{"id":62629,"date":"2025-05-19T15:49:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-19T15:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/62629\/"},"modified":"2025-05-19T15:49:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-19T15:49:08","slug":"the-2025-nfl-week-1-watchability-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/62629\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2025 NFL Week 1 watchability rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2025 NFL schedule<\/a> has been released, and the season will get started with an intriguing slate of Week 1 games.<\/p>\n

Here, we\u2019ll go through each Week 1 game and rank them in descending order by which games we think are the most watchable (as in most interesting, entertaining, and just the best games in general).<\/p>\n

So, without further ado, here\u2019s a look at which Week 1 games we should be most (and least) excited about!<\/p>\n

16. Arizona Cardinals at New Orleans Saints<\/p>\n

Date: Sunday, Sept. 7, 1 p.m. ET
TV: CBS<\/p>\n

Unless Aaron Rodgers surprisingly goes to New Orleans, there won\u2019t be much national interest in this game.<\/p>\n

The Saints currently have the worst Super Bowl title odds and are likely starting 25-year-old rookie Tyler Shough at quarterback. The Cardinals won eight games in 2024 and aren\u2019t expected to be better in 2025. And it\u2019s not like the Saints or the Cardinals are a big draw.<\/p>\n

15. Cincinnati Bengals at Cleveland Browns<\/p>\n

Date: Sunday, Sept. 7, 1 p.m. ET
TV: Fox<\/p>\n

If rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders starts for the Browns, this game will be atop Mel Kiper Jr.\u2019s Big Board for Week 1. But for most people, especially outside of Ohio, this is unlikely to be a very entertaining NFL game to watch.<\/p>\n

Along with the Browns\u2019 starting quarterback situation (whether it\u2019s Sanders, Joe Flacco, or Dillon Gabriel), the main focus will be on how Joe Burrow and the Bengals (particularly Cincinnati\u2019s defense) look to start the season after they failed to make the playoffs in 2024.<\/p>\n

14. Tennessee Titans at Denver Broncos<\/p>\n

Date: Sunday, Sept. 7, 4:05 p.m. ET
TV: Fox<\/p>\n

This could end up being the most lopsided game of Week 1 (the Broncos are favored by over a touchdown), but it could also feature the NFL debut of 2025 No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward. If the Titans choose to not name Ward the starting quarterback for Week 1 (it would instead be Will Levis), move this game down a slot on our rankings.<\/p>\n

13. New York Giants at Washington Commanders<\/p>\n

Date: Sunday, Sept. 7, 1 p.m. ET
TV: Fox<\/p>\n

This game could also be a blowout, but it will at least include dynamic quarterback Jayden Daniels beginning his second season after stunningly leading the Commanders to the NFC Championship Game in 2024.<\/p>\n

Who will start at quarterback for the Giants? Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston, and Jaxson Dart are the options. There are plenty of storylines for each, but it\u2019s unlikely to result in very good quarterback play for New York in Week 1.<\/p>\n

12. Miami Dolphins at Indianapolis Colts<\/p>\n

Date: Sunday, Sept. 7, 1 p.m. ET
TV: CBS<\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t much buzz when it comes to the 2025 Dolphins or Colts at the moment, but this should at least be a decent, competitive football game between two teams that feel like fringe AFC playoff contenders.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a good chance this is one of the games that will have Scott Hanson going crazy to close out the first NFL RedZone window of the season.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

11. Carolina Panthers at Jacksonville Jaguars<\/p>\n

Date: Sunday, Sept. 7, 1 p.m. ET
TV: Fox<\/p>\n

On the surface, \u201cPanthers-Jaguars\u201d might sound as boring as a game could get to the average NFL fan. But there are some intriguing storylines to this one for the football nerd.<\/p>\n

How will Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars offense look in the first game of first-year head coach Liam Coen\u2019s tenure?<\/p>\n

How will Bryce Young look to enter Year 3, after showing promising growth in the final weeks of last season?<\/p>\n

And how will two-way star Travis Hunter be used and perform in his NFL debut for Jacksonville?<\/p>\n

