Peter King: Chiefs have requested not to play the Bears in Germany

[FloridaMan88]

And other 2023 schedule information…

Link: https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...ia/?cid=fmiatw

Not so fast on the reports of Kansas City dominating the Germany games in 2023 and 2024. Kansas City is playing a November game in Frankfurt this year; that’s a fact. The German newspaper Bild reported KC would play Chicago in the Germany game, and that KC would play again in Germany in 2024 when Carolina is due to host a game there. Bild reported Carolina’s 2024 foe would be Kansas City. I’ve been told there’s some doubt on both of those reports. First: When a team gives up one of its home games to play overseas, it has the option of requesting to the league one home game on its schedule the team does not want moved. I’m told Kansas City requested that the Chicago game not be played overseas. As for 2024, it’s hard to imagine Carolina would not try to keep Patrick Mahomes’ only currently scheduled game in Charlotte for the next eight years at Bank of America Stadium. You might ask, Wouldn’t Kansas City want to protect red-hot home games against Buffalo, Cincinnati and Philadelphia from moving to Germany? The league would almost certainly not schedule those games for overseas, because Germany games are played in the 9:30 a.m. ET window, which is not nearly as conducive to big ratings as are Sunday late-afternoon or primetime games.

The release of the schedule, which the NFL had hoped to have for a primetime show Thursday night, may be delayed. It’s still likely to be done in time for release Thursday at 8 p.m., but I was told over the weekend it may not be finished in time. The 2023 mega-games—opening Thursday, Sunday and Monday nights, Thanksgiving Day, the new Black Friday tilt, the Sunday night game on Christmas Eve and the Monday tripleheader on Christmas—are not set in stone yet. The mega-games are usually solid by early May. The schedule crew is slated to meet with commissioner Roger Goodell this afternoon in New York, at which time more clarity on the tentpole games is expected. I’m told as of the weekend the NFL was still in search of options on the 272-game regular season slate, with a series of computers continuing to spit out alternatives.

The resolution of the Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson situations allows the NFL to move forward with the Jets to be a heavy primetime team and the Ravens to be more attractive for night games too. I’d previously reported the Jets, who had one primetime game last year without Rodgers, would likely have 11 or 12 primetime/Sunday doubleheader games this year with Rodgers. Each team can be scheduled for six primetime regular-season games, with the league option of flexing that team into a seventh, and then regardless of primetime appearances, any team can be scheduled on Sunday night in week 18. Expect the Jets to have five or six primetime games and at least four or five doubleheader games. Baltimore may not be in prime time as much as the Jets, but the Ravens should expect multiple primetime games as well.

I would not expect every team to have a Thursday night game on Amazon this year. The league traditionally has made Thursday night the receptacle for bad teams once a year to play in prime time. But now that the league passed a rule in March allowing teams to play short-week Thursday games twice instead of once, that could empower the league to eliminate some of the teams that look like bad ones from prime time in favor of maxing out some teams with two Thursday games. So Arizona might be left out this year, and maybe Tampa Bay or Houston. Stronger teams could find two Amazon games on the schedule, which would serve two purposes—strengthening a streaming schedule the NFL badly wants to work for Amazon, and giving good but not great teams with major national followings (Pittsburgh or Green Bay or New England, perhaps, this year) another primetime appearance.

One thing making schedule construction tougher this year: the elimination of the road team determining the televising network for Sunday day games. With few exceptions, the road team for Sunday afternoon games has dictated where it would go on TV. In a game with an NFC road team, FOX would televise. For a game with an AFC road team, CBS would do it. Now, every Sunday afternoon game is a free agent, which expands the possibilities for the schedule. You can be sure CBS will be fighting for as many Kansas City games in the late-afternoon doubleheader slot, and I won’t be surprised if CBS gets every Mahomes doubleheader game this year. With the AFC so much stronger (particularly in franchise quarterbacks), don’t be surprised to see FOX get a couple of roadies with Cincinnati or Buffalo or Baltimore or maybe even the Jets.

[Dunerdr]

Originally Posted by 007

Bengals are out. No way it's the bills. Chargers or Raiders is my guess.

Why are the bills out? I’d bet bills or chargers. Seems like we’ve opened a lot against the chargers. Big mcluster rookie return, Mahomes first real start, and didn’t Alex smith lead an OT victory week one against the chargers?

[007]

Originally Posted by Dunerdr

Why are the bills out? I’d bet bills or chargers. Seems like we’ve opened a lot against the chargers. Big mcluster rookie return, Mahomes first real start, and didn’t Alex smith lead an OT victory week one against the chargers?

That's the reason I said chargers first.

I just don't see the NFL putting the bills in Arrowhead week one. It wouldn't shock me one bit if it were the eagles though.

[FloridaMan88]

Originally Posted by Dunerdr

Why are the bills out? I’d bet bills or chargers. Seems like we’ve opened a lot against the chargers. Big mcluster rookie return, Mahomes first real start, and didn’t Alex smith lead an OT victory week one against the chargers?

Bills were the road team for the Thursday Night opener last season… not sure if that factors into the decision for this season.

[Frazod]

Well, it looks like I'll definitely be at this game now.

[Coogs]

Originally Posted by Dunerdr

Why are the bills out? I’d bet bills or chargers. Seems like we’ve opened a lot against the chargers. Big mcluster rookie return, Mahomes first real start, and didn’t Alex smith lead an OT victory week one against the chargers?

Second Mahomes real start. I was at his first one in Denver.