The NFL finally unveiled the 2012 regular season schedule. The league does a lot of things right but the schedule doesn't usually seem to be one of them. Here are some interesting matchups I see at first glance:
Week 1: The season starts off with a classic NFC East matchup: Cowboys - Giants. The schedulers might have you think this is the highlight, but for me it's the Peyton Manning led Broncos taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Denver. The last time these two teams met, Tim Tebowmania hit Demaryius Thomas on a crossing route who took it to the house in overtime ending the Steelers' season in dramatic fashion in the playoffs. Now Tebow is a Jet, Manning is in Denver and the Broncos are an early-season favorite to make a deep playoff run. While all the attention will be on Manning, and certainly it should be, both defenses will be great to watch.
Week 2: Sunday night football has another great matchup with the Lions battling the 49ers this time. The last time these two teams met, Jim Harbaugh's "enthusiastic" handshake with Jim Shwartz was the bigger story than the game itself (which was a shame in my opinion). If the Lions are ready to take the next step, they have to step up to the plate in prime-time games like this one against a top team like the 49ers.
Week 3: NBC seems to have the early-season lead on great prime-time matchups over ESPN as they roll out another classic - Patriots v. Ravens. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Ray Lewis and that always-stellar defense. Need I say more? Some other intriguing matchups - Eagles at Cardinals (Will Kolb get a shot against his former team?) and Texans at Broncos (Manning and Schaub will both be facing pretty formidable defenses).
Week 4: Thursday night games start early this year, but Browns-Ravens is hardly what we had in mind as fans. Either way, it'll save me from having to watch So You Think You Can Dance or some equally embarrassing show my girlfriend will surely put on. The Patriots-Bills game will be an early-season defining game for an up-and-coming Buffalo team. Panthers-Falcons might end up being a shootout with Cam Newton and Matt Ryan sure to steal the show. Saints-Packers is sure to be a very entertaining game, bounties or not. And we end this week with bangs in Giants-Eagles on SNF and then Bears-Cowboys on MNF. A lot of action in week 4.
Week 5: It'll be fun watching Aaron Rodgers and Andrew Luck in the same game. One superstar and the other on his way, in my opinion. The Broncos-Patriots match-up brings back the old Brady v. Manning duel. Some other interesting matchups: Bills at 49ers (another true test for the Bills), Chargers at Saints on SNF (could be a shoot-out), and the Texans-Jets on MNF.
Week 6: Some intriguing matchups this week (Cowboys-Ravens, Packers-Texans), but the Giants-49ers matchup takes the cake for me. If this ends up being anything like their playoff meeting last year, viewers will be extremely pleased. Broncos-Chargers is a classic AFC West division rivalry game and that should be fun to watch as well.
Week 7: Rex Ryan will be avoiding Bill Belichick's Superbowl rings when the Jets travel to Gillette stadium for a classic AFC East rivalry game against the Patriots. Lions-Bears is another classic divisional matchup to watch - this one on MNF.
Week 8: Giants-Cowboys and Saints-Broncos should be great games to watch at the mid-point of the season.
Week 9: The Chiefs-Chargers could be a sleeper matchup to watch on Thursday night. Last year, the Chiefs pulled out a stunner in OT against the Chargers on MNF. Mario Williams and the Bills travel to Houston to take on his former team. If the Bills want to become a playoff team, they need to win against teams like this one. Steelers-Giants should be a classic slug-fest. Cowboys-Falcons and Eagles-Saints could both be shoot-outs on consecutive nights.
Week 10: Falcons-Saints and Cowboys-Eagles jump out at me on first glance. Chiefs-Steelers could be another under-rated game as the former nearly pulled off an upset against the latter on SNF last year.
Week 11: The Eagles-Redskins matchup will be fun to watch (Vick v. RGIII). Colts-Patriots as well (Luck v. Brady). But I will be looking forward to the Ravens-Steelers matchup on SNF - tough defenses, great hits, this is what football is supposed to be like. Other intriguing games: Chargers at Broncos and Bears at Niners.
Week 12: Patriots-Jets on Turkey day - should give me reason to strongly resist napping. Niners-Saints should be an excellent matchup of top defense v. top offense. Packers-Giants is probably the best match-up this week - 2010 Champ v. 2011 Champ.
Week 13: Steelers and Ravens meet each other just two weeks after their first matchup of the season; I wonder if the injuries will be healed by then. NFC East matchups dominate Sunday and Monday nights - Eagles at Cowboys on SNF and then Giants at Redskins on MNF.
Week 14: Bears-Vikings matchups in December are always fun to watch, as are Lions-Packers games at Lambeau. I'll also be interested to see how the Texans handle Tom Brady and Patriots in prime-time.
Week 15: Packers at Bears. Snow. Soldier Field. Should be an entertaining game to say the least. Broncos-Ravens, Steelers-Cowboys, and Niners-Patriots are some other great matchupswatch this week as the playoff schedule starts to take form.
Week 16: Falcons-Lions, Saints-Cowboys, Bears-Cardinals, 49ers-Seahawks, and Chargers-Jets could all be battling for playoff spots.
Week 17: It's always hard to predict Week 17 games as most good teams will have playoff spots wrapped up by then but certain fringe teams could be playing all-out. The NFL did a good job of scheduling division match-ups for the last week of regular season. They tried to make nearly every game here count, but at first glance the following will have at least one team vying for a playoff spot - Jets at Bills, Ravens at Bengals, Eagles at Giants, Cowboys at Redskins, Bears at Lions, Panthers at Saints, Chiefs at Broncos, Raiders at Chargers, and Cardinals at 49ers.
