When the NFL releases the season schedule in full, as it did Tuesday night, you're naturally drawn to the night games — especially those on non-Thursdays. We expect great evening theater in our pro football.
But some of those games tend to fall flat. Some now, when the schedule is brand new, and some later, after we've found out that everyone's Super Bowl favorite is actually a crappy team. That can happen as soon as September.
But the league does its best to please its media partners — in this case, NBC for Sundays and ESPN for Mondays. (We'll discuss the Thursday schedule in a different blog entry.) Does it always work? No, which is why we feel we can point out to you where it falls flat.
Here's a look at the week-by-week prime-time games for Sunday and Monday ... and which ones you actually should watch:
WEEK 1
Sunday: New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys
Monday: Philadelphia Eagles at Atlanta Falcons; Minnesota Vikings at San Francisco 49ers
Our take: Not a bad way to start the first week of football, but ... maybe we expected a little more? Yes, we have a division rivalry with Cowboys-Giants, and maybe Odell Beckham Jr. (recurring theme alert) or Dez Bryant do something ridiculous; we're in good hands with Al Michaels on the call there. And the next night, we have the wack-a-doodle Eagles, and I like my Chip Kelly after dark, so that's good. But playing the Falcons? Kinda meh. And that's the undercard? The nightcap is a battle of a Jim Harbaugh-less 49ers against a maybe Adrian Peterson-less Vikings? Consider us underwhelmed a bit.
Verdict: We rank them thusly: in chronological order — Giants-Boys, then the battle of the birds, followed by that game out west. If you skip the last one, no one will question why.
WEEK 2
Sunday: Seattle Seahawks at Green Bay Packers
Monday: New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts
Our take: Oh, yeah. This is what we came for. A rematch of the NFC title game, but this time it's in Green Bay. We're already asking our bosses if we can go. This is choice stuff here, and yet it's not a revenge — don't be that fan. If the Packers win, it's not going to make up for blowing a two-TD lead for a trip to the Super Bowl. Now that we have that out of the way ... you wonder if the Seahawks' banged-up secondary will be in top form this early in the season. Frankly, the Packers probably catch a mini-break getting the Seahawks this early in the season. As for the Monday game, this does't look super sexy, especially with the Jets having a new coach and being rudderless (as of now) as QB. But think of it this way: A good Jets defense got better, adding Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie, and a good Colts offense got better, adding Andre Johnson and Frank Gore.
Verdict: When we put it like that, the MNF game doesn't sound so bad, eh? We know Sunday will be great. Watch both games. Trust us.
WEEK 3
Sunday: Denver Broncos at Detroit Lions
Monday: Kansas City Chiefs at Green Bay Packers
Our take: Oh. Yeah, that's our initial reaction. Look, these are four good teams on paper, and we could be treated to two very good matchups here. But Broncos-Lions in prime time? Hmm. We frankly thought this might be a Thanksgiving game or a Sunday game. We're not complaining with a Peyton Manning night game in his possible swan song season. We're not. It's just ... hmm. Same with the Monday game. Two straight at night at home for the Packers? Consider this: Many Packers fans make the drive up from Milwaukee, so that's two weeks in a row with games on school nights.
Verdict: Yeah, we're still watching both. They're just ... weird matchups, that's all.
WEEK 4
Sunday: Cowboys at New Orleans Saints
Monday: Lions at Seahawks
Our take: We still love the Lions? They lose three-quarters of their defensive line and Reggie Bush and they get two early prime-time games early on. Just a feeling here that this one might flop. The Seahawks fans get geeked for night games, though, so there's that. In the opening act, it's no slouch. You have America's Team heading down to the Big Easy — another town that loves getting well-lubricated before evening contests. These teams have had some nice battles in the past decade or so, so we can get behind that one.
Verdict: If we're being honest, we're actually slightly more tuned up about the Cowboys-Saints game.
WEEK 5
Sunday: 49ers at Giants
Monday: Pittsburgh Steelers at San Diego Chargers
Our take: Someone needs to explain this Niners thing to me. Are they going to be good? The Giants, we get — Beckham and Eli, and heck, I'll say it: I think this is a better team than people realize. But the 49ers aren't sneaking up on anyone, and we don't mean that in a good way. This is not, we'll safely predict, going to be up there with the 1990 NFC championship game or the 2002 wild-card madness game in this rivalry. Putting the Chargers on at night is dangerous. This could be the final season in San Diego, and that talk — moving to L.A. — could dominate the pre-game chatter, especially if Philip Rivers is not on the team. Maybe if Marcus Mariota becomes a Charger ...
Verdict: Check back with us after the draft. We'll probably watch both, but we might need a decent reason why.
WEEK 6
Sunday: New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts
Monday: Giants at Eagles
Our take: The NFL loves Beckham the Giants! And Tebow Chip! And, yes, the Colts and Patriots now will have played for the past 73 years in a row.
Verdict: We love the two games. Start up the coffee pot. We're pot committed.
WEEK 7
Sunday: Eagles at Carolina Panthers
Monday: Baltimore Ravens at Arizona Cardinals
Our take: What's up with the teams that have back-to-back night games? We have Packers in Weeks 2 and 3; Lions in Weeks 3 and 4; Giants in Weeks 5 and 6; and now Eagles featured in consecutive night games. That's weird, right? Well, whatever ... our Eagles fetish still should be alive by this point. And hey, kudos on the unusual but compelling Monday matchup of two teams that you can't count out for as a bizarro Super Bowl matchup with their great head coaches and wooden-stiff, strong-armed QBs.
