Giants, Jets to meet in NFL preseason opener

[April 20, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- The first football game in the new Meadowlands Stadium will be between the owners of the $1.6 billion facility.

The NFL announced Wednesday that the Giants and Jets will play the first game Aug. 16 when they meet Monday night in the preseason opener for both teams.

The Dallas Cowboys will play the Cincinnati Bengals in the Pro Football Hall of Fame game to open the NFL's preseason schedule in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 8.

Carolina will play at Baltimore on Thursday night, Aug. 12, then the Jets and Giants meet the following Monday before the rest of the league gets into action later in the week.

Super Bowl champion New Orleans opens the preseason at New England. The date is still to be determined.

The Jets and Giants traditionally play the second-to-last preseason game against each other, but with the new stadium both teams wanted to be the first to play in it.

The Giants will play the first regular season game in the new Meadowlands Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 12. The Jets will open their regular season with the first Monday night game at the new stadium.

That decision caused some controversy.

Both teams also wanted to play the first regular-season game at the new stadium. But since the Giants and Jets are not on each other's schedule, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell flipped a coin to determine which would play first at home.

The Giants won the toss, but Jets owner Woody Johnson was upset that a representative of the team was not present when the coin was flipped.

The AFC champion Indianapolis Colts open their preseason at home against San Francisco.

The Minnesota Vikings, with or without Brett Favre, start the preseason at St. Louis.

Pete Carroll's first preseason game as Seattle Seahawks coach will be against at home against Tennessee.

New Washington Redskins coach Mike Shanahan opens the preseason at home against Buffalo.

[Associated Press]

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