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Rex Ryan resembles Santa Claus a whole lot more than Tom Coughlin does, but that doesn’t mean the Jets have an edge over the Giants in what is sure to be a wild holiday season.
A Saturday 1 p.m. Christmas Eve Giants-Jets clash at New Meadowlands Stadium figures to be quite a day as the co-inhabitants of the building — business partners but also big-time rivals — square off, ensuring both teams get to be home for the holiday. It’s a Jets home game.
That game, though, comes in Week 16 of the 2011 NFL season, meaning there is much work for the Giants before they get to determine who owns the Metropolitan Area. The Giants open their season against a familiar rival, facing the Redskins at FedEx Field on Sept. 11 — the third time in the past four years the Giants and Redskins hook up for a season opener.
There was speculation the league would make the Giants-Jets game the season opener as a way to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, but that will not be the case. Instead, the Giants will open up in Landover, Md., which will allow a team from the New York area and Washington, D.C., to pay tribute to 9/11.
Of course, all this is contingent on there actually being an NFL season, which at this point remains a murky concept with the lockout and labor unrest dominating the offseason.
The Giants have two Monday Night Football games. The first arrives the second week against the Rams in New Jersey as Steve Spagnuolo, the Giants’ former defensive coordinator, brings his improving team to town. The second is Nov. 28 at New Orleans.
Three of the Giants’ first four games are on the road. After facing the Rams, they play in Philadelphia and then in Arizona before returning home for games at New Meadowlands Stadium against the Seahawks and Bills for the start of a rare three-game homestand. The bye week for the Giants comes a bit earlier than Coughlin prefers it to be, in Week 7 after six games. Coughlin likes when the bye comes as close to midseason as possible.
“As always, we face a very challenging and difficult schedule,” Coughlin said. “Two of our first three games are division road games, so we have to start well, because your divisional games count twice as much. We have to be ready to play.
“But our deal is how we finish and we play three of our last four games in the NFC East. We need to play good football at the end of the season. Part of our objective for the 2011 season is going to be how our football team plays in the fourth quarter and how we finish. And it’s an extremely challenging finish.”
The Super Bowl champion Packers visit the Meadowlands on Dec. 4. Once again, the Giants have a late flurry of games against NFC East opponents. Four of their last seven games come inside the division, and they do not face the Cowboys until Week 14, when they play at Cowboys Stadium. Three weeks later, the Cowboys close out the regular season in New Jersey.
paul.schwartz@nypost.com