NEW YORK – First, Lamar Jackson. Then, Joe Burrow.
The two-time defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs face a daunting test in opening their season after CBS unveiled Kansas City’s Week 2 opponent as being the Cincinnati Bengals on Tuesday. The league also announced Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets will open their season on ESPN's Monday Night Football on Sept. 9 in traveling to play the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers.
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Prime Video later announced it’s Thursday Night Football schedule will open in Week 2 with an AFC East showdown featuring the Miami Dolphins hosting the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 12.
The Bengals, with Burrow as their quarterback again following a season-ending wrist injury, will travel to play at Kansas City in a late-afternoon outing on Sept. 15. The matchup follows the league's announcement on Monday of the Chiefs opening the NFL schedule hosting the Jackson-led Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 5 in a rematch of last season’s AFC title game.
The meeting against the Bengals brings together two teams who met in consecutive AFC championships, with Cincinnati winning in 2021 and the Chiefs winning the following season.
The NFL is releasing highlighted portions of its schedule in advance of the league revealing its full slate of games on Wednesday night.
The Jets are opening on Monday Night Football for a second consecutive season following a 22-16 overtime win over the Buffalo Bills last year, in what became Rodgers' celebrated but injury-abbreviated New York debut. Rodgers attempted one pass, which went incomplete, during a first series which ended with him tearing his left Achilles tendon. He was sidelined for the rest of the season.
Rodgers is on track to return to practice without limitations once the Jets begin voluntary spring sessions next week.
This season marks Prime's third since taking over the Thursday night broadcast, and kicks off with a rematch of last season's finale in which Josh Allen and the Bills defeated the Dolphins 21-14 to clinch Buffalo its fourth consecutive AFC East title. It also relegated Miami to the AFC's sixth playoff seed. Buffalo has won four consecutive meetings and 11 of 12 against Miami, including a wild-card playoff victory two years ago.
The league previously announced that the Green Bay Packers would be facing the Philadelphia Eagles in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Sept. 6. It will be the first time the NFL has played a game on Friday night of opening weekend in more than 50 years.
The game will be streamed on Peacock, and also air on the NBC affiliates in Philadelphia, Green Bay and Milwaukee.
Also, Tom Brady’s broadcast debut with Fox will be on Sept. 8 when the Dallas Cowboys open at the Cleveland Browns. It is the first time since 2019 that the Cowboys have not had a prime time kickoff in Week 1.
In a departure from past seasons, CBS and Fox will not both have a doubleheader in Week 1. Fox has it for the opening week followed by CBS in Week 2.
The league will announce the dates and opponents for the four international games in Europe on Wednesday morning. Jacksonville, Minnesota and Chicago are the designated home teams for the London contests and Carolina will head to Munich, Germany.
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