NFC
— Arizona
Arizona opens in Buffalo; Cardinals are 3-2 SU/5-0 ATS in last five road openers.
Cardinals have Week 7 Monday night home game, then Week 8 they’ve got a cross-country trip to play the Dolphins in Miami.
Arizona’s two games with Seattle are in Weeks 12/14.
— Atlanta
Kirk Cousins visits his old team, the Vikings, in Week 14 (December 8)
Falcons are 5-12 ATS in their last 17 road openers, 5-2 ATS in last seven home openers.
Four of their first five games are at home (3 in row at home, weeks 3-5)
— Carolina
Rookie coach Caneles faces Tampa Bay, his old team, in Weeks 13/17.
Panthers lost four of last five home openers SU (1-3-1 ATS)
Carolina visits Denver in Week 8; Panthers’ DC Ejiro Evero was Denver’s DC two years ago.
— Chicago
Bears open their season at home vs Tennessee; since 2003, QB’s drafted first in a draft are 0-14-1 SU/1-14 ATS in their first start.
Weeks 13-15, Chicago has three straight road games (Lions-49ers-Vikings)
Last 20 years, under is 15-5 in Bears’ road openers. Last seven years, under is 6-1 in Chicago’s home openers.
— Dallas
Three of their first four road games (Giants-Steelers-49ers) are night games.
Over is 4-1 in their last five home openers.
Washington coach Dan Quinn was Dallas’ DC the last three years; Cowboy-Commander games are in Weeks 12/18.
— Detroit
Detroit doesn’t play a game outdoors until Week 9 at Green Bay.
Over is 7-2 in their last nine road openers.
Lions lost NFC title game 34-31 to San Francisco LY, blowing a 24-7 third quarter lead; they visit the 49ers on Monday night in Week 17.
— Green Bay
Packers open season against the Eagles in Brazil; Green Bay hasn’t started a season at Lambeau since 2018, but they’ve also won their last 11 home openers (8-3 ATS)
Over is 8-3 in their last 11 road openers.
Play consecutive Thursday games in Weeks 13-14: they host Miami on Thanksgiving night, then visit Detroit the next Thursday.
— LA Rams
Rams lost in playoffs at Detroit LY; they open this year on Sunday night, also at Detroit, which will revive the Stafford-Goff trade drama.
Rams are in Chicago in Week 4; their next road game isn’t until Week 9, at Seattle.
Under Sean McVay, Rams are 7-0 SU/5-2 ATS in road openers.
— Minnesota
Weeks 10-12, Vikings have 3 straight road games (Jaguars-Titans-Bears)
Under is 9-1 in Minnesota’s last ten home openers.
Vikings are 0-6-1 SU/0-7 ATS in their last seven road openers.
— NJ Giants
Last 12 years, Giants are 1-11 ATS in their home opener.
Both their games with Dallas are on Thursdays, including a Thanksgiving game.
Eagles’ new RB Saquon Barkley plays against his old team in Weeks 7/18.
— New Orleans
Visit Giants/Packers in December, two cold-weather games for a dome team.
Last nine years, Saints are 3-6 SU/1-8 ATS in home openers.
Dennis Allen/Derek Carr’s old team (Raiders) visit New Orleans in Week 17.
— Philadelphia
Open season against the Packers in Brazil; in Week 3, they go to Tampa, Week 4, they go to New Orleans, then they have an early bye in Week 5.
Last 15 years, Eagles are 4-10-1 ATS in their last 15 home openers.
New OC Kellen Moore got run out of Dallas couple years ago; Eagles’ games with the Cowboys are in Weeks 10/17.
— San Francisco
Over last 21 years, teams that lost Super Bowl are 5-16 ATS in Week 1 the next year; 49ers host the Jets in Week 1.
Under is 8-2 in their last ten home openers.
Weeks 12-13, they visit Packers/Bills, two cold weather games; the game in Buffalo is at night.
— Seattle
Seahawks won four of their last five road openers.
Week 17 Thursday night road game is long travel/short week, plus a cold weather game.
Their two games with the Cardinals are in Weeks 12/14.
— Washington
Commanders play three of first four games on the road.
Washington is 3-9 ATS in its last 12 home openers.
Kliff Kingsbury is the new OC; Washington visits his old team (Arizona) in Week 4.
AFC
— Baltimore
Ravens visit Arrowhead in Week 1; they lost AFC title game at home to the Chiefs last year.
Harbaugh brothers face each other in Week 12, on a Monday night at SoFi.
Baltimore won/covered seven of last eight Week 1 games.
— Buffalo
Bills visit old friend, WR Stefon Diggs, in Week 5 at Houston.
Under is 6-2 in their last eight road openers.
Bills’ games with Dolphins are early in season; they visit Miami on a Thursday nite in Week 2; Dolphins come to Buffalo in Week 9.