Verdict: More Eagles, sure, and the Panthers could be decent. That's a check. The second game looks good, too. Two nice ones.
WEEK 8
Sunday: Packers at Broncos
Monday: Colts at Panthers
Our take: Again with the back-to-back thing! And the Panthers, no less. Someone in the league office had a little too much brandy when they made this thing up, but again, we're fairly OK with this matchup. Why? Well, for one, it's the first-ever meeting of Andre Luck and Cam Newton, so we can finally end the age-old debate over which is the better quarterback. You know, that debate that exactly no one ever has had. Oh, and Packers-Broncos, a metaphorical torch passing from Manning to Aaron Rodgers? Yeah, we're in.
Verdict: Four legit MVP candidates at quarterback. No questions asked here.
WEEK 9
Sunday: Eagles at Cowboys
Monday: Chicago Bears at Chargers
Our take: OK, now this you can safely call a revenge game. When a really talented player is rebuffed by his former team and he joins a rival team and those two teams — which are rivals in the first place — play in the city in which the rebuffed player once played? Yup, revenge city, baby. It's the DeMarco Murray Bowl, y'all. As for the Monday game ... what in the what? New Bears head coach John Fox grew up in San Diego and went to SDSU; that's literally the best we can offer up.
Verdict: Sunday fun day. Oh, and we need to be up early that Tuesday morning.
WEEK 10
Sunday: Cardinals at Seahawls
Monday: Houston Texans at Cincinnati Bengals
Our take: We're still buying on the NFC West, and these two teams — even if the Seahawks have won four the of the past five head to head, and seven of the past 10 — make for good football. The Monday nighter is a weird reprise of the teams' playoff games from a few years back, but really both could be decent (if they found good quarterbacks).
Verdict: First game, absolutely. Second game ... J.J. Watt going Fox (Andy Dalton) hunting? Ok, we're in.
WEEK 11
Sunday: Chiefs at Chargers
Monday: Buffalo Bills at Patriots
Our take: First thought is that someone high up on the Chargers payroll has some dirt on someone in the league office. Three prime-time games?! In a seven-week span no less! Second thought: Rex in Foxboro is always great, and we're frankly stunned it took this long.
Verdict: The old Grateful Dead adage — never miss a Sunday show — typically holds true for the NFL, too, but we might consider other options if the right one comes along. As for Monday, the phone is going on airplane mode. Don't bother us while we gorge on Rex vs. Belichick and Brady. That's quality programming right there.
WEEK 12
Sunday: Patriots at Broncos
Monday: Ravens at Cleveland Browns
Our take: It is written into the league bylaws that Brady and Manning face off, don't you know? OK, this really could be the last time they face off, so it's big. It will be the 17th meeting of the quarterbacks, with Brady holding an 11-5 record advantage in the game, and there's something just odd about the number 17, so assume they'll face off in the playoffs. And once more after that in the Pro Bowl, as part of some Roger Goodell-mandated ratings trap.
Verdict: Skipping Broncos-Patriots is un-American, and probably illegal. We don't want to get in trouble. Oh, and Browns! They make the cut. The league's hope here is that Josh McCown will have disintegrated by this point and that Johnny Manziel will be the only living quarterback remaining on the roster. If so, we'll check that game out, too.
WEEK 13
Sunday: Colts at Steelers
Monday: Cowboys at Washington Redskins
Our take: This is the Colts' fourth prime-time game. How about that? It's only the Steelers' second. The NFL clearly believes the Colts are the more marquee team this coming season, and yet playing in Pittsburgh is tough, especially in early December when the Heinz Field turf could pass for Dagobah in the new Star Wars movies. The Colts are 6-15 all-time vs. the Steelers, and when they played last fall Ben Roethlisberger threw for six touchdowns and 522 yards. Can Andrew Luck do better?
Verdict: Both of these games are rematches from very interesting 2014 games, including the Redskins' Colt McCoy-led upset of the Cowboys. It might have to be McCoy again in this one, assuming the chatty Robert Griffin III has been benched and is filibustering across town on Capitol Hill.
WEEK 14
Sunday: Seahawks at Ravens
Monday: Giants at Miami Dolphins
Our take: The 2012 and 2013 season champs meet on the east coast, and as our previously stated love for the way both teams go about their business, you don't need to convince us to find the remote. Giants-Fish might require a tiny bit more convincing, but maybe not that much. Some feel these non-playoff teams from a year ago might be among the more improved clubs going, and sometimes these some people are not wrong.
Verdict: Do you think ESPN will mention Beckham? What about Ndamukong Suh? We'll tune in to find out and report back to you on that.
WEEK 15
Sunday: Bengals at 49ers
Monday: Lions at Saints
Our take: Seriously? What about either the Bengals or 49ers screams featured matchup? They have the sex appeal of the Dick Van Dyke Show. They have two head coaches who have the personality of Kristen Stewart's chewing gum. And yeah, we know the Lions and Saints have some recent history, having played five times in the past seven years, but outside of the thriller a year ago, what is the excitement?
Verdict: Xmas presents are not buying themselves.
WEEK 16
Sunday: Steelers at Ravens
Monday: Bengals at Broncos
Our take: Steelers-Ravens is classic fare. Two teams that despite each other. We get it, even if the rivalry is not quite the same as it was a few years ago. Still pretty great in our minds. And even though we knocked the Bengals down — yes, the team that was on prime time a week earlier, naturally — we'll withhold judgment in this space. Because if this is Peyton Manning's final regular-season night game, we are happy it will come against Dalton.
Verdict: Miss what could be Peyton's final regular-season game? No freaking chance.
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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm
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