The NFL released its 2013 schedule on Thursday night with a completely over the top presentation on multiple networks and football analysts attempting to provide insights into how the season will play out before anything about the 2013 season can actually be analyzed.  America is truly a football obsessed nation.  If you're anything like me, you've already speculated about how the schedule looks around your team's short week and the stretch of games that look like a sure winning streak.

Below is a week by week guide to the nationally televised games for NBC, NFL Network, CBS, Fox, and ESPN.  National doubleheader windows are included along with the primetime games throughout the week (although those games aren't necessarily set in stone, the networks listed will have the national game in those weeks).  There are Thursday night games from Weeks 1-15, Monday night games in Weeks 1-16, and flexible scheduling begins in Week 11.  Bon appetite!

Week 1

Thursday: Baltimore at Denver (NBC 8:30 PM)
Sunday Afternoon: Green Bay at San Francisco (Fox 4:25 PM)
Sunday Night: New York Giants at Dallas (NBC 8:30 PM)
Monday: Philadelphia at Washington (ESPN 7:00 PM)
Monday: Houston at San Diego (ESPN 10:15 PM)

Week 2

Thursday: New York Jets at New England (NFLN 8:25 PM)
Sunday Afternoon: Denver Broncos at NY Giants (CBS 4:25 PM)
Sunday Night: San Francisco at Seattle (NBC 8:30 PM)
Monday: Pittsburgh at Cincinnati (ESPN 8:30 PM)

Week 3

Thursday: Kansas City at Philadelphia (NFLN 8:25 PM)
Sunday Afternoon: Indianapolis at San Francisco (CBS 4:25 PM)
Sunday Night: Chicago at Pittsburgh (NBC 8:30 PM)
Monday: Oakland at Denver (ESPN 8:30 PM)

Week 4

Thursday: San Francisco at St. Louis (NFLN 8:25 PM)
Sunday Afternoon: Philadelphia at Denver (Fox 4:25 PM)
Sunday Night: New England at Atlanta (NBC 8:30 PM)
Monday: Miami at New Orleans (ESPN 8:30 PM)

Week 5

Thursday: Buffalo at Cleveland (NFLN 8:25 PM)
Sunday Afternoon: Denver at Dallas (CBS 4:25 PM)
Sunday Night: Houston at San Francisco (NBC 8:30 PM)
Monday: NY Jets at Atlanta (ESPN 8:30 PM)

Week 6

Thursday: NY Giants at Chicago (NFLN 8:25 PM)
Sunday Afternoon: New Orleans at New England (Fox 4:25 PM)
Sunday Night: Washington at Dallas (NBC 8:30 PM)
Monday: Indianapolis at San Diego (ESPN 8:30 PM)

Week 7

Thursday: Seattle at Arizona (NFLN 8:25 PM)
Sunday Afternoon: Baltimore at Pittsburgh (CBS 4:25 PM)
Sunday Night: Denver at Indianapolis (NBC 8:30 PM)
Monday: Minnesota at NY Giants (ESPN 8:30 PM)

Week 8

Thursday: Carolina at Tampa Bay (NFLN 8:25 PM)
Sunday Afternoon: Washington at Denver (Fox 4:25 PM)
Sunday Night: Green Bay at Minnesota (NBC 8:30 PM)
Monday: Seattle at St. Louis (ESPN 8:30 PM)

Week 9

Thursday: Cincinnati at Miami (NFLN 8:25 PM)
Sunday Afternoon: Pittsburgh at New England (CBS 4:25 PM)
Sunday Night: Indianapolis at Houston (NBC 8:30 PM)
Monday: Chicago at Green Bay (ESPN 8:30 PM)

Week 10

Thursday: Washington at Minnesota (NFLN 8:25 PM)
Sunday Afternoon: Denver at San Diego (CBS 4:25 PM)
Sunday Night: Dallas at New Orleans (NBC 8:30 PM)
Monday: Miami at Tampa Bay (ESPN 8:30 PM)

Week 11

Thursday: Indianapolis at Tennessee (NFLN 8:25 PM)
Sunday Afternoon: San Francisco at New Orleans (Fox 4:25 PM)
*Sunday Night: Green Bay at NY Giants (NBC 8:30 PM)
Monday: New England at Carolina (ESPN 8:30 PM)

Week 12

Thursday: New Orleans at Atlanta (NFLN 8:25 PM)
Sunday Afternoon: Dallas at NY Giants (Fox 4:25 PM)
*Sunday Night: Denver at New England (NBC 8:30 PM)
Monday: San Francisco at Washington (ESPN 8:30 PM)

Week 13

Thanksgiving

Green Bay at Detroit (Fox 12:30 PM)
Oakland at Dallas (CBS 4:30 PM)
Pittsburgh at Baltimore (NBC 8:30 PM)

Sunday Afternoon: New England at Houston (CBS 4:25 PM)
*Sunday Night: NY Giants at Washington (NBC 8:30 PM)
Monday: New Orleans at Seattle (ESPN 8:30 PM)

Week 14

Thursday: Houston at Jacksonville (NFLN 8:25 PM)
Sunday Afternoon: Seattle at San Francisco (Fox 4:25 PM)
*Sunday Night: Atlanta at Green Bay (NBC 8:30 PM)
Monday: Dallas at Chicago (ESPN 8:30 PM)

Week 15

Thursday: San Diego at Denver (NFLN 8:25 PM)
Sunday Afternoon: Green Bay at Dallas (Fox 4:25 PM)
*Sunday: Cincinnati at Pittsburgh (NBC 8:30 PM)
Monday: Baltimore at Detroit (ESPN 8:30 PM)

Week 16

Sunday Afternoon: Pittsburgh at Green Bay (CBS 4:25 PM)
*Sunday Night: New England at Baltimore (NBC 8:30 PM)
Monday: Atlanta at San Francisco (ESPN 8:30 PM)

Week 17

Flex Games!

A few brief takeaways…

-Enough with the NFC East already!  16 primetime appearances and 5 more on Fox national windows means you're getting at least 1 NFC East team in a nationally televised game every week.  I know they're all huge draws in huge markets and it's the same drill every year.  Whatever.  Bleh.

-MNF's schedule, especially in December, appears to be one of its strongest in recent years.  After a couple years with some really questionable late season games, ESPN appears to have been given a gift from the scheduling gods.

-Every team gets at least one Thursday night primetime game, which means America may be treated to one of the lamest nationally televised game in NFL history – Bills v Browns!

-Division games with both scheduled for national TV: PIT/CIN, PIT/BAL, SEA/SF, DAL/NYG.

-Looking at the late season SNF schedule, NBC may not need to flex a single game.

-Just 2 Jets games in primetime?  Thank you Jesus.

H/T Sammy!

Comments are closed.