NFL Schedule Release Provides Rare Entertainment in COVID-19 Outbreak
On Thursday night, the 2020 NFL regular-season schedule was officially released in what has become one of the most treasured days on the calendar. With so many moving pieces on each roster in the offseason, we all can’t wait to see what the new year has in store for us.
The big question, of course, is whether or not there will even be an NFL season to play. It would be a huge disappointment, considering the elite Week 1 matchups.
If the NFL season does, in fact, get started, it will be a rematch of last season’s AFC Divisional Round matchup between the Houston Texans and the Super Bowl defending champion Kansas City Chiefs. In last year’s matchup, the Texans held a 24-0 lead in the second quarter before totally collapsing en route to a 51-31 loss. On FanDuel Sportsbook, the Chiefs are 10-point favorites.
The story of Tom Brady heading to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was as riveting as any other this offseason. Brady takes his new squad on the road in Week 1 to make his Bucs debut against Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. This will be the first of two matchups between the future NFL Hall-of-Famers, and the Saints are already listed as 4.5-point favorites on FanDuel.
National Spotlight
All four of those teams will be on national television quite a bit this season.
Mahomes and the Chiefs will be on everyone’s radar this season. That, along with a Super Bowl title defense, has them on national TV and the late afternoon window five times each this season. Of course, the marquee matchup comes in Week 3 when KC hits the road to take on Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens.
The Saints have a Christmas Day game that falls on a Friday against the hated Minnesota Vikings. In two of the last three seasons, Minnesota has knocked New Orleans out of the playoffs. Not to be outdone, the Saints will also play the Las Vegas Raiders in their first game at the new home in Sin City.
If all of that wasn’t enough, the Chiefs and Saints will do battle in Week 15 down in New Orleans.
Brady’s debut season with the Bucs will include five total national-TV games, with four of them coming in a five-week span (Weeks 5-9) and five of them coming in a seven-week span (Weeks 5-11). Not to mention, Tampa Bay has four other games in the 4:00 window. The best part is that the Bucs have the bye week in Week 13.
Thanksgiving Day will feature three games – Houston Texans at Detroit Lions, Washington Redskins at Dallas Cowboys and Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers.
Everyone is undoubtedly excited to see Joe Burrow make his NFL debut with the Cincinnati Bengals; that will come in a Week 1 home matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers. Unfortunately, Burrow and the Bengals have a Week 2 short-week road matchup on a Thursday against the Cleveland Browns.
These are just a small appetizer of matchups to whet the palette. Just as the case is in real life, teams will change from year to year. New contenders will emerge as the schedule plays itself out and must-see-TV matchups at some point.