10. Las Vegas Raiders at New England Patriots<\/p>\n

Date: Sunday, Sept. 7, 1 p.m. ET
TV: CBS<\/p>\n

Two new, high-profile head coaches headline this one. Pete Carroll\u2019s first game as Raiders head coach comes against the team he was head coach for in the late \u201990s. Mike Vrabel coaches his first game for a Patriots franchise that he won three Super Bowls with as a linebacker.<\/p>\n

Drake Maye is a high-upside quarterback entering his second NFL season for the Patriots, and veteran quarterback Geno Smith takes over as the Raiders\u2019 starter (and reunites with Carroll).<\/p>\n

9. Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Atlanta Falcons<\/p>\n

Date: Sunday, Sept. 7, 1 p.m. ET
TV: Fox<\/p>\n

The NFC South will likely be won by one of these two teams, but that\u2019s not necessarily a special accomplishment in what figures to be the league\u2019s worst division, again.<\/p>\n

How will the Tampa Bay offense perform after losing offensive coordinators Dave Canales (Panthers head coach) and Liam Coen over the last two years? Baker Mayfield threw for a career-best 4,500 yards in Coen\u2019s offense in 2024.<\/p>\n

Is Michael Penix Jr. a franchise quarterback? He\u2019ll get the chance to show that for Atlanta.<\/p>\n

8. San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks<\/p>\n

Date: Sunday, Sept. 7, 4:05 p.m. ET
TV: Fox<\/p>\n

This was a tough one to rank.<\/p>\n

The 49ers should still get the benefit of the doubt as a good team and potential title contender. But they\u2019re also coming off a six-win season, and between talent losses and aging, this isn\u2019t the 49ers roster of a few years ago. So, this will be one of the most interesting teams in the league: are they a legitimate contender or are they a mediocre (or worse) team on the decline?<\/p>\n

This will also be the beginning of the Sam Darnold era for the Seahawks, and that could mean a lot of things in either direction.<\/p>\n

7. Houston Texans at Los Angeles Rams<\/p>\n

Date: Sunday, Sept. 7, 4:25 p.m. ET
TV: CBS<\/p>\n

This feels like a huge season for each team.<\/p>\n

The Texans entered 2024 as a hot Super Bowl pick, entering Year 2 for C.J. Stroud. They did go on to win a playoff game, but they looked a step below the AFC\u2019s top team,s and Stroud experienced some regression. The betting market isn\u2019t taking them seriously as a realistic title contender right now, with 40\/1 championship odds that rank 16th.<\/p>\n

Matthew Stafford is 37, so the Rams want to capitalize on what he can still do in Sean McVay\u2019s offense and try to make another Super Bowl run before their window is up.<\/p>\n

6. Pittsburgh Steelers at New York Jets<\/p>\n

Date: Sunday, Sept. 7, 1 p.m. ET
TV: CBS<\/p>\n

This ranking is contingent on Aaron Rodgers being the Steelers\u2019 quarterback. If he doesn\u2019t sign with Pittsburgh and Mason Rudolph is the starting quarterback, this game moves way down the list. But if he is the quarterback, a Rodgers vs. Jets revenge game would be great drama. Now, if you\u2019re entirely sick of Rodgers and can\u2019t stand hearing about him, you might want to avoid this one.<\/p>\n

On the Jets\u2019 side, this game features Justin Fields taking on his former team, and it\u2019s the head-coaching debut for Aaron Glenn (who has been part<\/a> of the Rodgers-Jets drama).<\/p>\n

Additionally, there\u2019s a good chance<\/a> CBS would put Ian Eagle and J.J. Watt<\/a> on this one, in what would be Watt\u2019s color commentator debut.<\/p>\n

5. Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles<\/p>\n

Date: Thursday, Sept. 4, 8:20 p.m. ET
TV: NBC\/Peacock
Announcers: Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth<\/p>\n

The NFL season opener, featuring America\u2019s Team (?)<\/a> and the defending champions.<\/p>\n

