- New Orleans at Indianapolis (9/6 NBC) - The great tradition of having the champs host the season opener against a sexy contender continues, this time as Reggie Bush and Drew Brees come to town. Look for the banner ceremony to fire everyone up in a high scoring shootout.
- San Diego at New England (9/16 NBC) - Chargers look to get some revenge on last year's heated playoff upset, and they have shown they can win at Foxboro before.
- Tenessee at New Orleans (9/24 ESPN) - Monday Night Football has lost a lot of its attractiveness in the past couple of years, but Vince Young versus Reggie Bush is hot.
- Houston at Atlanta (9/30) - Matt Schaub returns to the Georgie Dome, and after this game we should have a good feel for how well the biggest offseason gamble turned out.
- Seattle at Pittsburgh (10/7) - Quick Super Bowl rematches are great, but this one will be more in particular because the entire state of Washington still believes the Seahawks got screwed, giving the Steelers something to prove.
- New England at Dallas (10/14) - Tom Brady visits Tony Romo, both are against tough run-stopping 3-4 defenses. Shootout anyone?
- Chicago at Philadephia (10/21) - These two NFC contenders' hopes rest squarely on the shoulders of their respective quarterbacks in Rex Grossman and Donovan McNabb.
- New York Giants at Miami (10/28) - The London Bowl. Perhaps the only aspect in which the NFL is far behind the NBA, and even baseball for that matter, is that they have failed to appeal to foreign countries. This game is a good start.
- New England at Indianapolis (11/4) - It is always Game of the Year with these two. Last year's 20-point comeback by Peyton Manning and company in the AFC championship game was the real Super Bowl, in what may have been the most amazing game ever.
- Indianapolis at San Diego (11/11 NBC) - "Let's just say we had some, uh, protection problems." Shawn Merriman is coming for you, Peyton.
- Chicago at Seattle (11/18 NBC) - The NFC locks to win their division meet again. Last year's overtime playoff game was awfully close, but that was in Chicago.
- Baltimore at San Diego (11/25) - Thanksgiving weekend means two great things, food and football. The two most feared defenses against two dynamic offenses put on a show last season.
- New England at Baltimore (12/3 ESPN) - Brady versus McNair, both backed by tough defenses.
- Pittsburgh at New England (12/9) - Big Ben snapped Brady's record of 21 straight wins in his rookie year.
- Arizona at New Orleans (12/16) - Matt Leinart is facing a lot of pressure entering his first full year as a starter, and by this late point in the season will be expected to impress.
- Dallas at Carolina (12/22 NFL Network) - Time Warner, suck it up and let us watch our football please.
- New Orleans at Chicago (12/30) - The last week always features a bunch of meaningless games, so it is hard to predict which ones will have a big impact on the playoffs. Cannot go wrong with the NFC championship rematch though.
Five months to go...
