Week 1 NFL running thread

Put it on the tennis channel or the wwl and have a doubleheader on CBS or is that too much to ask.

 

This was one of the better things to happen by accident in the league over the last few years.
No reason for an interconference game in Week 17.

 

On the one hand, Ray Lewis becoming a conspiracy theorist about the SB blackout sounds moronic, especially coming on the week he will make his highly touted debut on ESPN - on the other, it's a classic from the ESPN playbook to have an analyst pop off and suddenly become "a story."

 

He was going to reveal the white suit, but the brass at ESPN thought better of it.

 

I liked that part. Nothing like playing head-to-head against a team your battling with for a playoff spot. Less scoreboard watching.

As for the opener, the NFL is sort of limited because they have a game on Thursday with the defending champs, plus Sunday night and two Monday night game (bad idea). So that's eight typically marquee teams off the board. And, sure, Fox wants a good heavyweight matchup to open the season.

 

Yeah, I always thought the second MNF game was a dumb and unnecessary idea. I can't remember the last time that game was a matchup that anybody away from the Mountain or Pacific time zones was willing to stay up for.

 

Saints/Falcons could be a pinball machine scoreboard game.

Think we could learn a lot about the Panthers and the Bengals this weekend. Panthers get Seattle coming west to east for a 9am kickoff, Seahawk time, that could be a prime spot for Carolina.

Bengals seem to be getting a growing amount of hype that will get tested in the Windy City.

 

They play it for the cash -- ESPN paid for 17 games and they don't have one in Week 17. So it's either give ESPN back the $50-100M the NFL gets for each game, or play the stupid game.

Not a tough call.

Also the Chargers' 27-0 whipping of the Raiders in Art Shell's return game, complete with Dick Vermeil-Ron Jaworski narration and Arnold Schwarzenegger's declaration that a "miracle" was happening in Oakland, remains the most entertaining NFL game of the last decade and perhaps ever.

 

Yeah, a no-brainer for the NFL. If I was ESPN, I'd try to do something similar to what NBC does and get a prime time game for one week that isn't on a Sunday, maybe a Saturday night game late in the season after college football is done, like in Week 16 or something...

 

10am for the Hawks

 

ESPN has no weeks off in the college football season. The December Saturdays are for conference title games, nowhere bowl games and FCS playoff games.