The NFL will release its full 2020 preseason and regular season schedule Thursday. Because of the coronavirus pandemic and current restrictions about large gatherings, there is some uncertainty as to whether the league will be able to begin the season as planned.
According to John Clayton, the league has discussed adjusting the league schedule to mitigate this.
This could mean that the Arizona Cardinals will open the season playing all four of their games against the AFC East consecutively to kick off the season.
Clayton has heard from multiple league sources that the league might dedicate the first four weeks of the season to out-of-conference games. Every team plays four games against all four teams in a division of the opposite conference.
The idea is that, if the league has to cancel any games off the schedule, they could eliminate the least important ones, at least in terms of postseason importance.
The Cardinals are slated to host the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins and take on the New York Jets and New England Patriots on the road.
Knocking those games out in September has benefits. It means every NFL team plays two home games and two road games to start the season. It means the Cardinals would take two East Coast trips early in the year, eliminating the possibility of those games being played in the extreme cold or snow.
The official schedule release will happen Thursday at 4:30 p.m. Arizona time.
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Ep. 266
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Ep.265
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