2012 NFL SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED
2012 Schedules Available on NFL.com and NFL Mobile
The NFL announced today its 17-week, 256-game regular-season schedule for 2012, which kicks off on Wednesday night, September 5 and concludes on Sunday, December 30 with 16 division games.
The season begins with the NFL’s annual primetime kickoff game. The opener on September 5 on NBC (8:30 PM ET) will feature the defending-champion New York Giants hosting the division-rival Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium. In a format introduced in 2004, the Super Bowl champion annually hosts the NFL season opener.
NBC’s Sunday Night Football will get underway on September 9 when the Denver Broncos host the Pittsburgh Steelers (8:20 PM ET) in a rematch of last season’s Wild Card playoff thriller.
Among the highlights of Kickoff Weekend are six division games, including a pair on Monday night, September 10. ESPN’s Monday Night Football doubleheader will feature the AFC North’s Cincinnati Bengals at the Baltimore Ravens (7:00 PM ET) followed by the AFC West’s Oakland Raiders hosting the San Diego Chargers (10:15 PM ET).
For the remainder of the season, ESPN will televise one game each Monday night in Weeks 2-15 and a Saturday-night contest in Week 16. There will be no Monday night game on the final regular-season weekend (Week 17) to provide more flexibility to the scheduling of the opening weekend of the NFL playoffs.
The 2012 NFL Kickoff Weekend schedule:
Wednesday, September 5
Dallas Cowboys at New York Giants - 8:30 PM ET
Sunday, September 9
Indianapolis Colts at Chicago Bears, 1:00 PM
Philadelphia Eagles at Cleveland Browns, 1:00 PM
St. Louis Rams at Detroit Lions, 1:00 PM
Miami Dolphins at Houston Texans, 1:00 PM
Atlanta Falcons at Kansas City Chiefs, 1:00 PM
Jacksonville Jaguars at Minnesota Vikings, 1:00 PM
Washington Redskins at New Orleans Saints, 1:00 PM
Buffalo Bills at New York Jets, 1:00 PM
New England Patriots at Tennessee Titans, 1:00 PM
Seattle Seahawks at Arizona Cardinals, 4:15 PM
San Francisco 49ers at Green Bay Packers, 4:15 PM
Carolina Panthers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 4:15 PM
Pittsburgh Steelers at Denver Broncos, 8:20 PM
Monday, September 10
Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore Ravens, 7:00 PM
San Diego Chargers at Oakland Raiders, 10:15 PM
The regular season will conclude with Week 17 on Sunday, December 30. For the third consecutive year, all 16 games scheduled for Week 17 are division contests, enhancing the potential for more games at the end of the season with playoff ramifications.
The 2012 season concludes on Sunday, February 3 when the NFL will crown a champion at Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans (CBS).
Thanksgiving will feature an NFL tripleheader. The early game will send the Houston Texans to Detroit to face the Lions (12:30 PM ET, CBS). The late afternoon game will feature the Washington Redskins visiting Dallas (4:15 PM ET, FOX) in an NFC East showdown. The holiday concludes with an AFC East matchup as the New York Jets will host the New England Patriots on NBC (8:20 PM ET).
The NFL will again extend beyond the borders of the United States. On October 28 at London’s historic Wembley Stadium, the league will resume its international series of regular-season games when the St. Louis Rams host the New England Patriots (1:00 PM ET, CBS). Then on Sunday, December 16, the Buffalo Bills will venture north to Canada for the fifth consecutive season when they host the Seattle Seahawks in Toronto at the Rogers Centre (4:05 PM ET, FOX).
NFL Network will now feature 13 games – all on Thursdays – from Weeks 2-15 (excluding Week 12 on Thanksgiving night). The NFL Network slate will start on Thursday, September 13 (8:20 PM ET) with an NFC North showdown featuring the Green Bay Packers hosting the Chicago Bears.
The season again will utilize “flexible scheduling” in Weeks 11-17. In Weeks 11-16, the schedule lists the games tentatively set for Sunday Night Football on NBC. Only Sunday afternoon games are eligible to be moved to Sunday night, in which case the tentatively scheduled Sunday night game would be moved to an afternoon start time. Flexible scheduling will not be applied to games airing on Thursday, Saturday or Monday nights. A flexible scheduling move would be announced at least 12 days before the game. For Week 17, the change will be announced no later than six days before the game. The schedule does not list a Sunday night game in Week 17, but an afternoon game with playoff implications will be moved to that time slot to conclude the season. Flexible scheduling will ensure quality matchups in all Sunday time slots in those weeks and give “surprise” teams a chance to play their way into primetime.
The NFL’s 32 teams will each play 16 games over 17 weeks. Byes will begin in Week 4 and end in Week 11.
The playoffs will include four division winners and two wild cards from each conference. The playoffs begin with Wild Card Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, January 5-6. The two division winners with the best records in each conference will earn first-round byes.
Wild Card Weekend winners join the top two division champions in each conference in the Divisional Playoffs on Saturday and Sunday, January 12-13. The AFC and NFC Championship Games will be played on Sunday, January 20. The winners meet two weeks later on Sunday, February 3 in New Orleans in Super Bowl XLVII.
CBS will present the AFC, the AFC playoffs, the AFC Championship Game and Super Bowl XLVII. FOX will carry NFC games, the NFC playoffs and the NFC Championship Game. The 64 AFC-NFC interconference games (excluding primetime) are carried by CBS when the AFC team is the visitor and by FOX when the NFC team is on the road. All postseason games are televised nationally. In addition to its Sunday night package, NBC will televise a Wild Card playoff doubleheader on Saturday, January 5, and the Pro Bowl on Sunday, January 27.
By NFL policy, ESPN and NFL Network games also will be carried on free, over-the-air television in the city of the visiting team and in the city where the game is played if it is sold out 72 hours in advance of kickoff.
The NFL is the only sports league that carries all regular-season and postseason games on free, over-the-air television.
Westwood One/Dial Global will broadcast all NFL primetime games, the three Thanksgiving Day games and the entire NFL playoffs.
For ticket information, fans may visit www.nfl.com/tickets.
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