Football fans are eagerly anticipating the official release of the 2023 National Football League schedule, and ESPN’s Adam Schefter recently reported that the league is aiming to make it public on Thursday, May 11. One possibility that has been considered is having the New York Jets face the New York Giants in a Week 1, interconference matchup on ESPN’s Monday Night Football. The game falls on the 22-year mark of the tragic September 11 attacks and would be an enticing draw because of the presumed Jets debut of quarterback Aaron Rodgers. On Wednesday morning, WFAN’s Boomer & Gio morning show spoke about the potential for carrying out this matchup and what it would mean to the city of New York.
“I do know for a fact that the Jets and Giants would be open to playing each other [on] Opening Weekend,” show co-host Boomer Esiason said. “I do know that.”
“How could you not when it’s on 9/11 and it’d be a national TV game,” concurred show co-host Gregg Giannotti.
The Jets and Giants are scheduled to play one another in the third week of the preseason, meaning that a regular season-opening matchup would take place a mere two weeks later. Yet Giannotti does not believe that to be a concern because of the contrast in offensive and defensive schemes, along with personnel. The Giants qualified for the postseason last year for the first time since 2016, while the Jets have not returned since advancing to the AFC Championship game in 2010.
Since both teams have made a wide array of acquisitions this offseason and are expected to contend for a Super Bowl championship, they will likely be more prominent on nationally-televised games throughout the 2023 NFL regular season. In fact, Esiason reported that he knows the Jets will be playing six games on national television, indicative of the maximum a team is allowed per NFL rules and regulations.
“They will get the maximum with Aaron Rodgers, as you would expect especially with all the expectations of them being a really good team and it being New York and everything else,” Giannotti said. “So they’ll get the full complement of the national TV games.”
An opening matchup between the Jets and Giants, while it makes sense to broadcast on Monday Night Football, could slot into the 4:25 window on the preceding day. The question would then pertain to which network would broadcast the games, something that is no longer a given depending on the home team with the forsaking of the cross-flex model.
“There’s going to be a lot more moving around of games and the conference affiliations with CBS and FOX,” Esiason said. “Sundays aren’t going to be nearly what they had been in the past, but the playoffs are going to remain AFC [on] CBS, NFC on FOX, and ESPN. Obviously they’ll move games around to NBC, to ESPN, and stuff like that when we do get to the playoffs.”
