Patriots’ 2012 schedule released

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Wednesday, April 18, 2012

John Rooke, GoLocalWorcester Sports Editor

The NFL season doesn't kick-off for five more months. But when the planet's most popular sports league misses last off-season with labor troubles, even schedule releases are a big deal.

The New England Patriots will open the 2012 regular season on the road, Sunday, September 9th, against the Tennessee Titans. They will close it at home, in a 1:00 pm kick-off against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, December 30th. There will also be four night games played during the season - two at Gillette Stadium, two on the road - as television hopes to take advantage of New England's overall drawing power, and one Monday Night Football encounter at Gillette against the Houston Texans. There will also be two Sunday night games (one home, one road), and a Thanksgiving night game at the New York Jets.

The entire schedule for New England looks like this:

Sunday, September 9 - at Tennessee, 1:00 pm

Sunday, September 16 - vs. Arizona, 1:00 pm

Sunday, September 23 - at Baltimore, 8:30 pm

Sunday, September 30 - at Buffalo, 1:00 pm

Sunday, October 7 - vs. Denver, 4:15 pm

Sunday, October 14 - at Seattle, 4:05 pm

Sunday, October 21 - vs. NY Jets, 4:15 pm

Sunday, October 28 - at St. Louis (London, England) 1:00 pm

Sunday, November 4 - BYE

Sunday, November 11 - vs. Buffalo, 1:00 pm

Sunday, November 18 - vs. Indianapolis, 1:00 pm

Thursday, November 25 - at NY Jets, 8:30 pm

Sunday, December 2 - at Miami, 1:00 pm

Monday, December 10 - vs. Houston, 8:30 pm

Sunday, December 16 - vs. San Francisco, 8:20 pm

Sunday, December 23 - at Jacksonville, 1:00 pm

Sunday, December 30 - vs. Miami, 1:00 pm

The pre-season dates have also been set as follows:

Patriots Preseason 2012

Thursday, August 9 - vs. New Orleans, 7:30 pm
Monday, August 20 - vs. Philadelphia, 8:00 pm
Friday, August 24 - at Tampa Bay, 7:30 pm
Wednesday, August 29 - at NY Giants, 7:30 pm

The opener on September 5 on NBC (8:30 pm) will feature the defending-champion New York Giants hosting the division-rival Dallas Cowboys at MetLife Stadium. In a format introduced in 2004, the Super Bowl champion annually hosts the NFL season opener.

NBC’s Sunday Night Football will get underway on September 9 when the Denver Broncos host the Pittsburgh Steelers (8:20 pm) in a rematch of last season’s Wild Card playoff thriller.

Among the highlights of Kickoff Weekend are six division games, including a pair on Monday night, September 10. ESPN’s Monday Night Football doubleheader will feature the AFC North’s Cincinnati Bengals at the Baltimore Ravens (7:00 pm) followed by the AFC West’s Oakland Raiders hosting the San Diego Chargers (10:15 pm).

For the remainder of the season, ESPN will televise one game each Monday night in Weeks 2-15 and a Saturday-night contest in Week 16. There will be no Monday night game on the final regular-season weekend (Week 17) to provide more flexibility to the scheduling of the opening weekend of the NFL playoffs.

The regular season will conclude with Week 17 on Sunday, December 30. For the third consecutive year, all 16 games scheduled for Week 17 are division contests, enhancing the potential for more games at the end of the season with playoff ramifications.

The 2012 season concludes on Sunday, February 3 when the NFL will crown a champion at Super Bowl XLVII at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans (televised by CBS).
 

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