The three R’s often create the juiciest games of the NFL regular season — no matter how much promotion goes into the games on the primetime and international schedules.
Here are 12 games (excluding those featuring the Giants and Jets) to mark on your must-see calendars:
It is the fourth straight regular season with a Super Bowl rematch and the champions are 2-1 over the last three. Advantage Seahawks, whose “Dark Side” defense forced MVP runner-up Drake Maye into three turnovers in February. Kicker Jason Myers is back after scoring a Super Bowl-record 17 points.
What does one of the NFL’s best rivalries look like in the post-Mike Tomlin and John Harbaugh era? Those two head coaches went head to head 44 times (including playoffs) from 2008-25. Will this game still be about smash-mouth runs and big hits under Pittsburgh native Mike McCarthy and Harbaugh protégé Jesse Minter?
Josh Allen has a new home stadium, but here he returns to the site of his most recent playoff heartbreak, where he committed four turnovers in a divisional-round loss. A controversial call sullied the ending. On the other side, Bo Nix will face the Bills defense for the first time since he broke his ankle in that same playoff game.
The two early favorites to win the Super Bowl played three classic games (decided by a total of seven points) last season, including two decided on the final play and the NFC Championship game when time ran out before a Hail Mary attempt. Reigning MVP Matthew Stafford has rookie quarterback Ty Simpson nipping at his heels now.
Unlike Patrick Mahomes-Josh Allen, Mahomes-Joe Burrow isn’t a yearly treat. And Burrow is 3-2 against Mahomes (2-1 in the regular season). The Bengals made a Super Bowl-or-bust trade for defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence. Mahomes is coming off a torn ACL, but his timeline to return from injury — another ‘R’ word — is said to be on track for Week 1.
It took just one season as Bears head coach for Ben Johnson to steal the NFC North title and send his former team spiraling from Super Bowl hopeful to missing the playoffs without him. Is new offensive coordinator Drew Petzing the one to restore the Lions offense to what it was when Johnson was calling plays?
The new-look Dolphins were assembled from the Packers mold this offseason. General manager Jon-Eric Sullivan was hired away from Green Bay … then he hired Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley as head coach … and together they signed Packers backup quarterback Malik Willis to be their starter.
The battle for Texas should pit one of the NFL’s best offenses (Cowboys ranked No. 2 in yards per game last season) against one of the NFL’s best defenses (Texans ranked No. 1 in yards per game allowed last season). Derek Stingley Jr. covering either CeeDee Lamb or George Pickens is must-see theater.
Maybe the Bills’ new home will exorcise the ghosts of their annual playoff losses to the Chiefs. Beginning on Thanksgiving Eve, the NFL has a whopper of a quadruple-header capped by this showdown — arguably the NFL’s best non-divisional rivalry right now. Allen has won five straight against Mahomes in the regular season but lost four straight in the playoffs.
Mike Shanahan and Gary Kubiak won Super Bowls as head coach and offensive coordinator of the Broncos. Now their sons, Kyle Shanahan (49ers) and Klint Kubiak (Raiders), face off as NFL head coaches for the first time. It’s a great chance to see No. 1 overall pick Fernando Mendoza in what used to be the “Battle of the Bay” before the Raiders moved.
A few months after the Jaguars hired Liam Coen over Robert Saleh, Coen and Saleh were screaming at each other on the field because Saleh angered Coen by talking about his “advanced signal-stealing” system. The two claim they have buried the hatchet since September. But this will be the first of now two annual matchups.
Not only is fiery Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni facing his former team, he is going head to head with one of his protégés (Shane Steichen). And, if all goes well in his rehab, Daniel Jones will lead the Colts into Philly, where he never won as Giants quarterback and infamously fell on his face with nothing but grass between him and the end zone.
