins 1 year, $2.25 million RB Dion Lewis 29 Tennessee Titans 1 year, $1.55 million DB Dravon Askew-Henry 24 New York Guardians 2 years, $1.39 million DT Austin Johnson 25 Tennessee Titans 1 year, $1.5 million TE Eric Tomlinson 27 Oakland Raiders 1 year, $1.02 million LS Casey Kreiter 29 Denver Broncos 1 year, $1.048 million CB Logan Ryan 29 Tennessee Titans 1 year, $7.5 million
Draft
2020 New York Giants Draft Round Selection Player Position College Notes 1 4 Andrew Thomas OT Georgia 2 36 Xavier McKinney S Alabama 3 99 Matt Peart OT UConn Compensatory pick 4 110 Darnay Holmes CB UCLA 5 150 Shane Lemieux G Oregon 6 183 Cam Brown LB Penn State 7 218 Carter Coughlin LB Minnesota 238 T. J. Brunson LB South Carolina from New Orleans 247 Chris Williamson CB Minnesota Compensatory pick 255 Tae Crowder LB Georgia Compensatory pick
Pre-draft trades On October 23, 2018, the Giants traded cornerback Eli Apple to the New Orleans Saints for a fourth-round pick in the 2019 draft and a seventh-round pick in the 2020 draft. On October 29, 2019, the Giants traded their third-round pick in the 2020 draft and a fifth-round pick in the 2021 draft to the New York Jets in exchange for defensive end Leonard Williams.
Undrafted free agents Player Position College Christian Angulo CB Hampton Oluwole Betiku DE Illinois Case Cookus QB Northern Arizona Derrick Dillon WR LSU Malcolm Elmore CB Central Methodist Tyler Haycraft OT Louisville Rysen John WR/TE Simon Fraser Niko Lalos DE Dartmouth JaQuarius Landrews S Mississippi State Javon Leake RB Maryland Dana Levine OLB Temple Austin Mack WR Ohio State Kyle Markway TE South Carolina Kyle Murphy OT Rhode Island Dominique Ross OLB North Carolina Binjimen Victor WR Ohio State
Staff
Final roster
Preseason The Giants' preseason schedule was announced on May 1.
Week Date Opponent Venue Result 1 at New York Jets MetLife StadiumCancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2 at Tennessee Titans Nissan Stadium 3 Green Bay Packers MetLife Stadium 4 New England Patriots MetLife Stadium
Regular season
Schedule The Giants' 2020 schedule was announced on May 7.
Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap 1 Pittsburgh Steelers L 16–26 0–1 MetLife Stadium Recap 2 September 20 at Chicago Bears L 13–17 0–2 Soldier Field Recap 3 September 27 San Francisco 49ers L 9–36 0–3 MetLife Stadium Recap 4 October 4 at Los Angeles Rams L 9–17 0–4 SoFi Stadium Recap 5 October 11 at Dallas Cowboys L 34–37 0–5 AT&T Stadium Recap 6 October 18 Washington Football Team W 20–19 1–5 MetLife Stadium Recap 7 at Philadelphia Eagles L 21–22 1–6 Lincoln Financial Field Recap 8 Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 23–25 1–7 MetLife Stadium Recap 9 November 8 at Washington Football Team W 23–20 2–7 FedExField Recap 10 November 15 Philadelphia Eagles W 27–17 3–7 MetLife Stadium Recap 11Bye 12 November 29 at Cincinnati Bengals W 19–17 4–7 Paul Brown Stadium Recap 13 December 6 at Seattle Seahawks W 17–12 5–7 Lumen Field Recap 14 December 13 Arizona Cardinals L 7–26 5–8 MetLife Stadium Recap 15 December 20 Cleveland Browns L 6–20 5–9 MetLife Stadium Recap 16 December 27 at Baltimore Ravens L 13–27 5–10 M&T Bank Stadium Recap 17 January 3 Dallas Cowboys W 23–19 6–10 MetLife Stadium Recap Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.
Game summaries
Week 1: vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
The Giants lost their first game in the post-Eli Manning era. They suffered their 4th consecutive loss in a season opener, and became 3–8 in home openers since moving to MetLife Stadium.
The Giants opened up strong, taking a 10–3 lead on the first play of the 2nd quarter when Daniel Jones connected with Darius Slayton for a 41-yard score. T. J. Watt forced an interception of Jones which sparked two Steelers touchdown drives before halftime. In the 3rd quarter, on the 19th play of an 87-yard drive, Jones was hit by Bud Dupree and forced a goal-line interception, which the Steelers kicked a field goal to make it a 2 possession game. JuJu Smith-Schuster scored his second touchdown in the 4th quarter for the Steelers to take a commanding 26–10 lead. Slayton scored his second touchdown with 1:52 remaining, but the Steelers sealed the victory when they stopped the Giants 2-point conversion attempt and recovered the onside kick.
