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A Super Bowl rematch is just one of 14 playoff rematches coming in the 2023 NFL season
We have reached the next tentpole event of the NFL yearly calendar.
Schedule release week.
On Thursday the NFL will release the schedule for the 2023 season. The bulk of the schedule will be released during a primetime, three-hour event on the NFL Network. However, select games will be announced ahead of the Thursday night event:
International Games – May 10 on NFL Network and ESPN
Black Friday Game – May 10 via Amazon
Select individual games – May 10 on Fox & Friends and CBS Mornings
Select individual games – May 11 on Today Show and Good Morning America
However, thanks to the NFL’s scheduling formula, we already know the opponents on each team’s schedule. While there is importance to finding out who is playing who, and when, given that we know each team’s list of opponents, we also know this.
There will be 14 games next season that are playoff rematches.
Those 14 games include a rematch of Super Bowl LVII, with the Kansas City Chiefs set to host the Philadelphia Eagles this season, as well as a rematch of both Conference Championship games. The Chiefs are also set to host the Cincinnati Bengals, while the Eagles will welcome the San Francisco 49ers back to Lincoln Financial Field.
In addition, all four Divisional Round games are rematches. On the AFC side Bengals will host the Buffalo Bills, and the Jacksonville Jaguars will host the Chiefs. Over in the NFC, the Eagles will square off twice with the New York Giants, while the Dallas Cowboys are set to take a trip west in a rematch with the 49ers.
Those games make up 8 of the 14 playoff rematches, thanks to the Eagles and the Giants playing a pair of NFC East divisional games next year. When we look back at last year’s Wild Card games, we get six more rematches. The Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens will square off twice, after meeting in the playoffs last year. The same goes for the Miami Dolphins and the Bills, who will play a pair of AFC East games.
The final two rematches? We head to the NFC West, where the 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks — who met in last year’s Wild Card round — will play a pair of divisional games.
Familiar opponents and playoff rematches? Sounds like a schedule maker’s dream.
