2011 NFL Schedule: Green Bay Packers Begin Title Defense vs. New Orleans Saints

Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers will begin their title defense at Lambeau Field against Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints, a front-office source for one of the teams told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday. It is a primetime game scheduled for Thursday, September 8th.

The game, pitting the NFL's past two Super Bowl champions against one another, should be a great one to kick-off the 2011 season. The Saints proved last season that the Super Bowl hangover is a thing of the past, and the Packers will try to be the first team to repeat as champions since the New England Patriots accomplished the feat in 2004-05.

Aside from their regular NFC North divisional foes, the Packers' schedule for 2011 includes the following teams (2010 record):

HOME GAMES

New Orleans (11-5)

Tampa Bay (10-6)

Denver (4-12)

Oakland (8-8)

St. Louis (7-9)

AWAY GAMES

Atlanta (13-3)

Carolina (2-14)

Kansas City (10-6)

San Diego (9-7)

New York Giants (10-6)

The NFL Network is releasing the game dates and times for all 32 NFL teams in a live broadcast this evening at 6pm CST.