Opening day schedule announced

[Little Jr]

Kickoff Weekend primetime schedule includes Monday doubleheader
National Football League


NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced the 2008 Kickoff Weekend national primetime television schedule on Monday.

For the fifth consecutive season, the defending Super Bowl champion will open the season by hosting the NFL Thursday night season kickoff. The 2008 regular season officially opens on Thursday, Sept. 4 when the New York Giants host the Washington Commanders at 7 p.m. ET on NBC.

The kickoff will be 90 minutes earlier than the start time of the traditional season opener due to the Republican National Convention.

The Week 1 Sunday night primetime contest will feature a rematch of of Super Bowl XLI, with the Chicago Bears at the Indianapolis Colts at 8:15 p.m. ET. It will mark the Colts' first game in their new home, Lucas Oil Stadium.

The first Monday night of the 2008 season will feature a doubleheader for the third consecutive season. In two matchups of division rivals on Sept. 8, the Green Bay Packers will host the Minnesota Vikings at 7 p.m. ET, followed by the Denver Broncos at the Oakland Raiders at 10:15 p.m. ET. Both games will be televised on ESPN.

The announcement of these national primetime TV games was made by Goodell at the NFL Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida.

 

[theebs]

Since there are all these divisional games, I wonder if we will open at Philly or home to philly?


Cowboys left out of primetime for Week 1
12:39 PM Mon, Mar 31, 2008 | Permalink | Yahoo! Buzz
Albert Breer E-mail News tips
The NFL just released its primetime schedule for Week 1, and it is as follows (All times Central) ...

Thurs., Sept. 4
Commanders at Giants (NBC, 6 p.m.)

Sun., Sept. 7
Bears at Colts (NBC, 7:30 p.m.)

Mon., Sept. 8
Vikings at Packers (ESPN, 6 p.m.)
Broncos at Raiders (ESPN, 9:15 p.m.)

That means there are 10 teams that could be Dallas' Week 1 opponent. It could be a home or away game against the Eagles; a home game against the 49ers, Seahawks, Buccaneers, Ravens or Bengals; or a trip to Arizona, St. Louis, Cleveland or Pittsburgh.

Chances are, the Cowboys appearing in the Sunday night opener on NBC last year played a role in their absence this year. That, and perhaps FOX being protective of a big ratings draw for their network.,

 

[miamicowboy21]

Goodell don't you know where your bread is buttered. No primetime games for us on opening day is an insult.

 

[Woods]

Goodell don't you know where your bread is buttered. No primetime games for us on opening day is an insult.

And that Bears - Colts game is a must see.


(sarcasm)

 

[Little Jr]

Goodell don't you know where your bread is buttered. No primetime games for us on opening day is an insult.

LOL!! I figure you wont be the only one with this opinion. I dont see how it's a insult. We had 6 national televised games last year I believe. The only game I dont really understand is the Raiders vs Broncos. I know their division rivials but they were both bad last year. Indy is opening a new stadium so I understand that. Plus they're good.LOL!! That may be why we didnt get one. We had one last year and you know we're getting one next year with the new stadium. So if we get one this year that would be 3 in a row. I think they could have picked a better opp for Indy though.


I'm glad we didnt get a Sunday night game or a Monday night game. Monday is to long to wait. Sunday night I'm usually so drunk by the time the game starts I dont remember it the next day.

 

[sago1]

And just imagine the ratings for the block buster -- Denver Broncos vs Oakland Raiders. Possible AFC Champsion game preview? Ha

 

[BigDave95]

No big deal. We'll still get our maximum of six national games. They'll just come later in the season.

I prefer it this way. Opening weekend is already exciting enough. Let's sprinkle the primetime games throughout thte season.

 

[theebs]

LOL!! I figure you wont be the only one with this opinion. I dont see how it's a insult. We had 6 national televised games last year I believe. The only game I dont really understand is the Raiders vs Broncos. I know their division rivials but they were both bad last year. Indy is opening a new stadium so I understand that. Plus they're good.LOL!! That may be why we didnt get one. We had one last year and you know we're getting one next year with the new stadium. So if we get one this year that would be 3 in a row. I think they could have picked a better opp for Indy though.


I'm glad we didnt get a Sunday night game or a Monday night game. Monday is to long to wait. Sunday night I'm usually so drunk by the time the game starts I dont remember it the next day.

The raiders should be interesting. They have russell, possibly mcfadden, hall and namdi, they have some ratings grabbers.

And both of those teams may be out of the playoff race before december so it is good to get them some primtime games early in the year.

 

[miamicowboy21]

Seriously, unless the bears planning on beating the colts 3-2 they're going to get whipped. The bears are still putting their faith in grossman.....they lost both starting WR's and the jury is still out on cedric benson. Dungy won't be foolish enough to kick it to hester. I know the whole super bowl remacth sounds sexy in name, but the bears aren't even close to the same team at least offensively and that defense is overrated.

 

[TellerMorrow34]

Who cares? Let them lock us out of primetime on opening weekend. As long as we get off with a W and roll toward the ultimate goal it doesn't matter.

 

[HighTechDave]

be careful what you ask for guys. We could have been part of that announcing abortion double-header on ESPN.

I'll let a primetime go, especially if it is on ESPN.

 

[Bigdog]

And that Bears - Colts game is a must see.


(sarcasm)

I agree. I am going to set up my hole day around this game. I need to start planning now.

 

[Woods]

Seriously, unless the bears planning on beating the colts 3-2 they're going to get whipped. The bears are still putting their faith in grossman.....they lost both starting WR's and the jury is still out on cedric benson. Dungy won't be foolish enough to kick it to hester. I know the whole super bowl remacth sounds sexy in name, but the bears aren't even close to the same team at least offensively and that defense is overrated.

Let's see, the Bears have no QB, no WR, no RB, a not so good OL, but other than that they are really competitive.

 

[big dog cowboy]

Sun., Sept. 7
Bears at Colts (NBC, 7:30 p.m.)

What the heck is that?

 

[Cajuncowboy]

What the heck is that?

A slaughter waiting to happen.

 

[lkelly]

I agree. I am going to set up my hole day around this game. I need to start planning now.

I hate hole day. I used to dig it when I was a kid.

 

[Hoofbite]

The NFL is banking on Dallas being good again and is going to slot them for primetime games later in the year.

 

[UVAwahoos]

I can't believe they put the garbage Commanders in primetime just cause they are scheduled to play the Super Bowl champs that week. It must be like Xmas day for Skins fans around the country used to having to find a sports bar to watch their 5-11 squad. Cheers to an 0-1 start in DC.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Galloway and Mosley were saying they'd heard that Fox was really angry about losing so many Cowboys games last year to MNF and SNF, and pressured the league to keep more of our games on Fox, especially the so-called marquee matchups.

Which makes sense. Fox pays a ton of money for NFC rights, and the Cowboys are of course the biggest draw they have.

 

[dbair1967]

And just imagine the ratings for the block buster -- Denver Broncos vs Oakland Raiders. Ha

well its the late night game, so the NFL isnt going to stick a real primo matchup there because it'd be a ratings disaster with the differences in time zones...thats why a game like that one was chosen for the 2nd slot on MNF

David