Week 2: at Chicago Bears
The Giants came out flat, surrendering a 12 play, 82-yard opening touchdown drive that lasted half the first quarter. Saquon Barkley suffered a season ending ACL injury on the first play of the second quarter, and Daniel Jones later threw a costly red zone interception to end the drive. They would also lose Sterling Shepard to a toe injury.
Down 17–0, the Giants tightened up their defensive play in the second half, forcing two interceptions from Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky and getting back in the game. In the final 2:02 down 17–13, Daniel Jones tried to complete a comeback and led the offense to the Bears' 10-yard line, but could not score as time expired, so the Giants started 0–2 for the 4th consecutive year.
Week 3: vs. San Francisco 49ers
With the loss, the Giants fell to 0–3 for the first time since 2017. The 49ers did not punt once the entire game while the Giants only mustered 231 total yards. Daniel Jones had multiple turnovers for the third game in a row.
Week 4: at Los Angeles Rams
Daniel Jones tried to mount a game-tying drive but threw an interception in Rams territory to seal the loss. It was his 7th turnover in 4 games. The Giants fell to 0–4 for the first time since 2017 and failed to score a touchdown for the second consecutive game.
Week 5: at Dallas Cowboys
The Giants blew a 14-point lead in the second quarter. Daniel Jones' fumbling woes continued after he was sacked by Cowboys' Anthony Brown who returned that same fumble for a touchdown. The Giants briefly regained the lead with 8:46 left in the 4th quarter after Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott suffered a season-ending ankle injury, but their defense could not hang on against backup quarterback Andy Dalton. The Cowboys kicked a game-winning field goal to drop the still-winless Giants to 0–5 and two games behind the 2–3 Cowboys.
Week 6: vs. Washington Football Team
Tae Crowder, the last pick in the 2020 NFL draft, recovered a fumble and ran 43 yards for the go-ahead score with 3:29 remaining. After responding with a touchdown to make it 20–19, Washington coach Ron Rivera chose to go for the 2-point conversion, and the win. The Giants stopped Washington's conversion attempt, guaranteeing Joe Judge his first win as an NFL head coach.
Week 7: at Philadelphia Eagles
After a slow start in the first half, the Giants gained momentum to take a 21–10 fourth-quarter lead. However, several mishaps would ensue for New York, including late penalties and a critical drop by Evan Engram in the 4th quarter at the Eagles 25 yard line. Philadelphia capitalized on the momentum swing and scored two unanswered touchdowns for a 22–21 lead with 40 seconds left in regulation. With one last chance to drive for a potential game-winning field goal, Daniel Jones was strip-sacked by Brandon Graham on second down. The Eagles recovered the loose ball, sealing New York's fate. The heartbreaking loss dropped the Giants to 1–6 on the season and extended their losing streak against the Eagles to eight games dating back to Week 9 of the 2016 season.
Week 8: vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Despite leading 17–15 heading into the fourth quarter, more miscues haunted the Giants as the defense allowed Tom Brady to score 10 points and quickly fell behind 25–17. Despite the miscues, the Giants drove down the field with Daniel Jones finding Golden Tate in the endzone with 28 seconds left. However, during the two-point conversion, controversy arose after the referees picked up a flag for an Antoine Winfield Jr. pass interference on Dion Lewis in the endzone as Winfield made a deflection on a Daniel Jones pass. This forced the Giants to attempt an onside kick and could not recover the kick ending the game. The Giants dropped 1–7 for the third time in four seasons.
Week 9: at Washington Football Team
The Giants took an early lead and never trailed. Washington fought back from a 20–3 deficit and cut the lead to 23–20. However, two late interceptions allowed the Giants victory and swept Washington for the second straight year to improve to 2–7. The Giants had 5 total takeaways and did not turn the ball over for the first time in the season and extended their winning streak against Washington to 5 games. The Giants were the only NFC East team to defeat Washington in the 2020 season.
Week 10: vs. Philadelphia Eagles
With this win, the Giants avenged their Week 7 loss and improved to 3–7 on the season. The Giants did not turn the ball over for the second straight game and did not force any turnovers on defense. The victory also snapped an 8-game losing streak to the Eagles, dating back to Week 9 of the 2016 season. After the game, the Giants extended kicker Graham Gano $14 million through the 2023 NFL season.
Week 12: at Cincinnati Bengals
The Giants opened up with a Wayne Gallman touchdown on 4th and Goal, set up by a 53-yard completion from Jones to Evan Engram. The Bengals returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown of their own and the halftime score was 10-10. The Giants defense forced three turnovers in the 2nd half, the first an interception by Niko Lalos, a rookie from Dartmouth making his NFL debut, and a forced fumble later by Logan Ryan which he also recovered. The Bengals cut into the Giants 19–10 lead in the final minutes and had a chance to win the game on the final drive, but backup quarterback Brandon Allen was sacked by Jabaal Sheard and lost the ball, which was recovered by the Giants. Daniel Jones injured his hamstring in the win.
With the win, the Giants became the third NFL team to win 700 regular season games (only behind the Bears and Packers) and won in Cincinnati for the first time in franchise history.
Week 13: at Seattle Seahawks