There's a rematch of last season’s NFC conference championship in Week 2 of the new season as the Saints take on the Rams.Marcio Jose Sanchez/The Associated Press
The NFL’s schedule release is like Christmas morning – that is, if after unwrapping all of your gifts, you sat and stared at them for 4½ months before unboxing the goods.
With Wednesday night’s unveiling, we can finally start circling the calendar, counting the days and drooling over the best 2019 battles to come.
You don’t need me to tell you to watch the rematches of last season’s conference championships – Saints at Rams in Week 2, Chiefs at Patriots in Week 14 – but here are a few others you absolutely should not miss.
1. Patriots at Eagles – Week 11, Sunday, Nov. 17
Not only is this a rematch of Super Bowl LII, a battle of the past two Super Bowl winners and the first meeting between Tom Brady and Carson Wentz, but it’s also the next installment of a very strange head-to-head history.
These teams have faced each other just 14 times total, with two of those coming in the Super Bowl. The five meetings since 2003 have pitted Brady against five different quarterbacks, with very odd results.
Brady outlasted Donovan McNabb in Super Bowl XXXIX but needed a fourth-quarter rally to keep 2007’s perfect season alive against A.J. Feeley, of all people.
The star power at quarterback is reason enough to watch. The possibility of something strange happening only makes it more fascinating.
2. Colts at Chiefs – Week 5, Sunday night, Oct. 6
This game is a rematch from January’s divisional playoffs. Let’s also hope it’s the second of many installments in a Patrick Mahomes versus Andrew Luck rivalry.
When Father Time eventually ousts Brady in a 12-round split decision, not only will there be a superstar vacuum to fill, but the battle for AFC supremacy will be more open than it’s been in two decades. These two quarterbacks (ahem ... Baker Mayfield and Deshaun Watson also would like a word) are the most likely future rulers of the conference. We can only hope Mahomes versus Luck becomes a rivalry half as historic as Manning versus Brady.
As for meeting No. 2, the Colts should be awfully dangerous. Luck is further removed from his lost 2017 season, and a coaching staff that was duct-taped together on the fly last January (thanks, Josh McDaniels) has had another year to jell after an outstanding debut season. With former Chiefs pass rusher Justin Houston aboard and Chris Ballard’s war chest of draft picks, Indy’s defense should make major strides under rising co-ordinator Matt Eberflus.
3. Rams at Browns – Week 3, Sunday night, Sept. 22
This will be the Browns’ first time playing host to a non-Thursday night prime-time game since 2015, and their first time playing host to a Sunday night game since – amazingly – 2008.
It’s easy to forget because they’ve had so little to cheer for in ages, but Cleveland fans are among the most devoted in football. With the Browns’ expectations suddenly pointing skyward, FirstEnergy Stadium will be electric when the reigning NFC champions come to town.
4. Cowboys at Saints – Week 4, Sunday night, Sept. 29
This might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but last year’s Thursday night meeting in Week 13 at Dallas was like a barroom brawl you couldn’t turn away from. The Cowboys’ defence, led by blossoming star linebackers Jaylon Smith and Leighton Vander Esch, battered the previously red-hot Saints offence and delivered the first major blow to Drew Brees’s MVP candidacy.
New Orleans getting robbed of a Super Bowl LIII appearance overshadowed a suspect finishing stretch from Brees, who averaged just 6.7 yards an attempt with seven touchdowns and five interceptions from Week 13 through the postseason. No one is arguing he’s washed up, but when the end arrives for quarterbacks, it does so swiftly and with little warning.
5. Vikings at Chiefs – Week 9, Sunday, Nov. 3
It’s easy to overlook Minnesota after 2018 went sideways, but the Vikings still have one of the NFL’s best rosters. If they can piece together a respectable offensive line, they could be a juggernaut.
Most fascinating in this battle is the clash of Andy Reid’s offence and Mike Zimmer’s defence. Zimmer’s unit dictates terms to opposing offences more than any other NFL defence, using a terrifying front four, finely tuned coverage rotations and a litany of blitzes to punish opposing quarterbacks.