Patriots already being rumored for 2 marquee video games on 2026 NFL schedule – 98.5 The Sports activities Hub

We’ve nonetheless obtained just a little over a month till the NFL broadcasts the schedule for the 2026 season. Yet the New England Patriots are already being tied to 2 of the marquee video games on the league’s slate.

The defending Super Bowl champion enjoying the primary sport of the 12 months is an annual custom, however that sport being a Super Bowl rematch is uncommon. The final time the NFL did so when the Broncos and Panthers performed in Super Bowl 50, then within the 2016 season opener seven months later (the Broncos gained each video games).

Options are restricted to matchup up with Seattle in Week 1. It clearly must be a house sport, limiting the chances to 9 groups – the Patriots, 49ers, Rams, Cardinals, Chiefs, Cowboys, Giants, Chargers, and Bears.

The Rams and 49ers aren’t obtainable as they’re going to be enjoying a Week 1 sport in Australia. According to Reiss, the Chiefs are out as proprietor Clark Hunt stated on the NFL’s annual assembly that his staff will not be in that blend attributable to uncertainty round Patrick Mahomes’ return from a torn ACL.

That leaves the Cardinals, Chargers, Cowboys, Giants, Bears, and Patriots. The Cardinals appear unlikely as a rebuilding staff, and whereas the Chargers had been within the playoffs final 12 months, is there sufficient juice for an interconference sport in opposition to a staff that obtained bumped within the Wild Card spherical?

Reiss did notice that the Giants may very well be an choice, with “John Harbaugh’s debut as Giants coach, along with the chance to grow quarterback Jaxson Dart’s profile as an up-and-coming star.” Additionally, the Bears are an up-and-coming NFC playoff staff with a star quarterback. The Cowboys, as at all times, are a possible draw as effectively – though they performed on this sport final 12 months once they visited the Philadelphia Eagles.

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If neither of these match, then that would depart the Patriots. This 12 months’s opener can be performed on a Wednesday as an alternative of the normal Thursday, to accommodate that sport in Australia.

The different sport of notice is the Patriots’ scheduled highway sport in opposition to the Detroit Lions. Reiss famous that “the value a potential Patriots-Lions game could create as part of a Sunday morning TV package was noted by some at the annual meeting.” Volin wrote that sport “has a high probability of being [played] in Munich in mid-November,” as a part of the league’s worldwide slate.

He added that if that does not find yourself occurring, the sport “probably would land on Thanksgiving” because the Lions’ annual house sport for the vacation. Other potential opponents for that sport are the Bears, Packers, Vikings, Saints, Buccaneers, Jets, Giants, and Titans.

It’ll nonetheless me greater than a month till the Patriots – and NFL – schedule is finalized. After successful 14 video games and showing within the Super Bowl the staff is cleary destined for extra primetime and in any other case standalone window video games – will these be two of them?