2006 Nfl Schedule Announced
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NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE 280 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017 (212) 450-2000 * FAX (212) 681-7573 WWW.NFLMedia.com Joe Browne, Executive Vice President-Communications Greg Aiello, Vice President-Public Relations FOR USE AS DESIRED NFL-22 4/6/06 -- Complete 2006 Schedule Available to Fans on NFL.com -- 2006 NFL SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED The NFL announced today its 17-week, 256-game regular-season schedule for 2006, which kicks off on Thursday night, September 7, and concludes on Sunday, December 31. The season begins as it has the past four years with a primetime game on Thursday night. This year the opener is on September 7 on NBC (8:30 PM ET) featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers at home against the Miami Dolphins. In a format introduced in 2004, the Super Bowl champion now hosts the NFL Thursday night season kickoff the next year. This season, Super Bowl XLI – under the season-long theme of “One Game. One Dream.” – will be played at Dolphins Stadium in South Florida on February 4, 2007. The 2006 NFL Kickoff Weekend schedule: NFL KICKOFF 2006 WEEKEND Thursday, September 7 LOCAL EASTERN Miami Dolphins at Pittsburgh Steelers 8:30 PM ET 8:30 PM Sunday, September 10 LOCAL EASTERN Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers 1:00 PM ET 1:00 PM New Orleans Saints at Cleveland Browns 1:00 PM ET 1:00 PM Seattle Seahawks at Detroit Lions 1:00 PM ET 1:00 PM Philadelphia Eagles at Houston Texans 12:00 PM CT 1:00 PM Cincinnati Bengals at Kansas City Chiefs 12:00 PM CT 1:00 PM Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots 1:00 PM ET 1:00 PM Denver Broncos at St. Louis Rams 12:00 PM CT 1:00 PM Baltimore Ravens at Tampa Bay Buccaneers 1:00 PM ET 1:00 PM New York Jets at Tennessee Titans 12:00 PM CT 1:00 PM San Francisco 49ers at Arizona Cardinals 1:15 PM MT 4:15 PM Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers 3:15 PM CT 4:15 PM Dallas Cowboys at Jacksonville Jaguars 4:15 PM ET 4:15 PM Indianapolis Colts at New York Giants 8:15 PM ET 8:15 PM Monday, September 11 Minnesota Vikings at Washington Redskins 7:00 PM ET 7:00 PM San Diego Chargers at Oakland Raiders 7:15 PM PT 10:15 PM The NFL’s newest network partner – NBC – will carry two primetime games on Kickoff Weekend (Thursday and Sunday nights) for a season total of 17 primetime games (the opening Thursday night kickoff, 15 Sunday Night Football games and a Monday evening game on December 25). The Sunday night Kickoff Weekend game will feature the first-ever matchup of starting quarterbacks that are brothers when PEYTON MANNING and the Indianapolis Colts visit ELI MANNING and the New York Giants. ESPN – which takes over the tradition of Monday Night Football – will begin its season with a doubleheader on Kickoff Weekend – the Minnesota Vikings at the Washington Redskins (7:00 PM ET) and the San Diego Chargers at the Oakland Raiders (10:15 PM ET). Then ESPN will broadcast one Monday night game for the next 15 weeks. There will continue to be no Monday night game on the final regular-season weekend (Week 17), enhancing the ability to schedule the opening weekend of the NFL playoffs. A notable game will occur in New Orleans, Louisiana in Week 3. On that Monday night, September 25, the New Orleans Saints will return to the Louisiana Superdome for the first time since Hurricane Katrina when they face their longtime division rival, the Atlanta Falcons, on ESPN at 8:30 PM ET. The 2006 season will signal the advent of primetime “flexible scheduling” in the NFL. That process will take place on Sunday nights on NBC in seven of the season’s final eight weeks, from Weeks 10-15 and in Week 17. The Sunday night game in those weeks will be listed as “TBD.” One game from that Sunday afternoon will be moved to Sunday night at 8:15 PM ET. The move will be announced 12 days before the game. For Week 17, the move may be announced six days before the game. Flexible scheduling will ensure quality matchups on Sunday night in those weeks and give surprise teams a chance to play their way onto primetime. The Thanksgiving weekend will mark two other noteworthy developments in NFL broadcast patterns. The traditional Thanksgiving Day doubleheader will now become a tripleheader with the addition of a game on Thursday night. It will also mark the debut of the NFL’s other new national TV partner, NFL Network – which this year