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2015 NFL Schedule: League Releases Official Regular-Season Slate
April 22, 2015
Coming off one of the most dramatic finishes to a season in NFL history, including the Seattle Seahawks' comeback in the NFC Championship Game followed by the New England Patriots' miracle Super Bowl win over the Seahawks, the Patriots will start their title defense on September 10 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
While the countdown clock begins for the Thursday night regular-season opener, 511 other games will occupy countless hours of your schedule from September through January before the postseason begins in January.
Now that NFL.com has released the full schedule, here's where you can find each team's matchups as well as notable things to look for when games start.
| 2015 NFL Key Dates to Know | |
| Date | Event |
| Thursday, September 10 | Regular-Season Opener |
| September 13-14 | Regular-Season Kickoff Weekend |
| January 3, 2016 | Final Day of Regular Season |
| January 9-10, 2016 | NFL Playoffs Begin |
| February 7, 2016 | Super Bowl 50 (Levi's Stadium) |
| Source: NFL.com | |
AFC East
AFC North
AFC South
AFC West
NFC East
NFC North
NFC South
NFC West
Division to Watch: AFC East
It's a close battle between the NFC West—which has Seattle as a favorite and three teams with the potential to go boom or bust, depending on answers to various quarterback questions—and the AFC East for the division to keep a close eye on.
The AFC East gets the slight edge because everyone around New England has improved significantly while the Patriots lost a lot of key contributors from their Super Bowl roster.
Head coach Bill Belichick's defense will look very different. Darrelle Revis' world tour took him back to the New York Jets after a year in New England. Brandon Browner is in New Orleans. Vince Wilfork went to Houston. Akeem Ayers and Jonathan Casillas went to St. Louis and the Giants, respectively, putting more pressure on linebacker Jerod Mayo to stay healthy.
Meanwhile, in addition to getting Revis back, the Jets got Brandon Marshall, Antonio Cromartie, Buster Skrine and Marcus Gilchrist. The Dolphins landed the mega-prize in free agency by signing Ndamukong Suh to bolster a defense that already had a star pass-rusher in Cameron Wake.
Rex Ryan, a defensive specialist, is the head coach for a Buffalo team that held Peyton Manning and Aaron Rodgers to 358 combined passing yards, no touchdowns and four interceptions in consecutive weeks last season.
The Bills also added LeSean McCoy to boost an offense that has Sammy Watkins and took a flier on Percy Harvin. If Harvin provides anything, the dynamic for this team could be very interesting to watch because Matt Cassel is a serviceable starting quarterback.
Plus, in terms of sheer drama and storylines, B/R's Erik Frenz noted on Twitter that no other division offers the possibilities found in the AFC East:
Based on the history of this division since 2001, it's entirely plausible that the Patriots will win 11 or 12 wins and capture the AFC East by three games. Yet the gap between the top and bottom seems to have shrunk significantly since Malcolm Butler's interception against Seattle on February 1.
Most Anticipated Matchup: New England Patriots at Denver Broncos
Even though it's become a familiar matchup over the years, it's hard not to get swept up in a game with Tom Brady and Peyton Manning as the starting quarterbacks. It helps add to the storyline for this year's showdown on Nov. 29 that no one knows how many times this will happen in the future.
Brady has said on multiple occasions, including to Greg Bishop of Sports Illustrated, he hopes to play until the age of 45 or possibly "forever." While the latter scenario isn't realistic, the 37-year-old continues to show no signs of slowing down.
The Patriots keep testing Brady's abilities by taking away weapons on the outside, though it helps he finally got a healthy and uninhibited Rob Gronkowski last year. In throwing for 4,109 yards and 33 touchdowns, Brady showed he's still capable of top-tier quarterback play.
Manning isn't likely to say he will play forever, as we learned at various points this offseason. After Denver lost to Indianapolis in the divisional round, the five-time NFL MVP was contemplating retirement, as he told Mike Klis of The Denver Post.
"I'm not interested in making this a lingering thing," Manning said. "I'd like to make a decision soon. At the same time, both coach and Joe (Ellis) and John (Elway) have instructed me to take some time, so I'm kind of following their orders."
Manning did eventually decide to return, though now he's facing questions about how much is left in the tank. Everyone saw the late-season implosion, as the numbers showed, per Holden Kushner of 106.7 The Fan in Washington, D.C.:
The issues can be explained, at least to some degree, by a report from ESPN's Adam Schefter stating Manning played the final month of the year (including Denver's playoff loss) with a torn quad.
Yet Manning is also 39 years old and has never had the strongest arm, so eventually one could assume the lack of velocity on the ball will lead to more months like the one in December. No one knows right now because the quad injury clouds everything that happened.
The Patriots and Broncos figure to be in the playoff mix at the least, with the Super Bowl still a seemingly realistic goal for both. Brady vs. Manning is always worth watching because it's been a fascinating rivalry and quarterback debate over the last 15 years.
This could be the last hurrah for these two legendary signal-callers on the same field, so it's best to sit back and enjoy it.