— Cincinnati
Bengals’ games with Baltimore are fairly early (weeks 5/10); their games with Pittsburgh are later on (weeks 13/18)
Cincinnati is 2-6 ATS in its last eight home openers.
Bengals have five night games, three of them on the road.
— Cleveland
Four of their first six games are against NFC East opponents.
Since 2010, Browns are 5-1 ATS as an underdog in their home opener.
Browns visit Philadelphia in Week 6; Cleveland DC Schwartz was DC of the Eagles from 2016-20.
— Denver
Sean Payton’s Broncos visit Payton’s old team in New Orleans in Week 7.
Week 4, Broncos visit the Jets; will Zach Wilson be playing QB against his old team? At what point does rookie QB Bo Nix get the nod?
Denver’s last five home openers stayed under the total.
— Houston
They don’t play an outdoor game until Week 6 at New England.
Under is 7-2 in their last nine road openers.
It is conceivable that their first three games could be against very young QB’s:
Colts- Richardson, Bears- Williams, Vikings- McCarthy
— Indianapolis
Three of their first four games are at home.
Colts are 2-6-1 ATS in last nine road openers.
Their two games with Houston are before Halloween (weeks 1/8).
— Jacksonville
Jaguars visit Philadelphia in Week 9; Doug Pederson won a Super Bowl coaching the Eagles.
Jacksonville is 5-2 ATS in last seven road openers, last four of which went over the total.
Jaguars are playing Bears/Patriots in England in Weeks 6-7; the games are in different stadiums.
— Kansas City
Over last 21 years, Super Bowl champs are 11-7-3 ATS in Week 1 the next year, although they’re 0-3 ATS the last three years.
Last 7 years, Chiefs are 6-1 SU/5-2 ATS in road openers.
Chiefs have cold weather games in Cleveland (Week 15), Pittsburgh (Week 17), Denver (Week 18).
— Las Vegas
Two of their first seven games are on road at SoFi: Week 1 @ Chargers, Week 7 @ Rams.
Raiders are 7-2 ATS in last nine road openers.
Weeks 11-14, Raiders have three games in four weeks east of the Mississippi, visiting Miami, Chiefs and Tampa Bay.
— LA Chargers
Host the Raiders in Week 1; the rematch is in the season finale at Las Vegas.
Chargers are 8-3-1 ATS in last dozen road openers.
Chargers have an early (Week 5) bye, which isn’t ideal.
— Miami
Thanksgiving night in Green Bay should be fun, then they finish the season with a couple more cold weather games in Cleveland, New Jersey (Jets) in Weeks 17-18.
Dolphins are 6-2 ATS in last eight road openers.
Play three of first four games at home, with two of the home games at night.
— New England
Three of their first four games are on the road.
Games with Buffalo are very late, Weeks 16/18.
Their over/under win total is 4.5 wins, tied with Carolina for lowest in league.
— NJ Jets
First seven weeks, they have four night games, and a morning game from England.
Jets are 1-5 SU/ATS in last six home openers.
TV people like Aaron Rodgers; Jets have six night games scheduled, which is a lot for a team that hasn’t been in the playoffs since 2010.
— Pittsburgh
Weeks 12-16, they play 4 road games in 5 weeks; 3 of the 4 games are divisional games.
Russell Wilson visits his old team/coach in Denver in Week 2.
Visit the Ravens in Week 16 on a Saturday, host Chiefs on Christmas four days later.
— Tennessee
Titans host Cincinnati in Week 15; Tennessee coach Callahan was the Bengals’ OC the last five years (head coach Zac Taylor is really the OC).
Titans are 3-9 ATS in last 12 home openers.
Play only one divisional game in first 11 weeks of the season; 5 of their last 7 games are against AFC South rivals.
— ESPN’s schedule release show was so much better than NFL Network’s; memo to Rich Eisen: no one gives a BLEEP!!! where you went to college. Jim Harbaugh coaches the Chargers now; talk about the Chargers, not his last job.
— Christmas is on a Wednesday this year; despite that, there will be two NFL games on Christmas, with Chiefs @ Pittsburgh and Ravens @ Houston- those games are on Netflix.
— Lowest win totals:
Carolina, New England both have 4.5 win totals
1991 was last time New England’s win total was that low.
— Week 1 thoughts:
Steelers (Russell Wilson) @ Falcons (Kirk Cousins)— battle of veteran QB’s who changed teams.
Jets @ 49ers- Hopefully Aaron Rodgers will last more than four plays this year, but he is on Monday Night Football in Week 1 for second year in a row.
Rams @ Lions- Rematch of a playoff game from last year; the two QB’s were obviously traded for each other, a trade that has helped both teams.
When do the rookie QB’s start?
Packers vs Eagles, in Brazil- Two teams are playing in a soccer stadium where the home team’s arch-rival wears green uniforms. Because of that, it is an unwritten rule that you never wear green in that stadium. Whoops.