Chiefs, Texans open what NFL hopes is complete season

If the NFL begins as it hopes to on Sept. 10, the league made sure to open with a dynamic matchup.

The Kansas City Chiefs will begin to begin defense of their Super Bowl title with a Thursday night home game against the Houston Texans.

If it’s anything like the two meetings last season …

The Texans scored with 6:17 left to win the regular-season matchup 31-24, and they looked on the verge of blowing out the Chiefs in the playoffs, taking a 24-0 lead before Kansas City roared back to win 51-31.

That’s not the only eye-catching Week 1 matchup.

Tom Brady makes his Tampa Bay Buccaneers debut against Drew Brees and the Saints in New Orleans. SoFi Stadium gets prime-time treatment that Sunday night when the Dallas Cowboys visit in the Los Angeles Rams in the first regular-season game at that venue. The capper is the usual first Monday night doubleheader featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers at the New York Giants followed by the Tennessee Titans at the Denver Broncos.

Here are other observations from the schedule release:

No guarantee games will be played on time

The NFL released what it hopes is its only schedule for this season, but it could become the 1.0 version with more iterations to come.

Just hours before the schedule was released, California governor Gavin Newsom told Sports Business Journal that it was “difficult to imagine a stadium that’s filled until we have immunity, until we have a vaccine.”

Newsom added it was a “very fluid” situation, and no one knows how the coronavirus pandemic will impact the schedule. But the NFL has been determined to proceed as if no changes were coming.

“Executives and coaches that I’ve talked to all seem to be very confident in the fact that the owners are steadfast in that there’s going to be NFL football this coming season,” analyst Chris Simms said on NBCSN.

Following Brady and the Bucs

The Buccaneers will have a lot more eyes on them this season as Brady will try to prove he can win outside of New England.

Brady is used to playing in prime-time games, but it will be new for the Bucs, who play five games under the lights. They play Sunday night games against the Raiders in Las Vegas on Oct. 25 and the Saints at home on Nov. 8, Monday night games at the New York Giants on Nov. 2 and against the Rams on Nov. 23, and a Thursday night game at the Chicago Bears on Oct. 8.

Turkey and an AFC North showdown

The Cowboys and Detroit Lions take their usual spots on the Thanksgiving football calendar, and the evening game will carry potential playoff implications when the Baltimore Ravens visit the Steelers.

But the other games aren’t to be overlooked, with the Lions hosting the Texans and the Cowboys home against the traditional rival Washington Redskins.

Friday Night Lights

When the Minnesota Vikings visit the Saints, the game will not only be on Christmas, it will be on a rare Friday. The last time the league played a regular-season game on a Friday occurred in 2009.

“I haven’t played on a Friday I don’t think since high school,” Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins said in an ESPN interview.

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.