NFL En Route To Super Bowl LVII: Brady, International, Immaculate Reception
Friday, May 13, 2022 at 03:22PM By Barry Janoff
May 13, 2022: The NFL’s 2022 ride begins in Los Angeles and ends in Glendale, AZ, with 272 regular season games en route, which will include visits to London, Munich and Mexico City, and parties planned for Thanksgiving Day, Xmas Eve and Xmas.
Again this season, all 32 clubs will have at least one nationally televised game.
The NFL's 103rd season is scheduled to start with the league's annual primetime kickoff game, this year with the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams hosting the Buffalo Bills in SoFi Stadium on Thursday, Sept. 8 (8 PM ET, NBC).
It ultimately is scheduled to conclude at Super Bowl LVII in Arizona's State Farm Stadium (Fox), on Feb. 12, 2023.
NBC's Sunday Night Football begins with the Dallas Cowboys hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers — again with Tom Brady at quarterback — in AT&T Stadium (8 PM ET), a rematch of last year's kickoff game when the Buccaneers were defending Super Bowl champs.
Kickoff Weekend concludes on Sept. 12, with ESPN/ABC's Monday Night Football.
The Denver Broncos and new quarterback Russell Wilson travel to Seattle to face the Seahawks (8 PM ET), where Wilson spent the first ten years of his career and helped the Seahawks win Super Bowl XLVIII.
According to the NFL, Wilson would become the fifth quarterback in NFL history to win at least 100 games with one franchise and face that team later in his career (joining Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Brett Favre).
ESPN will air one game each Monday Night Football Weeks 1-17, with simulcast on ABC in Weeks 1, 3, 15 and 17.
In Week 2, there will be two games on Monday night as Buffalo hosts the Tennessee Titans on ESPN (7 PM ET) while the Minnesota Vikings visit the Philadelphia Eagles (ABC (8:30 PM ET).
ESPN/ABC will air two games with playoff implications on Saturday Jan. 7. These games will be selected following the conclusion of Week 17.
Thursday Night Football will air exclusively on Prime Video starting this season, scheduled to begin Week 2 when the Kansas City Chiefs host the Los Angeles Chargers (8 PM ET).
Prime Video will broadcast 15 Thursday Night Football games between Weeks 2-17 (excluding Thanksgiving night). 
Thanksgiving will feature a triple-header on Nov. 24.
The Bills travel to Detroit to face the Lions (12:30 PM ET, CBS).
The late afternoon game will see the New York Giants visit the Cowboys (4:30 PM ET, Fox).
NFL Thanksgiving Day concludes when the New England Patriots visit the Vikings (8 PM ET, NBC).
Week 16 begins with Thursday Night Football on Dec. 22, followed by 11 games on Saturday, Dec. 24, the NFL's first Christmas triple-header on Dec. 25, and finishes with Monday Night Football on Dec. 26.
The Christmas Day triple-header features the Green Bay Packers at the Miami Dolphins (1 PM ET, Fox), Denver at the Rams (4:30 PM ET, CBS/Nickelodeon) and Tampa Bay at Arizona (8 PM ET, NBC).
The Denver-Rams game will be Nick’s the third “slime-time” presentation, airing alongside the CBS version.
The International Series begins on back-to-back weekends in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, with New Orleans and Minnesota on Oct. 2 (9:30 AM ET, NFL Network), followed by Green Bay and the Giants on Oct. 9 (9:30 AM ET, NFL Network).
The first international game on the 2022 schedule will mark the 100th game in league history (pre-season and regular-season combined) played outside the United States.
On Oct. 30, the Jacksonville Jaguars will face the Broncos in London’s Wembley Stadium (9:30 AM ET, ESPN+),
On Nov. 13, the first regular-season in NFL history in Germany will take place at Allianz Arena — home of FC Bayern Munich — between Tampa Bay and Seattle (9:30 AM ET, NFL Network).
The 2022 international schedule concludes in Mexico City on Nov. 21 on Monday Night Football (8:15 PM ET, ESPN) with the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona in Estadio Azteca. 
The NFL will honor two historic anniversaries during the 2022 season:
• On Oct. 23 on Sunday Night Football (8 PM ET, NBC), the Dolphins host the Steelers.
The game will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Dolphins undefeated 1972 season, when the team went a perfect 17-0, including a victory over Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship game en route to the Super Bowl VII title.
• On Dec. 24 (8:15 PM ET, NFL Network), the Steelers host the Raiders, 50 years after the "Immaculate Reception," which occurred during the AFC Divisional playoffs on Dec. 23, 1972, with the Steelers defeating the then Oakland Raiders when Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw threw a pass that eventually was taken in by Franco Harris for the winning touchdown.
The game has since been named No. 1 among the league's all-time games.
Super Wild Card Weekend for the 2022 season will feature six games, starting on Saturday, Jan. 14.
Wild Card winners join the top seeds in each conference in the Divisional Playoffs on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 21-22.
The AFC and NFC Championship Games will be played on Sunday, Jan. 29.
NFL Tells Ten Teams To Pack Bags For International Games
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