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Look, it’s not that I don’t appreciate other sports like basketball, baseball, hockey and soccer, among others, it’s just that I don’t love them as much as I do football—which is why we should all be stoked as hell that the NFL released its entire 2016 regular season schedule today.
The full slate can be found here on NFL.com, but before heading over there, here are some highlights from Week 1 of the schedule that should absolutely pique your interest.
- Week 1 includes a Super Bowl 50 rematch between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers, marking the first time that a rematch from the league’s championship game occurs the first game of the season.
- Stuff yourself with turkey and football on Thanksgiving, because there’s a tripleheader of games, with the traditional teams, Detroit (hosting Minnesota) and Dallas (against Washington), with the primetime game at night between the Pittsburgh Steelers playing at Indianapolis.
- Besides just the traditional Thanksgiving Day games, the NFL will actually be playing two games on Christmas Day as well, with the Baltimore Ravens playing at Pittsburgh in late afternoon, and the Super Bowl champion Broncos at division rival Kansas City later that night. The Houston Texans also host the Bengals in a Christmas Eve night game—which will be an early gift from Santa.
In addition to the Super Bowl 50 rematch I mentioned above, here are the other primetime matchups to look forward to during opening weekend.
- Sunday Night Football: The New England Patriots travel to the desert to take on the Arizona Cardinals, which is a matchup of what could have been a potential Super Bowl showdown last season, as both teams reached, and lost, in its conference title game.
- Monday Night Football, Game 1, 7 p.m. EST: The Pittsburgh Steelers hit the road to battle the Washington Redskins for a game that should see plenty of points with two quarterbacks in Ben Roethlisberger and Kirk Cousins both having the ability to toss the pigskin all over the field.
- Monday Night Football, Game 2, 10:20 p.m. EST: Football in Los Angeles is finally back… but the Rams are going to start on the road, traveling to NorCal to face the San Francisco 49ers and new head coach Chip Kelly.
As for the Thursday Night Football matchups, here’s who you can count on seeing throughout the full season:
The NFL might still be months away from kicking off, but with the draft in a few weeks, OTAs soon after and then training camps, the preseason and finally the regular season, it’s getting closer each and every day—so start planning your tailgates, bros.
[H/T NFL]