Which 3 Giants games will deliver the most fireworks in 2026?

Editor’s note: This is Part 2 of 26 in Art Stapleton’s New York Giants summer series Q&A

The New York Giants have a Super Bowl winner and possible Hall of Famer at head coach in John Harbaugh, with whom the entire team can strive for a championship standard the franchise has failed to meet for far too long now.

Week 1: Sunday, Sept. 13 at 8:20 p.m. ET

Week 1: Sunday, Sept. 13 at 8:20 p.m. ET

Week 2: Monday, Sept. 21 at 8:15 p.m.

Week 10: Thursday, Nov. 12 at 8:15 p.m.

Week 14: Sunday, Dec. 13 at 4:25 p.m.

Week 16: Monday, Dec. 28 at 8:20 p.m.

Week 17: Sunday, Jan. 3 at 4:25 p.m.

Week 18: Saturday, Jan. 9 or Sunday, Jan. 10 with time TBD

For now, there are far more questions than answers. But we hope to set the table for the summer and beyond with 26 questions that will define the 2026 Giants season.

The standing ovation for Harbaugh from the assembled Giants fans inside Beacon Theatre back in May for the team’s Town Hall event was only just the beginning.

And Harbaugh, their head coach set to usher in yet another new era for the franchise in its 102nd year, certainly knew how to play to his audience moments later.

With chants of “Cowboys suck” ringing out around him, Harbaugh was asked by a fan if he could promise the Giants were done being kicked around by their NFC rivals and most hated foes: the Dallas Cowboys, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Commanders.

That’s when Harbaugh with 193 career victories rallied a fan base with a pledge that felt an awful lot like a battle cry he will repeatedly deliver between now and the start of the season.

“I could [not] care less about what’s happened last year or the year before that or 10 years before that,” Harbaugh said. “All I care about is tomorrow’s practice, because if tomorrow’s practice is the way it’s supposed to be, that will be one more step in the direction of being a good enough football team to kick the Cowboys’ ass.”

Why to watch: This is the game that will set the tone: “Sunday Night Football” with Jaxson Dart against Dak Prescott, Big Blue hoping to pick up where they left off in the 2025 finale when they beat Prescott and the Cowboys for the first time since 2016. So much will be made about the availabiity of Malik Nabers, and rightfully so. Will the Giants perform better than they did three years ago when disaster struck in prime time in a 40-0 debacle of a loss?

Expect both teams’ defenses to be improved and maybe it’s undrafted rookie kicker Dominic Zvada – a surprise winner of the summer-long competition, perhaps – booting the game-winner as time expires. An ironic finish to Harbaugh’s first game as Giants’ coach, considering the way his Ravens tenure ended with a missed FG by a rookie.

Why to watch: Brian Daboll vs. the Giants. Old friends Wan’Dale Robinson, Cor’Dale Flott and Daniel Bellinger back in the building. Dart vs. Cam Ward. You can bet Big Blue will have this game circled, and it’s a must to get on a bit of a roll early on. Fans of Robert Saleh’s new team have been going back and forth with Big Blue backers on social media this entire offseason, to the point where should it continue into the season this game will have more juice than you’d think.
at Giants, Week 18, Saturday/Sunday, January 9/10

Why to watch: Picture it: the Giants are 9-7, the atmosphere at MetLife is the best it has been since the Cowboys’ game in 2016 and Jaxson Dart outplays Jalen Hurts again on his home turf for the signature win of his young career.

The Giants have emphasized building a team that refuses to get bullied between the lines, in back page headlines and on banners pulled by planes over their stadium. Harbaugh’s arrival brings optimism, but what matters most will take place between the lines. He has set out to make over a locker room that needed to not only help establish a shift in expectations and results, but also do what is needed to change perspective and performance.

The Eagles, the Cowboys and the Commanders have all taken turns pushing the Giants around, mocking their very existence regardless of the four Vince Lombardi trophies that sit in the lobby of their training facility. This is the season where the Giants must answer back, as Harbaugh said on the night of the Town Hall.

The hope is that the regular season finale represents the beginning of that, not the end of another season that did not live up to expectations.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Which 3 Giants games will deliver the most fireworks in 2026?