February 10, 2008
Giants open season with Thursday night home game
These 10 predictions on the next NFL season includes one certainty:
10. Giants will open the showIt's too early to worry about who we play, but it is pretty cool knowing that we are Super Bowl champs so next season begins with the whole country watching us. Posted by James Trotta at February 10, 2008 9:43 AMThe only sure thing on this list is that the '08 season will start the same way the '07 season ended -- with the New York Giants on the field. One of the league's newest traditions is that the Super Bowl champion opens the new season with a Thursday night home game.
In '04, the Patriots played host to the Colts. The next year, the Raiders visited New England. In '06, the Steelers and Dolphins played in Pittsburgh. Last year, the Saints went to Indy.
Based on the '08 schedule formula, the Giants' possible opponents are the Cowboys, Redskins, Eagles, 49ers, Seahawks, Ravens, Bengals and Panthers. The obvious candidate would be the Cowboys, but the NFL has yet to arrange a divisional matchup for the season-opening game.
The most likely candidate from outside the NFC East is Seattle because the Seahawks are three years removed from an NFC title and made it to the divisional round in '07.
If you recall, this whole tradition of opening up the season on a thursday, started the year after 9-11. And it was the Giants who had the home game to open the show that night. The next year, it was the Jets at Washington (the other city involved in the 9-11 attacks). It wasn't until the next year, when they continued that, that the superbowl champ hosted the show. That team, by the way, was the NE Patriots.
Posted by: Michael at February 10, 2008 10:51 PMRegular network station please.
Posted by: Nico at February 13, 2008 8:24 AM