Guessing HOU. Basically the same kind of "rising star vs. champs" story as DET last season. Rocky with football teams.


Should actually be a pretty good game.

Bucs. Decent opponent but not a marquee game. Save the big dogs for other prime time slots throughout the year.

Texans

My guess also.

chiefs/texans would be a crazy opener

Would be kind of funny if it were the Texans. Second time they'd have the honor of getting beaten by the Chiefs in a game where we raised a banner.

Gotta figure the networks will wanna save that Bengals and Ravens game for later in the year/ SNF etc.

I guess Texans...that way they can spend several weeks promoting it instead of just a few days. The NFL loves to match new Top Gun vs established star.

Bengals would actually probably be the smart choice. Capitalize on whatever hype they have going into the season before they implode.

Edit: Going with RAvens

That game is in Atlanta.

Has the opening TNF game ever featured a division matchup?

Won't be the Raiders. They just recently had a prime time game together on Christmas day.

I think that's most likely. You want to get the possible losing teams on prime time as early in the season as possible.

They'll save the big time feuds for the more dramatic late season games. Baltimore, Cinci, Buffalo will all be October or later.

It will be Tampa. Networks won’t want to give up the Texans and Bengals matchups. No AFC West. So Tampa or NO with Tampa getting the edge as a playoff team and past Super Bowl foe.