Despite the fact that the Tremendous Bowl rematch between the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers won’t happen till nearly the midpoint of the season, NFL followers will probably be handled to a pair of playoff rematches on the opening weekend.
Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs start their quest for an unprecedented third straight Tremendous Bowl title once they host the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 5 within the kickoff recreation, whereas the Los Angeles Rams are on the Detroit Lions within the Sunday night time recreation on Sept. 8.
The 2 playoff rematches in Week 1 are amongst 9 on this yr’s regular-season schedule, which was launched by the league Wednesday night time.
The Ravens-Chiefs matchup is a rematch of final season’s AFC Championship Recreation, received by Kansas Metropolis 17-10. Kansas Metropolis heads to San Francisco on Oct. 20, after it defeated the 49ers 25-22 within the second time beyond regulation recreation in Tremendous Bowl historical past. It additionally marks the second straight season the Chiefs can have a Tremendous Bowl rematch after they misplaced to the Philadelphia Eagles in a Monday night time recreation final season.
Kansas Metropolis will then journey to Buffalo on Nov. 17 in what’s changing into a yearly matchup. This would be the fifth straight yr the 2 groups have confronted off within the common season. The Payments have received three straight within the common season, however the Chiefs have received all three matchups within the playoffs.
The Rams’ Matthew Stafford and Detroit’s Jared Goff will face their former groups for the third time, together with the playoffs. The Lions received their first playoff recreation in 32 years once they defeated the Rams 24-23 in an NFC wild-card spherical recreation.
The rematch of the NFC Championship Recreation between the 49ers and Lions will not occur till Dec. 30 in San Francisco, which is the final Monday night time recreation of the season.
After the Rams recreation, the Lions will host Tampa Bay on Sept. 15 in a rematch of a divisional-round recreation received by Detroit.
The opposite playoff rematches are Baltimore at Houston on Christmas Day, Philadelphia at Tampa Bay on Sept. 29 and San Francisco at Inexperienced Bay on Nov. 24.
The NFL launched the complete slate for its one hundred and fifth season after revealing 4 worldwide video games and each of its Christmas Day matchups earlier Wednesday. The schedule has been launched the previous couple of years on the second Thursday in Could however was barely delayed this yr.
Despite the fact that a memo was despatched to groups late final week saying the schedule can be launched Wednesday night time, it wasn’t till Monday morning that it was finalized.
Hans Schroeder, the manager vp of NFL Media, stated there have been conferences over the weekend to tweak issues.
5 quarterbacks going within the first spherical of the draft impacted among the remaining choices.
“We have been getting actually shut on the finish of final week and had one thing we have been actually proud of Friday,” he stated. “We had a four-hour Zoom on Sunday night time and had the ultimate winner. It was similar to Friday however a pair issues we appreciated higher. We used each minute to proceed to refine it.”
The league beforehand introduced Tuesday that Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets would open the season on “Monday Night time Soccer” at San Francisco on Sept. 9. The Jets opened at +5.5, in keeping with ESPN BET odds, which might match Rodgers’ largest Week 1 underdog position as a beginning quarterback. The Packers have been +5.5 on the Seahawks in Week 1 of the 2014 season (Seattle received 36-16).
Amongst different highlights:
Kirk Cousins’ first recreation with the Atlanta Falcons will probably be at dwelling on Sept. 8 once they host Russell Wilson and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Cousins signed a four-year, $180 million take care of the Falcons in the course of the offseason.
Wilson will probably be making his Steelers debut after being launched by Denver. It is going to additionally mark the return of Arthur Smith, who’s the Steelers’ offensive coordinator after being fired as Falcons coach.
Caleb Williams, the highest total choose by Chicago in final month’s draft, will make his Bears debut in opposition to Tennessee. Chicago then goes to Houston for a Sunday night time recreation on Sept. 15 in opposition to the Texans and reigning AP Offensive Rookie of the 12 months C.J. Stroud.
The highest two picks within the draft may meet Oct. 27 in Washington when the Bears face the Commanders and Jayden Daniels.
Together with the kickoff recreation, “Thursday Night time Soccer” and Thanksgiving, 14 groups will play a number of Thursday video games. The league amended its coverage final season to permit groups to make a couple of look on Thursday nights.
Six groups — the Jacksonville Jaguars, Titans, Colts, Cardinals, Panthers and Chargers — won’t have the quick Sunday to Thursday turnaround.
The Chiefs are set to play video games on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday — an odd prevalence that has occurred solely as soon as earlier than within the NFL. Kansas Metropolis would be the first staff for the reason that 1927 New York Yankees — the soccer model — to play video games on six days of the week in a single season.
The three different groups taking part in on Christmas — Pittsburgh, Houston and Baltimore — will all have video games on 5 days of the week, lacking solely Tuesday and Friday.
The 49ers will face 4 groups coming off their bye weeks, tied for probably the most in a season since byes returned to the NFL in 1990, in keeping with ESPN Stats & Info. San Francisco can have 22 fewer days of relaxation than their opponents this season, tied for the third-largest hole for the reason that begin of the eight-division format in 2002, in keeping with ESPN Stats & Data. The Colts will face three groups coming off byes.
The Ravens are on the different finish of the equation with a league-high 16 extra days off than their opponents thanks partially to video games on Wednesday and Thursday. That is probably the most further days of relaxation for any staff since 2002, in keeping with ESPN Stats & Info.
The Panthers are the one staff this season to don’t have any prime-time video games, the primary time that has been the case for Carolina since 2011. The Falcons and Cardinals have been each with out a prime-time recreation final season, the one groups to go with out one for the reason that 17-game schedule started in 2021.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
