Are You Ready for Some NFL Football?

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The NFL released its 2024-25 schedule today. Each team plays 17 games in 18 weeks. This year, the NFC teams have the extra home team. (There's a rumor that the league will go to an 18 game schedule with two bye weeks next year.) The season starts Thursday September 5 with Kansas City hosting Baltimore, followed by the Packers and Eagles the next night from Brazil and will be televised on Peacock. The opening Sunday night game features the Rams at Detroit, while the Jets are at San Francisco for the opening Monday night game. (Maybe Aaron Rodgers will last five plays this year.) Other highlights:

-- In addition to the game on Peacock, most Thursday night games will be on Amazon Prime. There will be a Black Friday game between the Raiders and Chiefs on Amazon Prime as well. The NFL network will carry three games from London and one from Germany, along with three games to be selected later in Week 17. And in the biggest change, Netflix will carry two games on Christmas Day (Wednesday), between the Chiefs/Steelers and Ravens/Texans. These games will be considered part of the following Week 17. The NFL will give those four teams an extra day of rest because Texans/Chiefs and Steelers/Ravens will play in a Saturday December 21 doubleheader. The European games will start at 9:30 am.

-- There will be a tripleheader on Thanksgiving, with Bears/Lions, Giants/Cowboys, and Dolphins/Packers. This year, both Giants/Cowboys games will be played on Thursday, with the two meeting in New York earlier in the season on Thursday Night Football.

-- The Jaguars play two games in London on successive weeks, once as the home team and the other as the visitor.

-- Nine games will feature rematches from last season's playoff games.

-- Kirk Cousins will make his Atlanta debut at home against the Steelers, followed by a Monday night game in Philadelphia.

-- In week 2, top draft choice Caleb Williams and the Bears play the Texans and Rookie of the Year C.J. Stroud on Sunday night. The Bears also play in Washington, so Williams could be matched up against the #2 overall draft choice, Jayden Daniels of the Commanders.

-- There will be four split Monday night broadcasts, in weeks 3, 4, 7, and 15 with ESPN broadcasting one game that night and ABC the other.

-- The Panhters (2-15 last year) are the only team that does not have a prime time game. They do have an exclusive Sunday morning game in Germany against the Giants.