2011 NFL Schedule: The 10 Best Primetime Games of 2011

Football is back, as they say, and all is right in the world again. A truncated training camp period and free agency brought some fast-paced news to a fanbase starved for NFL news.

After Thursday night's pass-happy, high-scoring affair between the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers, football season is here, and we've witnessed the first of a fantastic slate of primetime action set to be showcased this season.

Last season, the average NFL regular season game drew in 16.6 million viewers and was the highest program of the week 89 percent of the time, according to NFL.com. With the games scheduled to hit NBC's Sunday Night Football and ESPN's Monday Night Football those ratings look likely to continue to make their awe-inspiring rise.

Here's the top 10 primetime games on the docket for the 2011 NFL regular season.

10. New York Jets at Baltimore Ravens

A battle between two teams that have been stuck playing second fiddle in each of their respected divisions the past few years.

Last year these two teams faced off in Week 1, with the Jets eking out a 10-9 victory in a test of two elite defenses. This year, the two teams will see one another in Week Four.

This will game will be decided by which teams' defense can stay stout the longest, in a battle of Jets head coach Rex Ryan's former team versus his current. The Ravens defense is getting older but has still managed to create enough plays to allow for their ever-improving offense to pull out wins.

Look for another tightly played matchup, that will likely come down to the last seconds to decide the victor.

9. Kansas City Chiefs at New England Patriots

Remember that fateful day in 2008 when the great Tom Brady was chopped down by a low tackle by then Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard, ending Brady's season in the first game of the season?

Matt Cassel took over the helm for that season and led the Patriots to an 11-5 record that, somehow, wasn't good enough for a playoff berth.

Well, now Cassel is the starting quarterback for the Chiefs, and Tom Brady is fully healthy in a game that will be the first time the two teams face one another since. This time the game will be at Gillette Stadium, where an unforgiving Patriots crowd will be lying in wait.

8. Atlanta Falcons at New Orleans Saints

The day after Christmas, Santa Clause will give us all one more gift: A Week 16 divisional matchup that may very well decide the winner of the NFC South.

In Thursday's game against the Green Bay Packers, the Saints showed that their high-flying offense is still there and raring to go.

Last season the two games between the Falcons and Saints were decided by three points apiece, with one of the games going to overtime. Each team has made some adjustments to their roster, some significant some minor, but in the end, this game should come down to the wire yet again. 

7. Oakland Raiders at San Diego Chargers

In 2010, we saw the long awaited emergence of Oakland running back Darren McFadden and the rise of the Raiders from the cellar of the AFC West. The Raiders swept through the entire division last year but still managed to not win the division.

Instead, that honor went to the Kansas City Chiefs, while the Raiders finished in third. With a new head coach and the loss of their best player the Raiders hope to duplicate their divisional success, but the talent-laden San Diego Chargers look primed to return to their perch at the top of the division.

With wide receiver Vincent Jackson ready to play a full season and a special teams unit that is ready to put he horrors of last year behind them, this longtime rivalry in Week 10 may reveal the West's best. 

6. Indianapolis Colts at New England Patriots

This annual battle of the league's best quarterbacks will be tainted by Peyton Manning having missed several weeks of the season due to slow recovering neck, otherwise this game would be higher on the list.

By Week 13 the Indianapolis Colts should have Manning at the helm for a few weeks, so the Colts will hopefully back flying high on offense.

The NFL is all about quarterbacks nowadays, so how could anyone miss this one? The Colts might want, and need, a win, so expect the same sensational play that we always get when these two powerhouses get together.

5. Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants

We all remember this image. It was one of the most amazing fourth quarter comebacks in league history in a game that ultimately led to the demise of the New York Giants and the rise of the Green Bay Packers to Super Bowl champions.

The Giants lost both matchups to the Eagles last season, this game will be an opportunity to erase that image from everyone's memories in front of the a national TV audience. Make sure not to miss this white knuckle affair.

4. Green Bay Packers at Atlanta Falcons

The Packers absolutely demolished the Falcons in the divisional round of last season's playoffs by a score of 48-21. It was a poor ending to what had looked like a very promising season for the Falcons.

They had finished the regular season with the best record in the NFC, but a red hot Aaron Rodgers had different plans.

With another season under the belt for young Matt Ryan and the implementation of a more pass-happy offense this game could end up being a back-and-forth barn burner, possibly for the No. 1 seed in the conference.

3. Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers

If you ever wanted to scare someone out of playing football, put on film the Steelers and Ravens playing each other and the job is done. This rivalry is the ultimate in old school, black-and-blue football.

The two longest reigning top-five defenses get together twice a year and put on a showcase of hard-nose football.

The teams split the regular season series in 2010, each team winning by three, but the Steelers won in the third showdown between the two teams en route to yet another Super Bowl appearance for the winningest franchise in the league. 

2. Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles

No way we go a whole season without the Cowboys playing in a highly-touted prime-time game. The Cowboys fell apart last season when quarterback Tony Romo went down to injury. The team returns with a healthy Romo, a new head coach in Jason Garrett and a new starter at running back and wide receiver.

Dez Bryant is physical freak whose replacement of the now departed Roy Williams in the starting lineup, along with Felix Jones being given the starting running back job, can produce untold dividends. The Eagles didn't sit tight either, though.

They enter the season as the "Dream Team," and when these two teams come together, you better get your popcorn ready, even with Terrell Owens sitting on his couch at home.

1. New England Patriots at New York Jets

The war of words between these two teams made headlines all over last year, and as long as Rex Ryan is the head coach of the Jets there will continue to be barbs thrown back and forth between the teams' players.

The Jets stunned the football world when they beat the Patriots in the 2010 playoffs. After the 45-3 shellacking they took at the hands of New England in Week 13, the team had been written off leading to their divisional round playoff tilt.

This rivalry is growing to become a mixture of the Patriots/Colts rivalry and the Steelers/Ravens. It has the big plays, the hard hits and a growing history. If you miss out on this next installment in this engaging saga, you WILL regret it.

This is the game of the year, hands down.