The concern here is that it might not be a very entertaining game unless you\u2019re an Eagles fan. Philadelphia opens as a 7-point home favorite and steamrolled its competition from mid-October through the Super Bowl last season. (The Eagles\u2019 only loss during that stretch was by three points to the Washington Commanders on Dec. 22, and it featured starting quarterback Jalen Hurts exiting in the first quarter.)<\/p>\n

This game gets bonus points for the excitement of kicking off the season, but there\u2019s a good chance it\u2019ll end up feeling like a big letdown as far as season openers go. The Lions, Commanders, and Rams \u2013 all home games on Philadelphia\u2019s schedule \u2013 would\u2019ve provided a better matchup vs. the Eagles on paper.<\/p>\n

4. Minnesota Vikings at Chicago Bears<\/p>\n

Date: Monday, Sept. 8, 8:15 p.m. ET
TV: ABC\/ESPN
Announcers: Joe Buck, Troy Aikman<\/p>\n

The first look at Ben Johnson as Chicago Bears head coach, and the first look at Caleb Williams in that offense.<\/p>\n

That alone will be well worth the watch, but the same goes for seeing what J.J. McCarthy will do in his debut as Vikings quarterback after he missed the 2024 season with a torn meniscus. Williams (No. 1 overall) and McCarthy (No. 10 overall) were each top-10 picks in the 2024 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

It will also feature the first regular-season broadcast of the season for Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, who readers ranked second in the 2024 Awful Announcing NFL announcer rankings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3. Kansas City Chiefs vs Los Angeles Chargers (S\u00e3o Paulo)<\/p>\n

Date: Friday, Sept. 5, 8 p.m. ET
TV: YouTube<\/p>\n

Patrick Mahomes vs Justin Herbert, Andy Reid vs Jim Harbaugh, and an immediate opportunity for an AFC West team to make a statement versus the perennial division-favorite Chiefs.<\/p>\n

Kansas City looked vulnerable all season in 2024 but still managed to win 15 regular-season games and reach the Super Bowl. Mahomes\u2019 statistical production over the past two seasons is far off his peak years; is this what he is now, or will he return to looking like the best quarterback in the league?<\/p>\n

From a sports media perspective, what will the NBC-produced YouTube broadcast<\/a> look like? Last year, Peacock had the Packers-Eagles game in Brazil (with Noah Eagle and Todd Blackledge on the call). There\u2019s sure to be plenty of reaction to however that broadcast goes.<\/p>\n

2. Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers<\/p>\n

Date: Sunday, Sept. 7, 4:25 p.m. ET
TV: CBS
Announcers: Jim Nantz, Tony Romo<\/p>\n

*Tony Romo voice* \u201cThis should be a great one, JIM!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Lions are coming off a 45-31 home playoff loss to the Washington Commanders as the NFC\u2019s No. 1 seed, and they also lost offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn to head-coaching jobs. How will they respond?<\/p>\n

It feels like an even bigger game for the Packers if they\u2019re going to top the Lions, Vikings, and Bears en route to an NFC North crown.<\/p>\n

1. Baltimore Ravens at Buffalo Bills<\/p>\n

Date: Sunday, Sept. 7, 8:20 p.m. ET
TV: NBC
Announcers: Mike Tirico, Cris Collinsworth<\/p>\n

Two of the Super Bowl LX favorites, a rematch of last season\u2019s AFC Divisional Round playoffs, the last two NFL MVP winners, and the first Sunday Night Football game of the 2025 NFL season. It\u2019s easy to read that in a grinning Cris Collinsworth voice.<\/p>\n

This could be a \u201cGame of The Year\u201d contender right out of the gate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 NFL schedule has been released, and the season will get started with an intriguing slate of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62630,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2052],"tags":[17221,184,117,2282,7,6,169],"class_list":{"0":"post-62629","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baltimore-ravens","8":"tag-2025-nfl-schedule-release","9":"tag-baltimore","10":"tag-baltimore-ravens","11":"tag-baltimoreravens","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-ravens"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114535293004154400","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}