will carry regular-season games for the first time. The early Thanksgiving Day game will feature the Miami Dolphins at the Detroit Lions on CBS at 12:30 PM ET. The afternoon game will send the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the Dallas Cowboys on FOX at 4:15 PM ET. That night at 8:00 PM ET, NFL Network will carry the Denver Broncos at the Kansas City Chiefs. The Denver-Kansas City game will be the first of eight Thursday and/or Saturday night games that will be televised by NFL Network in Weeks 12-17. The final three will be on holiday weekends. On Thursday, December 21 (8:00 PM ET), Minnesota will play at Green Bay. On Saturday, December 23 (8:00 PM ET), Kansas City will be at Oakland. And on Saturday, December 30 (8:00 PM ET), the New York Giants will travel to the Washington Redskins. In Week 16, 12 games will be played on Sunday afternoon, December 24. On Monday, December 25, NBC will carry the Philadelphia at Dallas game at 5:00 PM ET and ESPN will televise the New York Jets at Miami (8:30 PM ET). The regular season will conclude on New Year’s weekend. NFL Network will have the Giants-Redskins game on Saturday, and on Sunday, December 31, there will be 14 afternoon games and a Sunday Night Football game on NBC at 8:15 PM ET. With the NFL’s 32 teams each playing 16 games over 17 weeks, byes are scheduled for Weeks 3 through 9. The 2006 playoffs will include four division winners and two wild cards from each conference. The playoffs begin with Wild Card Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, January 6-7. The two division winners with the best records in each conference will earn first-round byes. Wild Card Weekend winners join the top four AFC and NFC division champions in the Divisional Playoffs on Saturday and Sunday, January 13-14. The AFC and NFC Championship Games will be played on Sunday, January 21. The winners meet two weeks later on Sunday, February 4 in South Florida in Super Bowl XLI. The postseason concludes with the AFC All-Stars vs. the NFC All-Stars in the Pro Bowl on Saturday, February 10 in Honolulu, Hawaii. CBS will present the AFC, the AFC playoffs, the AFC Championship Game, Super Bowl XLI and the Pro Bowl. FOX will carry NFC games, the NFC playoffs and the NFC Championship Game. The 64 AFC-NFC interconference games (excluding primetime) are carried by CBS when the AFC team is the visitor and by FOX when the NFC team is on the road. All postseason games are televised nationally. In addition to its Sunday night package, NBC will televise a Wild Card playoff doubleheader on Saturday, January 6. CBS concludes the NFL season with the Pro Bowl on February 10. By NFL policy, ESPN and NFL Network games also will be carried on free, over-the-air television in the city of the visiting team and in the city where the game is played if it is sold out 72 hours in advance of kickoff. The NFL is the only sports league that carries all regular-season and postseason games on free, over-the-air television. # # # Pg - 1 2006 NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE SCHEDULE (GAMES GROUPED BY EARLY, LATE-AFTERNOON AND EVENING ET STARTS AND LISTED ALPHABETICALLY BY HOME TEAM; SUNDAY GAME TIMES SUBJECT TO CHANGE) THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 (FIRST WEEKEND) LOCAL EASTERN 1. MIAMI AT PITTSBURGH 8:30p (ET) 8:30p SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 10 2. ATLANTA AT CAROLINA 1:00p (ET) 1:00p 3. NEW ORLEANS AT CLEVELAND 1:00p (ET) 1:00p 4. SEATTLE AT DETROIT 1:00p (ET) 1:00p 5. PHILADELPHIA AT HOUSTON 12:00p (CT) 1:00p 6. CINCINNATI AT KANSAS CITY 12:00p (CT) 1:00p FOX-TV 7. BUFFALO AT NEW ENGLAND 1:00p (ET) 1:00p NATIONAL 8. DENVER AT ST. LOUIS 12:00p (CT) 1:00p WEEKEND 9. BALTIMORE AT TAMPA BAY 1:00p (ET) 1:00p 10. N.Y. JETS AT TENNESSEE 12:00p (CT) 1:00p 11. SAN FRANCISCO AT ARIZONA 1:15p (MST) 4:15p 12. CHICAGO AT GREEN BAY 3:15p (CT) 4:15p 13. DALLAS AT JACKSONVILLE 4:15p (ET) 4:15p 14. INDIANAPOLIS AT N.Y. GIANTS 8:15p (ET) 8:15p MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11 15. MINNESOTA AT WASHINGTON 7:00p (ET) 7:00p 16. SAN DIEGO AT OAKLAND 7:15p (PT) 10:15p SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 (SECOND WEEKEND) 17. TAMPA BAY AT ATLANTA 1:00p (ET) 1:00p 18. OAKLAND AT BALTIMORE 1:00p (ET) 1:00p 19. DETROIT AT CHICAGO 12:00p (CT) 1:00p 20. CLEVELAND AT CINCINNATI 1:00p (ET) 1:00p 21. NEW ORLEANS AT GREEN BAY 12:00p (CT) 1:00p 22. HOUSTON AT INDIANAPOLIS 1:00p (ET) 1:00p CBS-TV 23. BUFFALO AT MIAMI 1:00p (ET) 1:00p NATIONAL 24.