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Since 2003, the league has honored the defending SB champ by allowing them to host the following season's opening game, held on the first Thursday following Labor Day, in order for them to raise their championship banner in front of a large, national audience. But this season, the league decided to go with the Packers-Bears contest to be held at Soldier Field:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/n ... /39254077/

The stated reason is that this will be the league's 100 year anniversary season and they wanted to open it by featuring a game between two of its charter members, but me thinks that the general dissatisfaction with the Patriots factored into the decision making. After all, Super Bowl viewership in the US dropped below 100M for the first time in 10 years, and surveys have shown that the Patriots, obviously due to their sustained success, are one of the least popular teams in the league.

And as long as we're on the subject of the 2019 schedule, here's our opponents:

Home: Rams, Niners, Cards, Ravens, Bengals, Saints, Bucs, and Vikings. Away: Rams, Niners, Cards, Steelers, Browns, Falcons, Panthers, and Eagles.

As a rule, the league reveals the specific dates a week or so before the draft, which this year occurs in the last week of April, so they should be releasing the schedule sometime within the next couple of weeks.

At this point it looks like a real tough schedule.
We'll see how the season unfolds regarding how the opponents play this year.

My first thought was that the Pats had a stadium scheduling conflict as to why they would be snubbed. But that doesn't seem to be the case. I think you are right in that many think the Pats are once again, illigit champions and that it should have been the Chiefs or Saints as Champs. Add to that the cloud around Kraft and I could see that the league wouldn't want that media circus around the opening of the new season.

We were snubbed by the NFL in 2013 when they showed the Broncos/Ravens game instead.

NorthHawk wrote:We were snubbed by the NFL in 2013 when they showed the Broncos/Ravens game instead.

No, XLVIII was played in Feb of 2014, so we hosted Green Bay on Thursday night to open the next season (and waxed them!).

NorthHawk wrote:We were snubbed by the NFL in 2013 when they showed the Broncos/Ravens game instead.

burrrton wrote:No, XLVIII was played in Feb of 2014, so we hosted Green Bay on Thursday night to open the next season (and waxed them!).

Yea, I remember that well, one of the few games where Percy Harvin was a significant factor in a win. Additionally, they had a huge celebration in the stadium area that went on all day that Thursday that I remember regretting that I was unable to attend.

Additionally, you might be thinking of the Ravens getting snubbed in 2013. As I recall, the Baltimore Orioles had a game on that date and were unwilling to reschedule and since their two stadiums share the same parking lot, the Ravens were unable to host the opener.

idhawkman wrote:My first thought was that the Pats had a stadium scheduling conflict as to why they would be snubbed. But that doesn't seem to be the case. I think you are right in that many think the Pats are once again, illigit champions and that it should have been the Chiefs or Saints as Champs. Add to that the cloud around Kraft and I could see that the league wouldn't want that media circus around the opening of the new season.

I agree with all those factors you listed. The 100 year anniversary makes for a convenient excuse not to show the Pats in their marquee event.

But it's not like they've moved them off of Page One and relegated them to the want ads. They've stated that the Pats will get a home game in one of the other Prime Time games that week, ie either Sunday or Monday night, so they can hoist their banner on national TV. Nevertheless, I am still slightly amused by the snub in that it couldn't happen to a nicer group of folks.

NorthHawk wrote:We were snubbed by the NFL in 2013 when they showed the Broncos/Ravens game instead.

As mentioned by others, this was the year after the Ravens did us a favour and beat the 49'ers in the Super Bowl.

Who really got snubbed in that game was the Ravens. If I remember correctly, they actually had to travel to Denver for that game because of some kind of stadium conflict, so they had to go on the road and I think they lost. Every other SB champ starts at home on the Thursday night, until this upcoming season.

EDIT - I just saw River's comment that it was the Orioles that caused the conflict.

I could have sworn it was the year after our SB win.
The mind is the first to go...

I guarantee it was a phone call to the NFL's fearless leader from the Pat's 'guilty' owner, not wanting to be the focus of the lead-up to the football season. Even if they throw it out on technicalities, it's not like he's not guilty and I'll bet that videos going to make someone a lot of $$$ when TMZ Sports comes calling.

jshawaii22 wrote:I guarantee it was a phone call to the NFL's fearless leader from the Pat's 'guilty' owner, not wanting to be the focus of the lead-up to the football season. Even if they throw it out on technicalities, it's not like he's not guilty and I'll bet that videos going to make someone a lot of $$$ when TMZ Sports comes calling.

We do have a thread regarding Robert Kraft's troubles going on in this forum, so perhaps you can give us your thoughts there, too.

Idahawk mentioned that the controversy surrounding their owner may have played into the decision to snub the Pats, an opinion I happen to agree with. It's a great excuse to bump them off the opening marquee event.

If you were to throw out the nostalgic aspect, the game isn't that big of a headliner. The Packers, although they feature the league's highest paid QB, did not make the playoffs last season, and the Bears were one and done. As a matter of fact, of the 8 charter teams, the Bears and Eagles were the only ones of the original 8 teams to have made the playoffs last season.

Mannn you guys have a grim road ahead!

My prediction for the Hawks: Being Generous

Home:
Rams - L
Niners - W
Cards - W
Ravens - L
Bengals - W
Saints - L
Bucs - L LOL Arians effect
Vikings - W

Away:
Rams - L
Niners - L
Cards - W
SteelerS - L
Browns -L
Falcons - L
Panthers - L
Eagles - L

5-11 JUST THE FACTS

Thinking back to last year, Rambo... didn't you give the Seahawks the same 5-11 record? How did that work out?

jshawaii22 wrote:Thinking back to last year, Rambo... didn't you give the Seahawks the same 5-11 record? How did that work out?

I was going to say that, but I don't like feeding the trolls.

Schedule soft last year compared to whats coming. Even the Rams will have to get by with 11-5 or 12-4

Oh stop it while you're behind. At this time last year we had the 3rd or 4th hardest schedule. We can't help it if the league turned upside down last year, but you go ahead. I hear Vegas has the Rams just behind NE and the Saints.