It was officially confirmed that the NFL will be announcing the schedule for the 2020 season on May 7th. Before the schedule is announced, I will take a look at all 256 games, and pick the 5 most exciting and anticipated games.
Honorable Mentions: Seahawks vs. Cardinals, Seahawks vs. 49ers, Packers vs. Vikings, Patriots vs. Dolphins, Cowboys vs. Giants
10. Green Bay Packers vs. San Francisco 49ers
This extremely old rivalry has cooled down in the past couple years, but lit a spark after the 2019 NFC Championship. The Packers and 49ers used to have one of the greatest rivalries in the old days, with Quarterbacks like Steve Young and Brett Favre. Both teams, especially the 49ers, have changed this past off season. The game will hopefully be more interesting than the past NFC Championship where the 49ers won 37-8. One of the oldest rivalries in sports has been renewed, and we should be in for a good game against the 49ers and Packers in 2020. There is a high chance this is a primetime game, and could be a playoff determining game late in the season.
9. Carolina Panthers vs. Washington Redskins
You are most likely surprised to see this match up right now. After all, who would watch this game aside from Panthers and Redskins fans. However, this has potential to be a very good rivalry. The Redskins signed the previous Panthers coach, Ron Rivera, who had a great time in Carolina with 4 playoff seasons and 1 Super Bowl season. You can bet Ron Rivera will be anxious for this game all year. Also, the Panthers just extended the league’s best RB, while the Redskins drafted the best pass rusher in Chase Young. Young vs CMC will be one of the best matchups all year. A head coach seeking revenge against his former team AND the league’s best RB vs. the 2nd overall pick. It can’t get much better than this.
8. Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cleveland Browns
Anyone who watches football should’ve expected this. The Steelers and Browns last year featured the notorious Myles Garret and Mason Rudolph helmet incident. In this year’s division game between these 2, the chances are Rudolph isn’t the starting QB. However, tensions between the AFC North rivals will be high. Also, both teams are starting to play better, so we could have a tense divisional rivalry between 2 talented teams with star players like JuJu, James Connor, OBJ, Nick Chubb, and many more.
7. Los Angeles Chargers vs. Denver Broncos
This game will be full of revenge. Chris Harris Jr., the former Bronco, is now a Charger. Melvin Gordon, the former Charger, is now a Bronco. Both teams drastically changed, as the Chargers now have Herbert and Taylor as their possible QBs, and the Broncos have promising rookie Drew Lock. The Broncos had one of the best off seasons, drafting Henry Ruggs to pair with Sutton and Gordon. And to spice it up even more, both teams are looking to win their division which includes the Super Bowl winners Kansas City Chiefs. Both of the games will be interesting, and full of players looking for revenge against their previous teams.
6. Kansas City Chiefs vs. New Orleans Saints
At this point, we are getting lucky for these amazing matchups in 2020. The Chiefs and Saints, 2 of the best offenses in the league in 2019. This game will feature star QBs in Patrick Mahomes and Drew Brees, star WRs in Micheal Thomas and Tyreek Hill, and many more incredible matchups. Also, it can’t get much better than a matchup like Andy Reid and Sean Payton. This will surely be one of the highest scoring games all year. To top it all off, the game will be in the Superdome, one of the loudest and most exciting places for an NFL game to be played. This game will have EVERYTHING, and I am 99% sure this will be a primetime game!
5. Tennessee Titans vs Baltimore Ravens
After these 2 teams showed off in the shocking AFC Divisional round game, people’s opinions about the Ravens have changed. After going 14-2 in the regular season, many thought it would be a breeze to beat the 9-7 Titans at home. However, Derrick Henry and co. had other plans, beating the Ravens 28-12. This year, Lamar Jackson will be looking for vengeance after losing in his first ever playoff game. If these teams played like they did last year, we could see them in the playoffs again. This will be a great matchup featuring 2 great players in Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry
4. Arizona Cardinals vs. San Francisco 49ers
Things can change so fast in just one year. In 2019, the 49ers were 13-3, and the Cardinals were 5-10. Now, I am ranking this divisional rivalry as the 4th best game in the league. A big factor to this sudden change in rivalry is the Cardinals. They drafted star Isaiah Simmons with the 8th pick, and acquired DeAndre Hopkins. Add Kyler Murray, a young and great head coach in Kliff Kingsbury, and a good defense, and the Cardinals become a playoff team. On the other side of the rivalry, we have the 49ers. It’s fairly obvious that the former NFC Champs didn’t have as good as an off season as the Cardinals, but they didn’t get much worse, and managed to improved their defensive line with Javon Kinlaw. With that defense, the 9ers are a threat to anyone in the league. Lucky for us, we get 2 games between these teams, and they are destined to be great ones.
3. Kansas City Chiefs vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
We are extremely fortunate to get all these amazing games for 2020 to fall in the perfect time. The one rare year that the Chiefs play the Buccaneers, the Bucs have Tom Brady! Anyways, this game will include a QB matchup for the ages. The former king of AFC QBs, Tom Brady, passed his throne to Patrick Mahomes, and will now lead an NFC team. You can describe these QBs as the goat vs the upcomng goat match up. Then, we have the ultimate WR Matchup, featuring Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins vs. Chris Godwin and Mike Evans. Finally, this game includes the best TE matchup we will see all year, including Travis Kelce vs. Rob Gronkowski. This will be a game we will still talk about in a few years, as there are countless future Hall of Famers in this game. Who knows, maybe we could see this game twice in 2020, with 1 of the games in the Super Bowl….
2. New Orleans Saints vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The new greatest divisional rivalry in all of football. Brees vs. Brady. Evans vs. Thomas. Payton vs. Arians. There are way too many good positional match ups in this division. 2 of arguably the best QBs in today’s NFL will get to face off twice a year. Depending on how long Brady plays, Brees and Brady could form the greatest QB rivalry ever, simply because of their leadership and greatness. The NFC South is one loaded division, and this is by far the greatest match up. Can Tom Brady take over what has been Brees’s division for the past 3 years? Perhaps there is a chance we see this game 3 times next year, with one game in the playoffs!
1. Baltimore Ravens vs. Kansas City Chiefs
A game featuring the new faces of the NFL, Lamar Jackson and Patrick Mahomes has to be the best game of 2020. The 2 faced off in week 3 of the 2019 season, where the Chiefs ended up winning 33-28. However, both teams progressively changed throughout the season, and the matchup would have been much different later in the season or in the playoffs. 2020 will be even more exciting than 2020, especially with both the teams having good offseasons. The Ravens will have Patrick Queen in attempts to stop Mahomes spectacular offense. The Chiefs now have Clyde Edwards-Helaire to get through the Ravens defense. This is one of the few games where we will see 2 of the best offenses match up against 2 very good defenses. This may not be as high scoring as last year, but will definitely be one of the best games on both sides of the ball. There is absolutely no doubt that this game will have playoff implications. Lamar vs. Mahomes are the new Brady vs. Manning in competitive and rivalry terms, but have completely different play styles. You can bet all your money that this is a primetime game in 2020!
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