The National Football League released its 2016 schedule on Thursday night and the season-opening game will be a rematch from Super Bowl 50. Despite the absence of Manning, the Broncos defeated the Panthers 24-10 back on Feb. 7, where Denver managed to win the 2015 NFL championship.

This Regular Season seems that will be pretty much exciting: The regular-season opener will be played at 7:30 p.m. CDT Sept. 8 in Denver as the NFL kicks off on a Thursday night again. This hasn’t passed since 1970 where there was a clash between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Minnesota Vikings.

Broncos Coach Gary Kubiak said that it will be a big challenge for their team and got their attention quickly, but he also thinks it’s great.

Kubiak also said that they “…know that we’re going to have to have a really good offseason. We’ve got some changes going on with our football team, but our standard will be the same. We’ll look forward to it.”

The National Football League released its 2016 schedule on Thursday night. Photo credit: Fox Sports
The National Football League released its 2016 schedule on Thursday night. Photo credit: Fox Sports

What else could we expect this season?

On the opening weekend we have the conference championship game participants New England and Arizona, which are scheduled to play on September 11.

The new Los Angeles Rams will play their first game in Los Angeles since they moved out from St. Louis in the second week of the season. Los Angeles will square off against the Seattle Seahawks in a Sunday game.

Also the Minnesota Vikings, who are looking for defend their NFC North title, open their brand new bank-sponsored stadium in a Sunday night game during week two against the Green Bay Packers.

Dallas Cowboys against the Washington Redskins for Thanksgiving? It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without this matchup.

The remainder of the holiday tripleheader on November 24 will feature the Vikings against the Detroit Lions in the opener, and the Indianapolis Colts playing host to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the nightcap.

American Football in England?

The league scheduled three games in London, being them the Jacksonville Jaguars against the Colts on October 2 at Wembley Stadium, then Los Angeles Rams against the New York Giants on October 23 at Twickenham Stadium, and finally the Cincinnati Bengals against the Redskins on October 30 at Wembley.

Also on November 21, the Oakland Raiders and the Houston Texans will circle the wagons in Mexico City for the first Monday night game to be played outside the USA.

Source: AL Sports