Amid the Coronavirus pandemic, the NFL still has plans to play a full 17 week season even if fans aren't allowed in the stadiums. The NFL just released it's schedule and below I will break down some of the most intriguing matchups of the season. In the following days, I will go through every team's schedule and make a prediction for each game and give an overall analysis of each team. First it's important to understand how the NFL schedule works.
How the schedule works: Each team plays the other three teams in their division twice, once at home and once away for a total of six division games. Next, each division pairs up with one division in their own conference and one in the other conference and each team plays one another for a total of eight games. Here is a breakdown of the two divisions each division will play:
NFC East »» NFC West & AFC North
NFC North »» NFC South & AFC South
NFC South »» NFC North & AFC West
NFC West »» NFC East & AFC East
AFC East »» AFC West & NFC West
AFC North »» AFC South & NFC East
AFC South »» AFC North & NFC North
AFC West »» AFC East & NFC South
Finally, each team plays the team in the other two divisions of their conference that they aren't playing this year, that placed the same last year in their respective division. Here is an example using the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs are in the AFC West. They will play the three teams in their division twice (6 games). As you can see above, the AFC West is playing the AFC East and NFC South this year. The Chiefs will play each of the four teams in those two divisions (8 games). The two AFC divisions the Chiefs aren't playing this year are the AFC North and AFC South. Since the Chiefs won their division, they are playing the winner of the AFC North and AFC South which are the Ravens and Texans respectively (2 games). If the Chiefs had come in second in their division last year, they would play the teams that came in second in those divisions. Below are the most intriguing matchups (and opening night) in the upcoming NFL season.
Opening night of the NFL season is Thursday, September 10th and to be honest I'm a bit disappointed in the NFL for choosing this matchup. It was expected that the defending Super Bowl Champions, the Chiefs, would be hosting the game, but it was just revealed that they will be playing the Houston Texans. This is a rematch of one of the AFC Divisional round playoff games from last year. In that game the Texans scored 24 points out of the gate only to watch Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs score 41 unanswered points on them resulting in a final score of 51-31. The Chiefs roster looks pretty similar this year and they are definitely the Super Bowl favorite in my eyes. In contrast, the Texans lost star receiver DeAndre Hopkins in a trade with the Arizona Cardinals for running back David Johnson. They are hoping he can return to being a top running back after an atrocious 2019 season. The Texans also brought in Brandin Cooks from the Los Angeles Rams. However, I think this Texans team got considerably worse and I am expecting another blowout win from the Kansas City Chiefs.
The most exciting matchup of the week one slate of games is definitely the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the New Orleans Saints. As we all know, the Buccaneers signed 6 time super bowl champion, Tom Brady this offseason. In addition, they traded for Brady's favorite target who took a year off, Rob Gronkowski. The Saints are coming off a disappointing season in which they lost to the Vikings in the wild card round after going 13-3 in the regular season. These two teams are stacked offensively and it should be a shootout. You got two of the best quarterbacks to ever do it in Brady and Brees facing off in this one; I got to give Brees and the Saints a win in this fierce divisional week one matchup.
I want to jump now to week three in the Monday night matchup when the Baltimore Ravens will host the Kansas City Chiefs. The two former MVPs, Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes, will square off in this one and it very well could be an AFC Conference Championship preview. With the home crowd behind them in this prime time game, I think the Ravens have the small edge in this one.
Week six presents another intriguing matchup featuring no other but the goat and another one of the best quarterbacks ever. The Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers (maybe Jordan Love, who knows?) will visit the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tom Brady (I don't think Brady will be benched no matter how washed he is). I don't think the Packers will be able to keep up with the explosive Bucs offense in this one so I have the Bucs winning in a solid week six NFC matchup.
In week 10, the New Orleans Saints are hosting the San Francisco 49ers. These two teams did not meet in the NFC championship last year even though many thought they would because the Saints were upset by the Vikings as mentioned above. However, they did meet in week 14 last year and it was an epic game. The Niners edged the Saints 48-46 in a game with 981 total yards. The highlight of the game was when 49ers tight end, Greg Kittle, bulldozed his way down the sideline carrying Saints players with him for a 39 yard catch with an additional 14 yards due to a face mask penalty with less than a minute remaining. This play would lead to a 49ers game winning field goal. This year, I like the Saints to beat the 49ers. I don't think the 49ers will be nearly as dominant as they were last year but this has potential to be another very competitive game.
Skipping ahead to week 12, the Kansas City Chiefs travel to Tampa Bay to play the Buccaneers. Brady and Mahomes will go head to head in this one for a fourth time; Brady leads the series two to one although all three games have been decided by seven points or less. This could in fact be the last time Brady and Mahomes square off unless they meet in the Super Bowl because the Chiefs and Buccaneers don't play again until 2024. I like the Chiefs on the road in this one. I think this will be the official passing of the torch from Brady to Mahomes.
In week 14, the two top offenses from 2019 clash in a Thursday night battle. That is the Dallas Cowboys visiting the Baltimore Ravens. The scary part about both of these teams is that their offenses got even better. The Cowboys added wide receiver Ceedee Lamb out of Oklahoma by selecting him with the 17th pick in the 2020 NFL draft. Similarly, the Ravens used their second round draft pick to get running back, J.K. Dobbins out of The Ohio State Univeristy. Both of these young stars notched double digit touchdowns and over 1000 yards in their final college season. I like the Ravens in this one by a hair: This will be a statement win after a loss the week before on Thanksgiving to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
My final highlighted game of the season comes in week 15 when the Dallas Cowboys host the San Francisco 49ers. As two of the most valuable franchises in the league, neither the 49ers nor Cowboys have had much success since the 1990s (success meaning winning a super bowl). Both teams have high hopes for this season since the 49ers fell just short last year and the Cowboys have improved on both sides of the ball as well as hiring a new coach, Mike McCarthy. I think the Cowboys explosive offense will overwhelm the 49ers leading to Cowboys win in a very close and competitive game.
A couple important games to note:
Week 1: Los Angeles Chargers @ Cincinnati Bengals - Possibly Herbert vs Burrow
Week 1: Dallas Cowboys @ Los Angeles Rams - First game in Sofi Stadium
Week 2: New Orleans Saints @ Las Vegas Raiders - First Raiders game in Las Vegas
Week 5: New York Giants @ Dallas Cowboys - Jason Garrett's return to Dallas
Week 7: Los Angeles Chargers @ Miami Dolphins - Possibly Herbert vs Tua
Week 7: Carolina Panthers @ New Orleans Saints - Teddy Bridgewater's return to New Orleans
Week 7: San Francisco 49ers @ New England Patriots - Jimmy G's return to New England w/o Brady
Week 8: Tampa Bay Buccaneers @ New York Giants - Brady vs the Giants
Week 13: Miami Dolphins @ Cincinnati Bengals - Tua vs. Burrow
Week 15: Cleveland Browns @ New York Giants- Odell's return to New York
Week 16: Carolina Panthers @ Washington Redskins - Ron Rivera faces former team
I am very excited for 2020 NFL Season. Hopefully Covid-19 does not affect any of the games being played so American fans can enjoy the sport they love most.
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