NFL schedule preview: Will Giants-Jets mark NFL's Sept. 11 tribute?
The NFL is set to unveil its 2011 regular-season schedule in the coming days, despite the gloom forecast by the ongoing lockout.
So far, other than the Green Bay Packers' hosting the opening night game in the tradition of Super Bowl champions, the new slate of games is entirely a mystery.
The league has not confirmed details about the unveiling. But last year the league revealed the schedule two days prior to the draft. If it follows that same timetable, the schedule release could occur this year on April 26.
NFL officials have said they intend to move forward with their full planning routine for the 2011 season with the expectation that the labor standoff will be resolved and no games will be missed. Last week, the NFL unveiled its preseason schedule, which produced more bickering between the league and the NFL Players Association about which side shares more blame for the lockout.
But even if the games can only be considered "maybes" at this point, the schedule will emerge. And USA TODAY's Sean Leahy looks at what to expect for some of the season's marquee games:
Opening night opponent? The Packers will host the opener on Thursday, Sept. 8, at Lambeau Field as they celebrate the Super Bowl XLV title. Count on either the Bears or the Saints being there with them. It's likely the NFL will want to match up two TV-friendly teams, so the Lions, Bucs, Rams and Broncos can all likely be eliminated as contenders. Of the other four other opponents on Green Bay's home schedule, the Vikings -- in their post-Brett Favre era -- are the easiest to cross out. The Raiders, with the giant national following, have an outside shot. (They did appear in the 2005 opener at New England.) But the Saints, who won Super Bowl XLIV, and Bears, who lost to the Packers in the NFC title game last year, offer the biggest sizzle. It's probably 50-50 odds on which team draws the opening night assignment, but the bet here is it's New Orleans, which would allow the NFL to promote the Drew Brees-vs.-Aaron Rodgers matchup as it seeks to deflect the sting still felt by fans recovering from the lockout.
The 9-11 game? Most of the NFL will open the season on Sunday, Sept. 11, with the league paying tribute to the 10-year anniversary of the deadly terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. The Giants' once-a-quadrennial matchup with the Jets seems like a shoo-in for the Sunday night stage here. It would be televised nationally by NBC from Meadowlands Stadium, where the invisible shadow cast by the Twin Towers still looms large.
Super Bowl rematches: While the Packers and Steelers won't meet to fight Super Bowl XLV over again, the teams featured in the previous three Super Bowls all will meet for the first time since their championship faceoffs. The Giants will visit the Patriots, the Steelers travel to play the Cardinals and the Colts head down to see the Saints. Expect the Giants-Patriots matchup (particularly with those teams' strong TV reach) and the Colts-Saints faceoff (with the likely matchup of superstar QBs in the still-unsigned Peyton Manning vs. Drew Brees) to land in national TV windows.
Vick back to Atlanta: For the first time since becoming the Eagles' starting QB, Michael Vick will lead the team into Atlanta, his former home before going to prison for a federal dogfighting conviction. The Falcons, who are still a creditor in Vick's bankruptcy problems, have moved on with Matt Ryan at QB. But the return to Atlanta -- where Vick scored a TD in a relief role in a 2009 game -- will be symbolic of Vick's rise to prominence again. Expect a national TV window for this game too.
Sibling rivalries: New 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh will lock horns with his brother, Ravens coach John Harbaugh, in his first season. The 49ers will travel east for the game, which seems like a good bet for a Monday or a Thursday night national TV audience. That won't be the only fraternal faceoff, however, as Jets coach Rex Ryan will welcome his brother, new Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, into the Meadowlands. That game could gain national exposure too, although more for the TV appeal of the Cowboys in the New York market.
Jets-Patriots: Rex Ryan will find his way onto the national TV schedule often, and perhaps in no bigger spotlight than his two games against the archrival Patriots. The Jets danced in Foxborough in January when they sent the 14-2 Patriots home with an early playoff exit. The usual bravado and intensity surrounding this rivalry will only be heightened by the memory of the Jets' last win. The Jets and Patriots play twice; expect one matchup on either Sunday or Monday night and another in CBS' late-afternoon national TV window.
Yearly favorites: When the slate of national TV games is revealed, expect to see a heavy dose of the teams normally seen there (such as the Cowboys, Eagles, Patriots and Packers). Why? Because that's who America tunes in for. Of the NFL's 19 most-watched games last season, those four teams were involved in 53% of the matchups. So expect games such as Giants-Cowboys, Colts-Patriots, Eagles-Cowboys, Steelers-Ravens and Packers-Bears to appear regularly in the NFL's biggest TV windows.
The wild cards: Normally when the schedule is assembled, the NFL has some idea of the veteran player movement that could produce premier games the following season. Donovan McNabb's trade to the Redskins, for example, occurred about three weeks before last year's schedule was announced. But this year, with player movement forbidden during the lockout, veterans such as Vince Young, McNabb and Carson Palmer remain in limbo. If Palmer eventually forces a trade to the QB-hungry 49ers, for example, their trip into Cincinnati would hold much more TV appeal than it currently does.
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