Sunday Night Football Schedule 2012: Broncos and Steelers Reportedly Open SNF

NBC's Sunday Night Football will kick off the 2012 NFL season with an exciting marquee matchup, albeit one without either the Super Bowl champion New York Giants or the runner-up New England Patriots.

According to Gerry Dulac of The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Peacock will close out Sunday of Week 1 in the Mile High City, where the Denver Broncos will welcome the Pittsburgh Steelers back to Sports Authority Field:

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Steelers will open the 2012 season Sunday night in Denver against Peyton Manning.

— Gerry Dulac (@gerrydulac) April 17, 2012"

That's right: the Steelers will start the new season where their last campaign came to a close, though this time, it'll be Peyton Manning, not Tim Tebow, who'll be tossing long bombs against their aging defense.

You may recall the most recent meeting between these two in the Wild Card round of the AFC Playoffs. The Broncos sprinted out to a 20-6 halftime lead before letting the Steelers back into the game.

And essentially, luring Pittsburgh into a devastating 29-23 loss in overtime, thanks to this nifty connection between Tebow and Demaryius Thomas for an 80-yard sprint to the end zone:

NBC can only hope Peyton and Ben Roethlisberger will make the next edition even half as exciting.

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