A Look at the Schedule

When the NFL announced that they were adding the 17th game this season, I was curious to see how it would affect the schedule.  Obviously it added 16 games, but they have to spread them over 18 weeks instead of 17 now and still give every team a bye, so it seemed like a guarantee that there would be some weeks that are better than others. 

That's not the case at all, though.  They had Jim Nantz, Al Michaels and Joe Buck on the NFL Network show last night, and all three of them were raving about their respective slates!  The Monday night schedule is solid, too!  So, as it turns out, an extra week and an extra game for every team didn't water down the schedule at all!

Week 1: At first, I was a little confused why they chose Bears at Rams for Sunday night and Ravens at Raiders for Monday night, seeing as those were the sites for the Sunday and Monday night openers last season.  Then I remembered there were no fans last season, so this is simply Take 2.  This time, they'll get to open the stadium to paying customers with a prime time game.  Which was the original plan all along!  And, since NBC likes to have the Cowboys in Week 1, I'm not surprised they were picked as Tampa Bay's opponent on Opening Night.

Week 2: If there's a "dud" week, it might be Week 2.  Giants-Washington is the Thursday night game, which is I guess to get them out of the way!  Lions-Packers is the Monday night game, which becomes a lot less interesting if Rodgers does indeed leave Green Bay.  The best matchup is clearly Ravens-Chiefs on Sunday night.  That was a Monday night game last season.

Week 3: The last time the Saints played the Patriots, it was Brady vs. Brees.  This time, it's a 1:00 regional game.  Green Bay-San Francisco is Sunday night for some reason and it can't even be flexed out.  Most watchable game of the week is probably the Bucs-Rams FOX doubleheader late game.

Week 4: This year's No. 1 pick, Trevor Lawrence, vs. last year's No. 1 pick, Joe Burrow.  That's literally the only reason anyone would possibly care about a Jaguars-Bengals Thursday night game.  The marquee game not just of Week 4, but of the entire season, is Brady's return to Foxboro, which will be a ratings bonanza on Sunday Night Football!

Week 5: Three weeks in a row where Sunday Night Football is lit!  This time, it's the AFC Championship Game rematch between Buffalo and Kansas City.  Thursday Night Football moves to FOX.  How can you tell?  It's actually a good matchup, Rams-Seahawks!  And we'll see the return of the NFL in London, with the Jets taking on the Falcons.

Week 6: Remember when the Bucs and Eagles met in the playoffs seemingly every year?  It's been a long time, but the NFL obviously has fond enough memories to put it on Thursday night.  Jacksonville's annual London game returns against the Dolphins, who were supposed to be the home team for one last year, so I guess this is the compromise.  All of the other national games are good ones: Dallas-New England, Seattle-Pittsburgh and Buffalo-Tennessee.

Week 7: Why the NFL loves the 49ers so much, I don't know, but Al Michaels gets a second Sunday night game in San Francisco in the first seven weeks.  This one isn't great, either.  They're playing the Colts.  And it's not like they have many options to flex in as a replacement on another of the lighter weeks.  New Orleans-Seattle is a good one on Monday night.

Week 8: Last season, Tampa Bay-New Orleans meant Brady vs. Brees.  Not nearly as interesting this year, but still a worthwhile doubleheader game, especially after that playoff game in January.  One of the things that got them really excited on the schedule release show was Cowboys-Vikings on Halloween night, but that seems like such a missed opportunity.  The Raiders aren't just not home on Halloween night, they aren't even playing!  That's their bye week!

Week 9: They built the whole marketing campaign for the 17th game around Rodgers vs. Mahomes.  But, now that Rodgers' status in Green Bay is unclear, this one doesn't get prime time treatment.  It is an outstanding national doubleheader game, though!  The other three AFC West teams are all visiting NFC East opponents: Broncos-Cowboys, Raiders-Giants and Chargers-Eagles.  Quirks of the 17-game schedule!

Week 10: Is Week 10 considered the midpoint now since that's when most teams will be playing their ninth game?  Semantics!  For some reason, San Francisco gets ANOTHER home prime time game against the Rams.  Sunday Night Football finally makes its first visit to Las Vegas for Raiders-Chiefs, and Seattle-Green Bay is the national game on CBS.  This is the first year where the Sunday afternoon games really have nothing to do with the conference affiliations, which will definitely take some getting used to!

Week 11: It's been five years and they have played since then, but you know there are still plenty of wounds that haven't healed for the Falcons, who have a Super Bowl LI rematch with the Patriots.  Cowboys-Chiefs is one you know FOX circled on the schedule as a game they hoped they'd get.  Sure enough, they did!  The Giants-Bucs Monday night game last season was so good, the NFL decided to do it again this year!

Week 12: First, we've got byes on Thanksgiving week, which is just odd!  Second, two of the Thanksgiving game are outstanding!  Raiders-Cowboys and Bills-Saints?  Yes, please!  I was surprised to see Buffalo-New Orleans since they normally go for a division game on Thanksgiving night, but that was a great choice!  Rams-Packers and Browns-Ravens on Sunday aren't too bad, either.

Week 13: As has been the case for the past several years, Dallas once again plays one of the other Thanksgiving teams on the following Thursday night.  I wonder if they'll keep doing that when Thursday Night Football becomes a streaming-only enterprise in 2022.  The Giants and Jets both play their added opponent (Giants-Dolphins, Eagles-Jets), and San Francisco gets yet another prime time game.  Am I the only one wondering why the 49ers are suddenly the darlings of Sunday Night Football?

Week 14: Week 14 and we're finally done with the byes!  I'm sure they spread them out because of something in the TV deals guaranteeing a certain number of games each week, but mid-December is incredibly late for a bye week!  The Bills were a popular choice as Tampa Bay's opening night opponent, but they've held that game until here.  Chicago at Green Bay on Sunday night, which I never mind.  They make sure to do that one every year for a reason. 

Week 15: Chiefs-Chargers on Thursday night, Seahawks-Rams in the doubleheader game, Saints-Bucs on Sunday night, Vikings-Bears on Monday night.  Can you tell we're getting to crunch time?  They've also got a bunch of those TBA Saturday or Sunday games that they love.  My early guess is that Raiders-Browns will be the choice for Saturday night.

Week 16: Christmas is on a Saturday, so we're treated to two games: Browns-Packers and Colts-Cardinals.  Then Pittsburgh-Kansas City on Sunday afternoon.  Like Bears-Packers, Dallas-Washington on Sunday night is an NFL rule.  Meanwhile, the Jaguars visit the Jets, which will have the top two picks in the draft squaring off, assuming they're both (a) healthy and (b) still starting for terrible teams.

Week 17: What was once the final game of the regular season is now just Week 17.  Although, that means there's a Week 17 Monday night game now (which was taken from Week 1, which is now just a single game instead of a doubleheader).  And we've got Cleveland at Pittsburgh in the Monday night finale!  Happy New Year indeed!

Week 18: January 9: the latest date for regular season games in NFL history.  (For context, Super Bowl XI was played on January 9!)  They, of course, didn't change the all-division finale that's been in place for more than a decade.  First glance at the schedule and there's three I'd really like to see chosen as Game 272 (also weird to adjust to that number): Steelers-Ravens, Chargers-Raiders or Seahawks-Cardinals.  Hopefully the standings cooperate.