GrnBay007
03-27-2006, 11:57 PM
Dolphins, Steelers kick it off; more Thanksgiving stuffing
By Larry Weisman, USA TODAY
ORLANDO  The Pittsburgh Steelers will begin defending their Super Bowl title in a Thursday night home game against the Miami Dolphins and ESPN's new Monday night package debuts with a first-ever doubleheader when the NFL seasons opens with its third Kickoff Weekend.
The Dolphins-Steelers game on Sept. 7, scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET, will be NBC's first regular-season broadcast since 1997. Its first Sunday night telecast will feature the Indianapolis Colts and New York Giants, quarterbacked, respectively, by brothers Peyton and Eli Manning at the New Jersey Meadowlands.
ESPN, which took the Monday night package from corporate stablemate ABC, gets the Minnesota Vikings at the Washington Redskins (7 p.m. ET) and San Diego Chargers-Oakland Raiders (10:15 p.m. ET) tilt. That's an odd coupling. While the Redskins sell out every game and have led the NFL in attendance for six straight years, the Raiders rarely have a full stadium. That raises the potential for a blackout in the Bay Area for the game with San Diego.
The NFL Network joins the rotation on Thanksgiving with an 8 p.m. ET showing of the Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs used to host a Thanksgiving Day game in the AFL days and have long campaigned to host one in the NFL.
"I've thought all those games should be rotated," Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt told The Associated Press Monday. "But it's a plus for us to have the first one at night. We have a history in them. We always hosted them before the merger, and we've wanted to do it again.
"It ought to bring a great rating," Hunt said. "People will be worn out from all of their Thanksgiving Day activities, so they can sit down and enjoy the game."
The other Thanksgiving contests: Miami-Detroit Lions (12:30 p.m., CBS) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers-Dallas Cowboys (4:15 p.m. ET, Fox).
The Broncos-Chiefs match will be the first live, in-season game on NFL Network, which will show eight prime-time games from Thanksgiving through the end of the season. Those games will be on either Thursday or Saturday nights.
The main national TV doubleheader game for the full opening day Sept. 10 has Dallas at Jacksonville at 4:15 p.m. ET on Fox.
The rest of the NFL schedule should be announced in early April.
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By Larry Weisman, USA TODAY
ORLANDO  The Pittsburgh Steelers will begin defending their Super Bowl title in a Thursday night home game against the Miami Dolphins and ESPN's new Monday night package debuts with a first-ever doubleheader when the NFL seasons opens with its third Kickoff Weekend.
The Dolphins-Steelers game on Sept. 7, scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET, will be NBC's first regular-season broadcast since 1997. Its first Sunday night telecast will feature the Indianapolis Colts and New York Giants, quarterbacked, respectively, by brothers Peyton and Eli Manning at the New Jersey Meadowlands.
ESPN, which took the Monday night package from corporate stablemate ABC, gets the Minnesota Vikings at the Washington Redskins (7 p.m. ET) and San Diego Chargers-Oakland Raiders (10:15 p.m. ET) tilt. That's an odd coupling. While the Redskins sell out every game and have led the NFL in attendance for six straight years, the Raiders rarely have a full stadium. That raises the potential for a blackout in the Bay Area for the game with San Diego.
The NFL Network joins the rotation on Thanksgiving with an 8 p.m. ET showing of the Denver Broncos at Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs used to host a Thanksgiving Day game in the AFL days and have long campaigned to host one in the NFL.
"I've thought all those games should be rotated," Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt told The Associated Press Monday. "But it's a plus for us to have the first one at night. We have a history in them. We always hosted them before the merger, and we've wanted to do it again.
"It ought to bring a great rating," Hunt said. "People will be worn out from all of their Thanksgiving Day activities, so they can sit down and enjoy the game."
The other Thanksgiving contests: Miami-Detroit Lions (12:30 p.m., CBS) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers-Dallas Cowboys (4:15 p.m. ET, Fox).
The Broncos-Chiefs match will be the first live, in-season game on NFL Network, which will show eight prime-time games from Thanksgiving through the end of the season. Those games will be on either Thursday or Saturday nights.
The main national TV doubleheader game for the full opening day Sept. 10 has Dallas at Jacksonville at 4:15 p.m. ET on Fox.
The rest of the NFL schedule should be announced in early April.
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