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1. Reggie Bush Could Be Dead By Halloween.
One of the first things we noticed upon perusing the schedule is that it might be a good idea for USC tailback Reggie Bush to kick Gary Kubiak in the crotch or make fun of Bob McNair's bald head during his current visit to Houston. Because if the Texans end up taking Bush with the first overall selection in the 2006 draft, Bush might be six feet under before he plays his seventh game.
There is no Arizona State or Fresno State on any NFL team's schedule. But, for Bush, he'll get a taste of some of the hardest-hitting units in the league right out of the gates.
If chosen by the Texans, the 2005 Heisman winner will see the Eagles, Colts, Redskins, Dolphins, Cowboys, and Jaguars to launch his career.
So if the guy's for real, we'll know it by Halloween. If he isn't for real, he'll know it.
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2. Young, Leinart Renew Acquaintances.
They ended their college careers with opposing teams at the center of the biggest stage in college football. They very well could start their pro careers with opposing teams at the sidelines of a forgettable opening day contest.
If the Titans draft quarterback former Texas Vince Young and if the Jets land former USC quarterback Matt Leinart, they'll meet up again in Week One, with the Jets traveling to Nashville.
Neither guy will likely be playing that day, since the Jets still have Chad Pennington and Patrick Ramsey and the Titans have Billy Volek.
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3. Tags Gets Revenge For Playmakers.
Let's get this straight. ESPN is paying $1.1 billion per year for the rights to broadcast games on Monday nights. In return, the NFL gives ESPN a schedule that includes ho-hummers like the Falcons at the Saints, the Packers at the Eagles, the Ravens at the Broncos, the Bears at the Cardinals, the Raiders at the Seahawks, the Packers at the Seahawks, and the Bears at the Rams.
Those seven yawn-inducers cost ESPN more than $450 million.
So it appears to us that the Commish finally got even with the Boys from Bristol for embarrassing the league by, you know, telling the truth regarding the realities of pro football in the Playmakers series.
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4. NBC Has A Peacock In Their Pockets.
In contrast, the folks at NBC should be feeling pretty good about themselves right now. Not only will NBC have the ability to cherry pick desirable contests on the back end of the season (more on that later), but NBC also gets plenty of compelling matchups on the front end:
Fins at Steelers, Colts at Giants, Redskins at Cowboys in T.O.'s home opener, Broncos at Patriots, Seahawks at Bears, Steelers at Chargers, Raiders at Broncos, Redskins at Colts, Cowboys at Panthers, and Colts at Patriots.
Bottom line -- Sunday night is now the place to be when it comes to prime time NFL games, and Disney chairman George Mitchell might want to take a detour from his baseball steroids investigation to figure out who in the hell negotiated on ESPN's behalf a 17-week slate that wouldn't draw solid ratings even if they exhume Howard Cosell.
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5. NFL Network Bogarts Lord Favre's Farewell.
Assuming that quarterback Brett Favre plays one more season with the Green Bay Packers (safe bet), and assuming that the Packers don't host a playoff game (even safer bet), one of the crown jewels in the NFL Network's maiden schedule comes on December 21, when the Vikings travel to Lambeau for Lord Favre's final home game.
It will be a big deal. A very big deal. And the only way to see it in the comfort of your own home will be to get the NFL Network
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6. Flex Scheduling Is A Great Thing.
The concept of flexible scheduling of the Sunday night games carries multiple benefits for the NFL. Apart from pumping up the ratings for the NFL's return to NBC, the whole question of which game will be "the" game to move to Sunday night will generate plenty of interest among NFL observers.
How do we know that? When we saw the list of games for Week 10, the first week of flexible scheduling, we immediately tried to guess which of those games ultimately would land at 8:15 p.m. EDT.
Although both FOX and CBS have the ability to hold back one game each per week and a total of five each for the season, flexible scheduling will create extra buzz on a weekly basis for a league that already has cornered the market on it.
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7. Bills Do The Two-Fer.
As the Buffalo Bills break in a brand new coaching staff and a new-old G.M., they'll be confronted with a bizarre schedule composed almost entirely of back-to-back games at home and on the road.
The Bills open at New England and at Miami. Then the Bills come home to face the Jets and Vikings in consecutive weeks.
Next up -- two more on the road, at Chicago and at Detroit. Then two more at home, against the Pats and the Packers.
The pattern continues into December, with a total of 14 Bills games played as part of a back-to-back package either at home or on the road.
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8. We Dey! . . . Maybe.
Steelers coach Bill Cowher stoked the rivalry with the Cincinnati Bengals by mocking Cincy's "Who Dey?" chant both after the Steelers beat the Bengals in the first round of the playoffs, and after the Steelers won the Super Bowl.
The Bengals will get a chance to shut Cowher up on the final game of the 2006 regular season, when the Steelers return to the Queen City. Hopefully, the outcome of that one will determine the AFC North champion.
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9. NFL Steals Dolphins Thunder, Too.
We've mentioned a couple of times over the past few days that the company the Miami Dolphins hired to install new video displays prematurely let the cat out of the bag regarding the team's plan to announce on Saturday the new name and logo of its stadium.
The NFL has now pooped on the dog-and-pony show, too. The tail end of the official 2006 schedule on NFL.com announces that Super Bowl XLI will be played on February 4 at . . . Dolphin Stadium.
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10. No Snowballs For T.O.
As it turns out, those reports that the Cowboys will travel to Philly for a Christmas Day game were wr-wr-wr-wrong.
Or were they?
In the official schedule, the Cowboys and Eagles indeed play on Christmas. The game, however, will be played at Dallas, giving the Cowboys two nationally televised games on major holidays in 2006. The Cowboys travel to Philadelphia on October 8.
Could it be that the league decided to flip-flop the home-and-home series after realizing that, come Christmas, there could be an ugly scene at Lincoln Financial Field if there's any snow in the stands? We wouldn't be surprised to learn that, once the Commish caught wind of the plan to create a potential Christmas riot in Philly, he told the schedule makers to reverse the locations of the two games.
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Nice read. With the flex schedule, when will the game be anounced. The upcoming Thur or Fri?
