The NFL has released its schedule for the 2016 regular season. While we already knew who was playing who and where, it’s nice to see specific times and dates come out for our teams.
The season will open up the second Thursday of September with the defending champion Denver Broncos hosting the Carolina Panthers in a rematch of last season’s Super Bowl.
That’s among the five-best games on the schedule.
1. Carolina Panthers at Denver Broncos
Week 1: September 8th, 2016 (NBC)
It won’t be anywhere near as meaningful as when these two squads met in the Super Bowl this past February. Peyton Manning won’t be under center for the Broncos. This doesn’t mean that people aren’t going to get pumped up for the Super Bowl rematch.
While Denver has lost a whole host of players on both sides of the ball, the NFC champion Panthers head into the 2016 season with their roster pretty much intact.
It will definitely be interesting to see how Carolina responds to playing on the road against the team that defeated it for the Lombardi Trophy last season.
For the Broncos, this will be an opportunity to prove that they haven’t regressed at the levels most have suggested over the past month-plus.
2. Seattle Seahawks at New England Patriots
Week 9: November 13th, 2016 (NBC)
We all remember the last time these two teams met. With Seattle down 28-24 and the ball inside New England’s one-yard line and 26 seconds left, Russell Wilson threw a slant to Ricardo Lockette.
The pass was picked off by Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler to secure a Patriots Lombardi trophy.
The joy of victory. The agony of defeat. All wrapped into one as the clock struck zero on that fateful February evening in Glendale, Arizona.
Now, these two teams will meet for the first time since what ended up being a franchise-altering game for both teams.
Both New England and Seattle have to be considered Super Bowl contenders. In fact, there’s a decent chance they could meet in Super Bowl 51 in Houston next February, making this not only a rematch of the last time they played but a potential preview of a bigger game.
3. New England Patriots at Denver Broncos
Week 15: December 18th, 2016 (CBS)
New England headed into Denver to take on the Broncos in the AFC Championship game last January as overwhelming favorites. A shell of his former self, most believed Peyton Manning didn’t have a shot to take out long-time nemesis Tom Brady.
While it wasn’t Manning that did most of the damage in this game, the Broncos still came out on top en route to earning the franchise’s third Super Bowl title. That game saw Brady get hit a whopping 17 times by a stinging Broncos defense.
With Brady now attempting to lead his team to another title in the twilight of his career, this game is going to be rather important.
Not only could it help decide home-field advantage, something that played a role in the AFC title game last season, it could help determine which team actually wins its division.
4. Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals
Week 15: December 18th, 2016 (NBC)
We tried to stray away from divisional matchups as much as possible in this article. After all, divisional teams play one another twice per season. We simply couldn’t do that here.
Playing for a third time during the 2015 season, Cincinnati seemed primed to hand Pittsburgh a loss in the wild card round of the playoffs. It was this type of opportunity that the Bengals had been building for over the past few seasons.
It ended in what this one scribe calls “the meltdown in Cincinnati.” Out of control for most of the game, Bengals linebacker Vontaze Burfict cost his team a victory.
Down 16-15 with less than 30 seconds left, Pittsburgh seemed to be in desperation mode. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had injured his shoulder on a previous hit by Burfict. He couldn’t throw the ball more than 15 yards. The ball was on Pittsburgh’s end of the field as well.
This is when the Bengals linebacker went head-hunting on Pittsburgh pass-catcher Antonio Brown, resulting in a 15-year personal foul penalty. Bengals defensive back Adam Jones would also draw a 15-yard penalty on the play, giving Pittsburgh the win on a chip-shot field goal from Chris Boswell.
The backdrop here was even more disturbing for both sides. From Big Ben having stuff thrown on him as he was carted off the field to Steelers offensive line coach Mike Munchak yanking Reggie Nelson’s hair, this was just an ugly scene.
These two teams hate one another. The players absolutely despise one another. It’s a divisional game at the very same venue that saw all hell break loose this past January. It’s coming in mid December with the division potentially on the line. Get your popcorn ready.
5. Arizona Cardinals at Carolina Panthers
Week 8: October 30th, 2016 (FOX)
Can Carson Palmer overcome his disastrous six-turnover performance in a 49-15 loss to Carolina in the NFC Championship game this past season? That’s going to be the biggest question for Arizona heading into the 2016 campaign. Heck, it’s going to be on Palmer’s mind when these two teams square off in Carolina in Week 8.
With Carolina finding a way to retain its valuable players from last year’s conference title run and the Cardinals upgrading on both sides of the ball, these are likely going to be the two favorites in the NFC heading into the 2016 season.
With the game slated to take place in Week 8, it game could also help dictate who has home-field advantage in any potential playoff matchup. That is also something to think about here.