Well, that, plus the fact that the Saints will be kicking off against Brett Favre and the Vikings while defending the franchise's first Super Bowl. Those fine folks down in New Orleans should be pretty fired up.
Yet Thursday night's season opener is just one of 256 on the regular-season schedule. Will it crack the Top 10? Find out below in the Top 10 games of the NFL season.
Cowboys at Texans — Week 3
There aren't many places on earth that appreciate football more than Texas, and in this Week 3 matchup, there may be a lot more than pride on the line.
In Dallas, the expectation is always a Super Bowl. In Houston, things are a bit more modest — but you can bet fans are eager to see improvements from a team that went 9-7 last year and had a chance at making the playoffs through the final week of the season.
If either Dallas or Houston loses a game in Weeks 1 or 2, this early-season game could take on a must-win feel.
Vikings at Packers — Week 7
Will this be an epic game of epic proportions with an epic ending? Probably not, but its hype will be unrivaled. Though every major media outlet exhausted the "Brett Favre returning to Lambeau" storyline last season, they'll all just rehash it again this year and put a "Part 2" at the end of it.
It won't be the game of the century, but you'll be interested and you will watch.
Redskins at Eagles — Week 4
Even though NFC East matchups are shoved in the faces of football fans' like a Cheesy Gordita Crunch to Rex Ryan's mouth, this one will actually be worth watching. That's because Philadelphia's shipping of its franchise quarterback to a division rival is nearly unprecedented (though Drew Bledsoe disagrees). The fact that Donovan McNabb was booed when he was drafted and never could completely win over the harsh Philly fan base only adds to the appeal of watching how he will do in his return to the only city in which he's played.
Cowboys at Cardinals — Week 16 (Christmas Day)
Just as the Lakers-Heat game winds down on Christmas Day, the NFL is poised to steal viewers away from the Nuggets-Thunder matchup. Take that, David Stern.
Both of these teams made the playoffs last year, but this is the NFL, so the chances of them both making the playoffs again is mostly impossible. Who knows — maybe this one could determine one of the NFC's wild cards. Either way, it's going to crush basketball in the ratings.
Ravens at Jets — Week 1
Don King couldn't even promote the Jets' season any better than this season of Hard Knocks has, so when these two teams kick off on Monday night, anyone who's so much as sniffed a football will be watching.
Rex Ryan's team has made a statement that it wants to be the best in the league. A good part of the country is hoping that voyage begins with a Week 1 loss.
Vikings at Saints– Week 1
The NFL is king in the U.S. for many reasons, and throwing Brett Favre against the defending Super Bowl champs in a raucous Superdome on a Thursday night to kick off the season is just one of them.
Just think about the names involved: Favre, Drew Brees, Adrian Peterson, former Heisman Trophy owner Reggie Bush, a bunch of people screaming "Who Dat?," a bunch of people still trying to figure out what "Who Dat?" means, a befuddled Dan Hampton scrambling to find the proper metaphor to describe the game.
This is going to be a fun one.
Patriots at Jets — Week 2
All that hype and excitement from the Jets' offseason will not fade
away by Week 2, and even if they lose their opener, that can all be
washed away with a win over New England. That's what happened last year
early in the season, and the Jets — whether it helped them or hurt them
— acted as if they had won the Super Bowl.
Now, the Patriots would never admit it publicly, but they'd like
nothing more than to smack the Jets around on the field and shut them up
off it. That won't be easy, and that's while we'll watch.
(The Week 13 matchup in Foxboro could very well be even better, if
the two teams are battling for the division lead.)
Cowboys at Vikings — Week 6
As stated earlier, the Cowboys and their fans are looking for a Super Bowl. Not stated earlier but implied is that Brett Favre will always be a dominating storyline and we'll always pay attention to him no matter what. It's just the way it is.
Come Week 6, this should be a battle for supremacy in the NFC.
Saints at Cowboys — Week 12 (Thanksgiving Day)
Apparently, the league has issued a mandate stating it will not be screwing around with its holiday games this year. Because while Thanksgiving is always associated with football, it's not always associated with good football.
This year, at least, we'll get to see two of the NFC's best battle it out while we all try to digest and make room for some more food.
Colts at Patriots — Week 11
This one seems to be on any "best games of the season" list, no
matter the year — but not without reason.
The Patriots and Colts are two of the best teams of the decade, and
they spent much of that time beating each other up. Tom Brady and
Peyton Manning are perhaps the two biggest names in the league.
The last four matchups have been decided by an average margin of 3.8
points.
In a world where overly hyped events rarely live up to expectations,
this one never seems to disappoint.
