HOUSTON, Sporting Alert – The NFL Week 1 schedule slips into full swing on Sunday with a packed bundle, as the journey to the Super Bowl begins. Live TV Channels are also listed below.
For a complete GameCast listing and live Box Scores, visit NFL.com, while NBC Sports will have live streaming coverage of the Sunday Night Football Game at 7:30 PM ET. This week’s game comes from the AT&T Stadium where the Dallas Cowboys will take on the New York Giants.
Oddsmakers have this total listed at 52, with Tony Romo and Cowboys coming in as 6.5 point favourites.
Defending champions New England Patriots got the season going on Thursday night when they opened with Tom Brady leading his team to a 28-21 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers at home.
On Sunday, the likes of Kansas City Chiefs, Denver Broncos, New York Giants and the Dallas Cowboys will all be targeting victories to start the new season.
After going undefeated in the preseason fixtures, Alex Smith and Kansas City will be hoping to carry that form over into the regular season against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium.
The Chiefs went a perfect 4-0 in preseason, while holding its opponents to less than 20 points in all four contests.
Andy Reid will certainly be looking to linebacker Justin Houston, who collected 22.0 sacks last season – tied for second-most sacks in a single season since they first began to be recorded in 1982 – to build on that performance heading into the new term.
Houston, led by defensive end J.J. Watt, the Defensive Player of the Year from last season, will also be tough to break down defensively.
The bookmakers have the Chiefs posted as 1-point favorites to take this contest against the Texans, with the game’s total posted at 40.
Game time for this one is 12:00 PM CT and live coverage will be on CBS.
At Sports Authority Field at Mile High, the Denver Broncos and Peyton Manning will be hoping for a winning start to the season when they play hosts to the Baltimore Ravens.
Denver is listed as a 5-point favorite to take home the victory on Sunday, with the game’s total at 47.
Manning enters Sunday’s clash with a very productive record in season openers.
The Broncos leader has thrown 15 touchdowns and without an interception in his last 4 season openers, and according to The Elias Sports Bureau, the veteran quarterback is the “only QB in NFL history to throw for multiple Pass TD without a pick in four straight season openers.”
Very impressive.
The simulators and NFL experts are again backing the 39-year-old to have a good season opener against the Ravens.
Elsewhere in Week 1 NFL openers on Sunday, Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears, two of the oldest rivals in the league, will do battle at Soldier Field with the visitors, led by top quarterback Aaron Rodgers, starting as 6.5 point favourites.
Another game to watch will be the battle between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Tennessee Titans at Raymond James Stadium.
This clash is particularly interesting because of the matchup between the top two NFL Draft picks, Mariota and Winston.
Sunday’s meeting will see Winston and Mariota becoming only the third set of quarterbacks drafted 1-2 to meet in their rookie season.
