First, the NFL got rid of the "no more than five primetime appearances rule". Although, eight different teams will have five primetime games. With the additional games on NFL Network for Thursday nights, the league decided to change the rule to "every team must have at least one primetime game".
And second, the NFL will make sure every team playing a Thursday primetime game will not have a road game in the prior week. This is another effort to give more rest time for players.
One other note, ESPN moved it's final Monday night game in Week 16 to Saturday night, since the Monday that week is Christmas Eve.
Here's a look at how the West Coast teams fared:
San Francisco and San Diego are set to appear in primetime the most. A few of these games could be flexed out of primetime however. We'll see.
Right out the gate, San Francisco will travel to Green Bay for a late afternoon game in Week 1. SF hasn't won there since 1990. Monday night in Week 11 features the 49ers at home against the Bears. Thanksgiving week (Week 12) has some of the best games to watch all-around this year, including 49ers at Saints, a huge rematch, this time on dome turf. Finally, the Week 15 Sunday night San Fran/New England game looks like what should be a rematch of last year's Super Bowl.
The 49ers will travel to MetLife Stadium this season... to face the Jets. But seriously, there will be a rematch of the NFC Championship this year in Week 6, albeit in San Francisco again (I'm not complaining). As it stands, the 49ers will have their fewest number of games on FOX this season since the 90's.
San Diego gets the Monday night late game in Week 1 at Oakland. They also close against the Raiders in Week 17. At the Saints in Week 5 Sunday night will be huge, as will the following week vs. Denver on Monday night. Who doesn't want to watch the Week 9 Thursday night game vs. KC? Let's not also forget the Rex Ryan/Norv Turner storyline for Week 16, with the Bolts playing in New York.
The Raiders get a great historical matchup against the Steelers in Week 3 at home. Then it's the at Peyton Manning (Denver) game in Week 4, plus home against the Broncos in Week 14. Oakland gets to host the Saints in a rare FOX game Week 11, the week SF is on Monday night. Not least this year will be QB Carson Palmer's return to Cincinnati in Week 12 on CBS.
Arizona will be looking to fight SF and Seattle this year for the NFC West title. Seattle games are both on FOX, with the home match in Week 1 and at the Hawks in Week 14. QB Kevin Kolb will be looking to prove himself against his former team in Week 3 vs. the Eagles. Week 8 puts the Cards at home on a Monday night vs. San Fran... very interesting, that was the 49ers only division loss last year. In Week 9, it's a trip to Green Bay on FOX. The Cardinals will end their season at the 49ers.
And finally, Seattle's key games this season could very well be their matchups with San Francisco. The first one in is San Francisco on a Thursday night (Week 7), then in Week 16, it will be a Christmas Eve eve rematch in Seattle. Other key games include Week 2 vs. Dallas, a Monday night HOME game vs. the Packers, and a trip to Chicago in Week 13 to prove playoff worthiness.
Follow the link to see the entire 2012 NFL season schedule.
The Kickoff Game is Wednesday, September 5, 5:30pm PT on NBC.
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