With their record-setting quarterback and pop-star courting tight finish, the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs had been the NFL’s model of the Beatles final season.
This season Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Chiefs will likely be as near matching the Beatles’ “Eight Days a Week” as any NFL staff in practically 100 years.
Together with the standard Sunday video games, Kansas Metropolis can be set to play video games this season on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday underneath the newly launched schedule – an odd prevalence that has occurred solely as soon as earlier than within the NFL.
The Chiefs would be the first staff for the reason that 1927 New York Yankees – the soccer model, not the model with Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig that dominated the baseball diamond – to play video games on six days of the week in a single season. These NFL Yankees underneath coach Ralph Scott went 7-8-1 that season with a roster that featured Corridor of Famer Pink Grange and performed daily aside from Monday.
The rise of tv packages and broadcast home windows have given one of many NFL’s most high-profile franchises a most uncommon schedule with a most of 11 video games to be performed on Sundays with no less than two of these in prime time.
The Chiefs will open the season at house on Thursday night time in opposition to the Baltimore Ravens on Sept. 5 within the conventional spot for the defending champions. They will even play twice on Monday nights (Oct. 7 in opposition to New Orleans and Nov. 4 in opposition to Tampa Bay) after which had been tabbed for 2 of the newer broadcast home windows to fill a few of different days of the week.
Kansas Metropolis will host the Las Vegas Raiders within the second annual Black Friday sport on Amazon Prime Video on Nov. 29 and was picked for the Christmas Day doubleheader on Netflix for a Wednesday sport at Pittsburgh. The groups enjoying on Christmas in Week 17 got Saturday video games in Week 16 to get enough relaxation, with Kansas Metropolis internet hosting Houston that day.
That provides the Chiefs video games scheduled for daily of the week aside from Tuesday.
The three different groups enjoying on Christmas – Pittsburgh, Houston and Baltimore – will all have video games on 5 days of the week, lacking solely Tuesday and Friday. The one different staff to try this within the fashionable NFL was the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021, after they performed a Tuesday sport postponed due to COVID, together with scheduled video games that season on Sunday, Monday, Thursday and Saturday.
Relaxation up
The defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers discover themselves on the brief finish of the stick in terms of relaxation.
The Niners will face 4 groups coming off their bye weeks, tied for probably the most in a season since byes returned to the NFL in 1990, in accordance with analysis from ESPN. Indianapolis faces three groups coming off byes.
The 49ers may have 22 fewer days of relaxation than their opponents this season, tied for the third-largest hole for the reason that begin of the eight-division format in 2002, in accordance with ESPN. They’ll play Dallas, Kansas Metropolis, Buffalo and Seattle following byes for these groups however San Francisco does get a couple of further days earlier than the Tremendous Bowl rematch with the Chiefs in Week 7 because of a Thursday night time sport the earlier week.
The Ravens are on the different finish of the equation with a league-high 16 extra days off than their opponents thanks partly to video games on Wednesday and Thursday. That is probably the most further days of relaxation for any staff since 2002, in accordance with ESPN.
New England is tied for the second-best relaxation disparity in that span with 13 further days off.
There are 14 groups in all that may play a number of video games this season with 4 days off or fewer because of the Black Friday sport, the 2 Wednesday video games for Christmas this yr and rule modifications put in place final season to permit groups to play a number of Thursday night time short-week video games.
That features Dallas and the New York Giants, who will play a pair of Thursday video games with a Week 4 night time sport and a Thanksgiving sport. That is simply the third time in NFL historical past that groups will play on Thursday twice in a season. Detroit and Inexperienced Bay did it final season and the Chicago Bears and Cardinals did it in 1926.
Rookie QBS
Caleb Williams might get an opportunity to face the 2 different rookie quarterbacks the Chicago Bears handed on to choose Williams first general.
The Bears face No. 2 decide Jayden Daniels and Washington on Oct. 27 after which host No. 3 decide Drake Maye and New England two weeks later.
There have been solely 5 instances within the widespread draft period that quarterbacks taken with the highest two picks met as rookies, with No. 1 decide Bryce Younger besting No. 2 decide C.J. Stroud final season.
No. 2 decide Zach Wilson beat Trevor Lawrence in 2021, No. 2 decide Marcus Mariota defeated Jameis Winston in 2015, No. 1 decide Peyton Manning topped Ryan Leaf in 1998, and No. 2 decide Rick Mirer bested Drew Bledsoe in 1993.
The Bears even have two video games scheduled in opposition to the Vikings, who picked J.J. McCarthy tenth general final month. That provides Williams an opportunity to set the widespread draft period document for many begins in opposition to a fellow rookie QB. Mac Jones did it 4 instances for New England in 2021.
Frequent flyers
Jim Harbaugh’s first season as Los Angeles Chargers coach will function loads of time on the aircraft.
The Chargers are slated to journey an NFL-high 26,803 miles this season, in accordance with Bookies(dot)com, thanks partly to 5 journeys to the Japanese time zone and 9 general highway video games with NFC groups getting the additional house sport this season.
The opposite heavy-travel groups this season are Miami, Seattle and New England, with all of these groups slated for no less than 25,000 miles in journey. 5 groups all have lower than 13,000 miles of journey with Washington set for a league-low 10,550 miles. The opposite low-travel groups are Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh and Atlanta.
