And yet the Houston Texans have seemingly earned the confidence of the NFL with a significant scheduling shift from 2023 to 2024.
The AFC South champions will play four prime-time games this season, including two Sunday night games (Week 2 vs. Chicago Bears, Week 10 vs. Detroit Lions), one Monday night game (Week 11 at Dallas Cowboys) and one Thursday night game (Week 9 at New York Jets). Houston also received one nationally televised Saturday game against the Chiefs in Week 16. But the grand prize came with a Christmas Day game against the Ravens in Week 17.
The Texans played 16 consecutive early window kickoffs (1 p.m. Eastern) last season before being flexed into their lone regular season prime-time game with a playoff spot on the line in Week 18.
The top two picks in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Bears’ Caleb Williams and the Washington Commanders’ Jayden Daniels, are scheduled to meet in Week 8 when the Commanders host the Bears. If both are starting, it would be the sixth game in NFL history between rookie starting quarterbacks selected with the first and second overall picks in the NFL Draft.
The Carolina Panthers are the only team without a prime-time game. Carolina finished last season with the league’s worst record at 2-15.
Scheduling takeaways
• The toughest schedule in the NFL for 2024? The New England Patriots. The AFC East has three playoff-hopeful teams which puts them behind the eight ball to start. The toughest part of the schedule, though, is when they travel to London to play the Jacksonville Jaguars who will have already played in London the week prior. The two games surrounding the London game? The Texans and Jets. If the Patriots manage to win one of those three games, that would be a nice surprise.
• Kirk Cousins should enjoy his new home in Atlanta. The Falcons have the easiest schedule in the NFL, per my model. The Falcons do start off with a tough stretch in the first three weeks (vs. Steelers, at Eagles, vs. Chiefs) but after that, they play just two teams that project as above average. The Falcons signed Cousins to win football games and he should have a very easy path to do so with how the schedule broke this year.
• Which Super Bowl contenders have the easiest path to a playoff bye? Within the top 10 teams in Super Bowl odds per BetMGM, the Philadelphia Eagles have the easiest schedule and it’s not close. The Eagles schedule ranks as the 30th most difficult per my model and the next closest team is the Cowboys at 23rd. Compare that to the Buffalo Bills who rank 3rd and the Baltimore Ravens who rank 7th. The defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs rank 15th while the Super Bowl runner up, San Francisco 49ers, rank 10th. — Austin Mock, NFL writer
THE 2024 MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL SCHEDULE IS HERE 🔥 pic.twitter.com/zdTLk0c1of
— ESPN (@espn) May 16, 2024
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Week 1 matchups for new starting QBs
(Via Mike Sando, NFL columnist)
• Kirk Cousins (ATL) vs. Steelers: The Falcons could have pursued current Steelers quarterbacks Russell Wilson or Justin Fields. Will Cousins be good enough to beat Pittsburgh in his first game back from a torn Achilles’ tendon?
• Caleb Williams (CHI) vs. Titans: Williams makes his first NFL start against a Titans defense led by a first-time coordinator in Dennard Wilson, a former Bears scout.
• Russell Wilson (PIT) at Falcons: Wilson completed 31-of-35 passes for 322 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions in his most recent start at Atlanta, a 38-25 Seahawks victory to open the 2020 season.
• Jayden Daniels (WAS) at Buccaneers: Daniels will have a difficult time topping what the second pick in the 2023 draft managed against Tampa Bay last season, as C.J. Stroud passed for 470 yards and five touchdowns in a 39-37 Texans victory.
• Bo Nix (DEN) at Seahawks: This could be a tricky first start for Nix or whoever starts at quarterback for the Broncos, as it’ll be the first chance for any team to see how new Seattle coach Mike Macdonald plans to deploy his defensive personnel.
• Gardner Minshew (LV) at Chargers: While oddsmakers favor Minshew to start for the Raiders, incumbent Aidan O’Connell was the one passing for 248 yards and four touchdowns against the Chargers in Week 14 last season.
• Jacoby Brissett (NE) at Steelers: New England somewhat miraculously won at Pittsburgh last season with Bailey Zappe tossing three touchdown passes.
• Sam Darnold (MIN) at Giants: Darnold remains the favorite to start the opener for the Vikings. The New York tabloids will be ready if the former Jets No. 1 draft choice outplays the Giants’ Daniel Jones.
MARK YOUR CALENDARS! 📆
The FULL Sunday Night Football schedule is here! 🏈 pic.twitter.com/jbwvJwklN0
— Sunday Night Football on NBC (@SNFonNBC) May 16, 2024
Week 1 matchups for new head coaches
(Via Sando)
• Dave Canales (CAR) at Saints: The Panthers fell 28-6 at New Orleans late last season with Bryce Young averaging 3.8 yards per pass attempt on 13-of-36 completions. Expect Canales to run the ball as much as he possibly can.
• Raheem Morris (ATL) vs. Steelers: Morris and Steelers counterpart Mike Tomlin coached defensive backs together with Tampa two decades ago.
• Jim Harbaugh (LAC) vs. Raiders: The NFL indulged Harbaugh’s love for football history with a rivalry that bottomed out for the Chargers when the Raiders routed them 63-21 last season.
• Jerod Mayo (NE) at Bengals: The league could have served up an easier debut game for Mayo. Few might recall Bill Belichick starting 0-4 with the Patriots in 2000.
• Mike McDonald (SEA) vs. Broncos: Seattle’s new coach and defensive architect did not face Sean Payton during his two-year stint as the Ravens’ coordinator.
• Brian Callahan (TEN) at Bears: Callahan and his young quarterback (Will Levis) might be able to sneak into Chicago without much notice, given how tightly the spotlight will be trained on the Bears’ Caleb Williams.
• Dan Quinn (WAS) at Buccaneers: Quinn has a 5-2 record at Tampa Bay as an opposing head coach or coordinator. His teams dominated those games more because of what they produced on offense (55.8 EPA) than on defense (-25.2 EPA).
