When the NFL schedule comes out, the league does its best to showcase its glamour teams. It also tries to make everything as equitable as possible.
That doesn’t always work out, especially with a Thursday night game occurring every week. The league has changed up how it schedules, so certain squads aren’t guaranteed a national spotlight game just based on location.
For years, that was a concern with the Raiders and 49ers. When they shared a market and television rules were stricter, both teams had to get extra standalone games to ensure they could be seen in their home markets. These days, the NFL is far more relaxed and can cross-flex games, limiting same-market television conflicts between the Jets and Giants and Rams and Chargers.
But that said, the league hasn’t gotten it down to a science. On paper, these games look like featured matchups that might not be worth circling on the calendar.
New York Giants vs. Los Angeles Rams, Week 2, Monday
The NFL didn’t have to do this. Between them, the Chargers and Rams have 16 games in SoFi Stadium over 17 weeks, one of which is against each other. Yet the league scheduled them to play at home in the same week four times, requiring at least one of them to be in a national window each week.
When the league handcuffs itself that way, lesser games inevitably end up in marquee spots, and this is one of them. The Giants appear to still have a ways to go until they get to a playoff level. New York is finally moving in the right direction under new HC John Harbaugh, but is clearly not there yet.
To make matters worse, the Rams will have just played a standalone game 10 days earlier in Australia. It makes sense to give the Rams a breather after that trip, but not on Monday night. Unless Jaxson Dart makes a major step forward in 2026, this won’t be a particularly strong early-season showcase.
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cleveland Browns, Week 4, Thursday
This rivalry has been dormant for so long that many NFL fans barely remember it being one of the league’s fiercest. Cleveland has won four straight against the Steelers at home, but that has more to do with Pittsburgh looking for an identity since Ben Roethlisberger retired than the Browns being good.
Both groups have new coaches, so there’s that. But otherwise, this matchup just doesn’t move the needle much right now. Nobody knows what the Steelers are going to look like, as Aaron Rodgers is performing his annual dance with retirement. Fans have an idea of what Cleveland might look like, and the Browns weren’t exactly must-watch a year ago.
Last year in Cleveland, the Steelers did nothing but punt and miss a field goal over the course of the second half. The Browns won 13-6 in one of the ugliest games of the 2025 season. Given how teams perform on Thursdays, 2026 might not be much better.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Dallas Cowboys, Week 5, Thursday
The NFL just can’t quit the Cowboys. Of course, Dallas’ large fan base means the Cowboys will get standalone games no matter how poorly they played the season before. But this is a three-game stretch of national windows for Dallas, and the most unnecessary of the bunch.
Green Bay against Dallas features a built-in storyline, with Micah Parsons looking to terrorize his former team. Dallas against Philadelphia is a division rivalry, with the Eagles expected to dominate the NFC East again. Tampa Bay and Dallas don’t have much of anything to do with each other, and the Buccaneers finished with a losing record last season.
There’s the possibility that Tampa Bay returns to its early-season form from 2025. The Bucs hit the bye at 6-2 and even beat Seattle and San Francisco. But with how they finished last season, they don’t exactly feel like essential viewing entering 2026.
What makes this worse is that the league could have gone a much better route. The Broncos and Chargers play in Week 5, and that would serve as a perfectly solid Thursday matchup with much more at stake.
Baltimore Ravens vs. Atlanta Falcons, Week 5, Sunday
Week 5 just wasn’t a great week for the NFL schedule makers. The Falcons are getting three consecutive prime-time games for some reason, and this one is the biggest head-scratcher of the group.
By the time this game takes place, the Falcons will have already faced Green Bay and New Orleans in primetime Those games make sense. Green Bay serves as a measuring stick for Atlanta, and New Orleans is both a rivalry and the 20-year anniversary of the Superdome reopening after Hurricane Katrina.
Adding a Sunday night game against Baltimore feels unnecessary. The Falcons aren’t coming off a playoff season, they don’t have much history with the Ravens, and Atlanta still feels more like an intriguing team than a proven one.
From Baltimore’s perspective, the timing is strange too. The Ravens follow Atlanta with Cleveland and Cincinnati, and then don’t see another AFC North opponent until December. Baltimore’s final four games are against the division, making this Week 5 detour feel oddly disconnected from the rest of its season arc.
Washington Commanders at San Francisco 49ers, Week 6, Monday
The Commanders were a great story in 2024. In 2025, they regressed a fair amount. A large part of the problem was that Washington was excellent in one-score games in 2024. That didn’t happen in 2025, and the result was a major step backward.
That leaves the Commanders as something of a question mark, and that’s not ideal for an early-season matchup with a team as talented as San Francisco. The scheduling is also a bit odd, as this is the first of three prime spotlight games in four weeks for Washington.
If Jayden Daniels has things back on track, this might work out as a decent matchup. But there’s no guarantee that the Commanders will look like the squad that got to the 2024 NFC title game. And if they struggle again, this one may not have much juice by halftime.
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