Week 1: The season starts off with a classic NFC East matchup: Cowboys - Giants. The schedulers might have you think this is the highlight, but for me it's the Peyton Manning led Broncos taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Denver. The last time these two teams met, Tim Tebowmania hit Demaryius Thomas on a crossing route who took it to the house in overtime ending the Steelers' season in dramatic fashion in the playoffs. Now Tebow is a Jet, Manning is in Denver and the Broncos are an early-season favorite to make a deep playoff run. While all the attention will be on Manning, and certainly it should be, both defenses will be great to watch.
Week 2: Sunday night football has another great matchup with the Lions battling the 49ers this time. The last time these two teams met, Jim Harbaugh's "enthusiastic" handshake with Jim Shwartz was the bigger story than the game itself (which was a shame in my opinion). If the Lions are ready to take the next step, they have to step up to the plate in prime-time games like this one against a top team like the 49ers.
Week 3: NBC seems to have the early-season lead on great prime-time matchups over ESPN as they roll out another classic - Patriots v. Ravens. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Ray Lewis and that always-stellar defense. Need I say more? Some other intriguing matchups - Eagles at Cardinals (Will Kolb get a shot against his former team?) and Texans at Broncos (Manning and Schaub will both be facing pretty formidable defenses).
Week 4: Thursday night games start early this year, but Browns-Ravens is hardly what we had in mind as fans. Either way, it'll save me from having to watch So You Think You Can Dance or some equally embarrassing show my girlfriend will surely put on. The Patriots-Bills game will be an early-season defining game for an up-and-coming Buffalo team. Panthers-Falcons might end up being a shootout with Cam Newton and Matt Ryan sure to steal the show. Saints-Packers is sure to be a very entertaining game, bounties or not. And we end this week with bangs in Giants-Eagles on SNF and then Bears-Cowboys on MNF. A lot of action in week 4.
Week 5: It'll be fun watching Aaron Rodgers and Andrew Luck in the same game. One superstar and the other on his way, in my opinion. The Broncos-Patriots match-up brings back the old Brady v. Manning duel. Some other interesting matchups: Bills at 49ers (another true test for the Bills), Chargers at Saints on SNF (could be a shoot-out), and the Texans-Jets on MNF.
Week 6: Some intriguing matchups this week (Cowboys-Ravens, Packers-Texans), but the Giants-49ers matchup takes the cake for me. If this ends up being anything like their playoff meeting last year, viewers will be extremely pleased. Broncos-Chargers is a classic AFC West division rivalry game and that should be fun to watch as well.
Week 7: Rex Ryan will be avoiding Bill Belichick's Superbowl rings when the Jets travel to Gillette stadium for a classic AFC East rivalry game against the Patriots. Lions-Bears is another classic divisional matchup to watch - this one on MNF.
Week 8: Giants-Cowboys and Saints-Broncos should be great games to watch at the mid-point of the season.
Week 9: The Chiefs-Chargers could be a sleeper matchup to watch on Thursday night. Last year, the Chiefs pulled out a stunner in OT against the Chargers on MNF. Mario Williams and the Bills travel to Houston to take on his former team. If the Bills want to become a playoff team, they need to win against teams like this one. Steelers-Giants should be a classic slug-fest. Cowboys-Falcons and Eagles-Saints could both be shoot-outs on consecutive nights.
Week 10: Falcons-Saints and Cowboys-Eagles jump out at me on first glance. Chiefs-Steelers could be another under-rated game as the former nearly pulled off an upset against the latter on SNF last year.
Week 11: The Eagles-Redskins matchup will be fun to watch (Vick v. RGIII). Colts-Patriots as well (Luck v. Brady). But I will be looking forward to the Ravens-Steelers matchup on SNF - tough defenses, great hits, this is what football is supposed to be like. Other intriguing games: Chargers at Broncos and Bears at Niners.
Week 12: Patriots-Jets on Turkey day - should give me reason to strongly resist napping. Niners-Saints should be an excellent matchup of top defense v. top offense. Packers-Giants is probably the best match-up this week - 2010 Champ v. 2011 Champ.
Week 13: Steelers and Ravens meet each other just two weeks after their first matchup of the season; I wonder if the injuries will be healed by then. NFC East matchups dominate Sunday and Monday nights - Eagles at Cowboys on SNF and then Giants at Redskins on MNF.
Week 14: Bears-Vikings matchups in December are always fun to watch, as are Lions-Packers games at Lambeau. I'll also be interested to see how the Texans handle Tom Brady and Patriots in prime-time.
Week 15: Packers at Bears. Snow. Soldier Field. Should be an entertaining game to say the least. Broncos-Ravens, Steelers-Cowboys, and Niners-Patriots are some other great matchupswatch this week as the playoff schedule starts to take form.
Week 16: Falcons-Lions, Saints-Cowboys, Bears-Cardinals, 49ers-Seahawks, and Chargers-Jets could all be battling for playoff spots.
Week 17: It's always hard to predict Week 17 games as most good teams will have playoff spots wrapped up by then but certain fringe teams could be playing all-out. The NFL did a good job of scheduling division match-ups for the last week of regular season. They tried to make nearly every game here count, but at first glance the following will have at least one team vying for a playoff spot - Jets at Bills, Ravens at Bengals, Eagles at Giants, Cowboys at Redskins, Bears at Lions, Panthers at Saints, Chiefs at Broncos, Raiders at Chargers, and Cardinals at 49ers.
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