More On the NFL Schedule

Yesterday, I took a look at the NFL schedule as a whole and made some general observations.  Some good, some bad, some just random, but mostly focused on individual teams.  Today, I'm gonna look at it week-by-week, all the way from Week 1 and its plethora of national games up to the all-division Week 18 to start 2025.

Week 1: Playoff rematches all around.  The AFC Championship Game rematch in the Thursday night season-opener, with Lions-Rams on Sunday night.  And we already knew about the Friday night Packers-Eagles game in Brazil.  The Sunday afternoon slate is pretty weak.  Jacksonville-Miami is probably the best game in the 1:00 window, while Cowboys-Browns isn't a great national game, but it's the national game nonetheless.

Week 2: Thursday Night Football officially kicks off with Bills-Dolphins in Miami.  Last season, it was the final game of the season with the division at stake, so I'm surprised they put it this early.  Cincinnati-Kansas City is also incredibly early.  That's the national doubleheader game on CBS.  And the Lions just seem to be repeating their playoff schedule since they host the Bucs a week after hosting the Rams.  Chicago-Houston is the Sunday night game for some reason.

Week 3: They stay in the AFC East on Thursday night, as the Patriots visit the Jets.  This is also the first week with two separate Monday night games.  Jaguars-Bills is on ESPN, Commanders-Bengals is on ABC.  Personally, I think it should be the other way around.  Baltimore-Dallas is a pretty good national game in the late window.

Week 4: In Week 4, we've got another Monday night split.  Tennessee-Miami is on ESPN, Seattle-Detroit on ABC.  That's three home games, two of them nationally televised, for the Lions.  They were last season's darlings, and all of this early exposure indicates the NFL is high on their chances to do it again.  The previous team that America adopted, the Bills, will also get the spotlight on Sunday night in Baltimore.  I'm also very intrigued by that Chiefs-Chargers game, as the Super Bowl and College Football Playoff-winning coaches square off for the first time in Jim Harbaugh's return to the NFL.

Week 5: Jets-Vikings gets the London slate started on the first of those four-game Sundays.  The Giants are a late game on the same network as the national game, which means I've got them against the Seahawks instead of Packers-Rams.  Ravens-Bengals will probably be the most widely-distributed early game, while Cowboys-Steelers wraps it up on Sunday night.  If you still need more after that, Saints-Chiefs is the Monday night game.

Week 6: Last season, Detroit-Dallas had that controversial finish in the Week 17 "Monday" night game (that was played on a Saturday because of the Sugar Bowl).  This season, they meet early, which was a bit of a surprise to me.  I would've figured they make it the Thursday night game the week after Thanksgiving.  Both New York teams are playing home primetime games, the Giants on Sunday, the Jets on Monday.

Week 7: Our Super Bowl rematch is nationally exclusive.  As it should be!  Frankly, I'm shocked they gave it to FOX instead of putting it in primetime.  This is also a double-Monday night week with a twist.  Instead of getting one of the London games like last year, the ESPN+ exclusive is a second Monday night game this season.  Baltimore-Tampa Bay on regular ESPN, with Chargers-Cardinals only available via streaming.

Week 8: As I noted yesterday, Jerry Jones evidently campaigned for the Cowboys' game in San Francisco to be Week 1 Sunday night.  Instead, they held it for midseason.  Still on Sunday night, though.  There's also a matchup between the top two picks in the Draft when Chicago visits Washington.  And Baltimore visits Cleveland, which I bring up only because of how good the AFC North was last year and figures to be again.  Which makes all of those division games incredibly important.

Week 9: There is one good thing about an 18-week season.  Week 9 is the official midpoint not some random game midway through Week 8.  Anyway, the best Week 9 offering this season is Lions at Packers.  Last season, Green Bay's playoff run pretty much started with a win in Detroit on Thanksgiving.  The Lions should be the NFC North favorites again, but the Packers could definitely challenge them, especially if they get the head-to-head win.  It's also round 2 of Dolphins-Bills, so the AFC East could be essentially decided very early.

