–The 2024 season begins with two time defending champion Kansas City hosting the Thursday night opener for the second year in a row as they begin their quest for the first threepeat of the Super Bowl era and only the third in NFL history. Last year, the Chiefs lost the Thursday night opener to Detroit and then won six in a row and went on to repeat. This year they play the Ravens in a rematch of last year’s AFC title game. It is a good quarterback matchup pitting Patrick Mahomes, who has three Super Bowl rings, vs. Lamar Jackson, who has won two regular season MVP titles but has yet to make the Super Bowl.
–The prime time games on Sunday and Monday nights feature the Rams at Detroit and the Jets at San Francisco. The Lions beat the Rams in a wild card game last January while the 49ers lost the Super Bowl to the Chiefs. The Jets are out to prove they will be a contender if Aaron Rodgers can stay healthy. The Packers and Philadelphia in Brazil on Friday night it will be only streamed on Peacock plus in Philadelphia and Green Bay. The NFL hops to get more viewers than it did last year on Peacock because many sports fans signed on to watch the Olympics this summer and many may not have cancelled their subscription. But it won’t get the ratings it would have gotten on a broadcast network. The NFL likes to pocket that streaming cash.
–The Sunday second game on Fox will feature Dallas at Cleveland with Tom Brady making his debut as a broadcaster. Brady supposedly won’t get the usual access the network broadcasters do because he has made a bid to buy a share in the Raiders. Whether that hinders his ability to give insights in the booth remains to be seen. The other Fox late Sunday game is Washington at Tampa Bay with rookie Jayden Daniels starting at quarterback vs. Baker Mayfield.
–CBS has three early games with the Jacksonville at Miami game featuring two young .quarterbacks, Trevor Lawrence and Tua Tagovailoa, who got big contracts in the offseason even though Tua lost his last three starts last year and Lawrence lost his last five. Two other games will have good quarterback matchups. The Houston at Indianapolis matchup will pit C.J. Stroud against Antony Richardson and the Arizona-at Buffalo game matches Kyler Murray vs. Josh Allen. Cincinnati figures to beat New England in the other early CBSgame. The two 4 p.m. CBS games pit the Raiders at the Chargers and Denver at Seattle. Rookie Bo Nix starts for the Broncos.
–FOX also has four early games with the top draft pick, Caleb Williams, making his debut when Chicago hosts Tennessee and Will Levis. Pittsburgh goes to Atlanta with two veterans making their debuts with new teams as Russell Wilson goes against Kirk Cousins. In New York, the Giants and Daniel Jones host Minnesota and Sam Darnold, who got the start when rookie J.J. McCarthy was lost for the season after undergoing surgery on a torn meniscus. In the fourth early FOX game, the Saints figure to beat the Panthers.
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