The NFL is in for a couple of big weeks in a row. Next week is the start of the 2013 NFL Draft, beginning on Thursday night April 25th for the first round. But a week prior, on Thursday April 18th, the NFL announced that they will be releasing the regular season schedule for next season.
The release of the upcoming NFL schedule is an annual event that fans look forward to every season, as they go down the calendar for the 17 weeks to see how their teams match up and predicting the wins and losses.
There is no set date for when the schedule is announced each year, but it is typically around this time in April. Original reports were that the schedule would be released on Tuesday, April 16th. However NFL PR Representative Greg Aiello announced via Twitter that the schedule will come out next Thursday at 8pm ET.
So we can all now mark this down on our calendars, with a week later the draft. We already know that there will be some great games on the 2013-2014 NFL schedule, we just don’t know when.
Denver and New England will match up at some point in the season, so we will get to see Peyton Manning go against Tom Brady. And then San Francisco and Green Bay will also square off. It’s a good bet that these two games will be somewhere in primetime.
The defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens will have the tall task of repeating, especially with the fact that many of their players who played key roles are gone. But quarterback Joe Flacco, the most important piece to the puzzle, is signed long term.
Fans of the teams we mentioned will have expectations going into the season. The 49ers, who lost the Super Bowl to the Ravens, are the preseason favorites on 2014 Super Bowl betting lines at Bovada Sportsbook. San Francisco is going off at 6/1 to win. The San Francisco 49ers have made progress each of the last two seasons. First it was to the NFC title game, and last year it was a win in the NFC Championship, but a loss in the Super Bowl.
The Broncos, and Patriots are right behind the 49rs, installed with equal 15/2 odds to win. It’s hard to argue against them with Manning and Brady leading the way.
The Seattle Seahawks and their fans have to be excited for the upcoming year after an impressive run. Oddsmakers like the way this team looks also, set as top-five favorites at 9/1. Green Bay rounds out the top-five at 12/1.
It will be fun to go down the schedule later this week on Thursday and check out the marquee games that we all have to look forward to beginning in September. The good news is that we don’t have long to wait!