Week 10: Giants-Panthers in Munich concludes the international slate.  Cincinnati-Baltimore gets the week started on Thursday night.  The NFL clearly took Al Michaels' frustration about how bad the Amazon games were in that first season to heart.  Because this year's Thursday night schedule has some good ones, like that one.  Eagles-Cowboys is the national doubleheader game, but on CBS, not FOX.

Week 11: Philadelphia then immediately turns around and plays four days later in Washington.  There's also a Battle of Texas to conclude the week.  The best game, though, is the national late game on CBS.  Chiefs-Bills.  It's developed into a full-fledged rivalry, even though it's been incredibly one-sided.  Last year, the Bills won the regular season game, only for Kansas City to win in Buffalo in the Divisional Playoffs.

Week 12: It's usually a pretty good slate the weekend before Thanksgiving, and this season is no exception.  It starts with the Steelers-Browns rivalry and ends with the first Harbowl in 12 years.  The Bengals have their bye, so, unfortunately, not the entire AFC North will be featured nationally.  There's also a yummy playoff rematch between the 49ers and Packers in Green Bay, while the Eagles visit the Rams on Sunday night.  So, like MetLife, SoFi will also have a back-to-back Sunday night-Monday night this season.

Week 13: Thanksgiving weekend, which means six games in national windows.  Of the 10 that are not, a few are particularly enticing.  Eagles-Ravens gets the full national treatment at 4:30, while Texans-Jaguars and Steelers-Bengals are both early games.  That Rams-Saints game in New Orleans could have some potential, too.  The NFC South appears to be wide open, and I can definitely see the Saints being the team in that division that makes a run.

Week 14: Six teams have a bye in Week 14.  I'm sorry, but that's ridiculous!  All byes should be done by Thanksgiving.  Teams shouldn't have to wait until December to get theirs.  Anyway, I get my Chargers-Chiefs primetime game, while Round 2 of Packers-Lions gets it underway.  The Jets will also make a rare Sunday afternoon appearance when they visit Miami.

Week 15: With the Lions playing the Bills at home and having the CBS Thanksgiving game this year, I was certain that would be the matchup.  But they gave Detroit a division game on Thanksgiving instead and have Buffalo wrapping up a three-game homestand.  The Lions' schedule is very interesting.  They play three of their first four at home, then have a three-game homestand starting on Thanksgiving.  That's six of their nine home games in a seven-week period, with a lot of road games during the eight weeks in between.

Week 16: In order to play on Christmas, a Wednesday, they had to schedule two games on Saturday, much to the chagrin of those who'll want to watch the College Football Playoff first-round games that day.  Frankly, there was no way to avoid it this year.  What they do moving forward will be interesting, however.  The entire AFC North plays each other on either Thursday (Browns-Bengals) or Saturday (Steelers-Ravens), while the Lions visit the Bears.  Something that was noted on one of the NFL blogs is that both Detroit and Pittsburgh play all six of their division games from Week 11 onwards.  What's even crazier is that it wasn't deliberate!

Week 17: Because they had to predetermine the Week 16 Saturday games, NFL Network's Saturday tripleheader gets pushed back a week.  My (extremely) early guess is that Denver-Cincinnati will get the primetime spot, Falcons-Commanders starts the day (because no one will care), and Cardinals-Rams in the middle.  Of the already-scheduled games, we've got Cowboys at Eagles, Lions at 49ers and Jets at Bills.  Should be some good late-season matchups.

Week 18: And, of course, we wrap it up with all divisional matchups on the first weekend of the New Year.  My spidey sense is telling me that the AFC North won't be settled yet, so I'm tabbing Browns-Ravens and Bengals-Steelers as the ESPN Saturday doubleheader.  As for Game 272 on Sunday Night Football, let's go with Saints-Bucs, with Dolphins-Jets as the dark horse candidate.

Making the NFL schedule is a difficult process that requires many drafts, many reviews and input from way too many interested parties.  It goes without saying that with so many hands in the cookie jar, somebody's bound to be unhappy.  Which plenty of teams are.  Others, meanwhile, love it.  I fall squarely in the middle.  I realize it's not easy, but I'm often left confused by the final product.  This is definitely one of those years where I'm confused.  Way too many questionable primetime choices and way too many weeks with not enough marquee games.  It's not like I could do better, though, even if I tried.