Top 10 NFL games to watch.
September 7, 2002 11:27 AM   Subscribe

Top 10 NFL games to watch. Time magazine pick this season's 10 "can't miss" games. ESPN's First...and 10 goes to 11. Sports Illustrated's "must-see" list picks the top game each week. [more inside]
posted by kirkaracha (21 comments total)
 
Mod note: Brazenly cross-pollinated from SportsFilter

Here are the lists, in chronological order (games on more than one list in bold):

ESPN
  • New England Patriots at New York Jets, Sept. 15 (Week 2)
  • Oakland Raiders at Pittsburgh Steelers, Sept. 15 (Week 2)
  • New York Jets at Miami Dolphins, Sept. 22 (Week 3)
  • Washington Redskins at San Francisco 49ers, Sept. 22 (Week 3)
  • St. Louis Rams at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Sept. 23 (Week 3)
  • New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins Oct. 6 (Week 5)
  • St. Louis Rams at San Francisco 49ers, Oct. 6 (Week 5)
  • Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears, Oct. 7 (Week 5)
  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Philadelphia Eagles, Oct. 20 (Week 7)
  • Tennessee Titans at Indianapolis Colts, Nov. 3 (Week 9)
  • Oakland Raiders at Denver Broncos, Nov. 11 (Week 10)
  • Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots, Dec. 8 (Week 14)
Sports Illustrated
  • Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots, Sept. 9 (Week 1)
  • Oakland Raiders at Pittsburgh Steelers, Sept. 15 (Week 2)
  • Washington Redskins at San Francisco 49ers, Sept. 22 (Week 3)
  • Dallas Cowboys at St. Louis Rams, Sept. 29 (Week 4)
  • San Diego Chargers at Denver Broncos, Oct. 6 (Week 5)
  • San Francisco 49ers at Seattle Seahawks, Oct 14 (Week 6)
  • Washington Redskins at Green Bay Packers, Oct. 20 (Week 7)
  • Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens, Oct. 27 (Week 8)
  • San Francisco 49ers at Oakland Raiders, Nov. 3 (Week 9)
  • Indianapolis Colts at Philadelphia Eagles, Nov. 10 (Week 10)
  • Chicago Bears at St. Louis Rams, Nov. 17 (Week 11)
  • Philadelphia Eagles at San Francisco 49ers, Nov. 25 (Week 12)
  • Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers, Dec. 1 (Week 13)
  • New York Giants at Washington Redskins, Dec. 8 (Week 14)
  • Oakland Raiders at Miami Dolphins, Dec. 15 (Week 15)
  • Pittsburgh Steelers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dec. 23 (Week 16)
  • Tennessee Titans at Houston Texans, Dec. 29 (Week 17)
Time
  • San Francisco 49ers at N.Y. Giants, Sept. 5 (Week 1)
  • Pittsburgh Steelers at New England Patriots, Sept. 9 (Week 1)
  • St. Louis Rams at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Sept. 23 (Week 3)
  • St. Louis Rams at San Francisco 49ers, Oct. 6 (Week 5)
  • Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears, Oct. 7 (Week 5)
  • Seattle Seahawks at Dallas Cowboys, Oct. 27 (Week 8)
  • Miami Dolphins at N.Y. Jets, Nov. 10 (Week 10)
  • New England Patriots at Oakland Raiders, Nov. 17 (Week 12)
  • Indianapolis Colts at Tennessee Titans, Dec. 8 (Week 14)
  • Everything, Dec. 28-30 (Week 17)
ESPN's John Clayton cheats and puts two games at #3, although I can't really complain since I usually count The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II as one movie in my top 10 list.
posted by kirkaracha (staff) at 11:29 AM on September 7, 2002


Meta: I think this whole cross-pollination thing would work a lot better if Matt just put a link to Sportsfilter on the sidebar. Why would we even go over there if all the links appear on MeFi anyway?
posted by Stan Chin at 11:31 AM on September 7, 2002


I think predicting "can't-miss" games in the NFL is next to pointless. Monday Night Football tries it every season and they always have at least two or three games that are complete borefests. Parity in the NFL has become way too unpredictable. Nobody actually follows these schedules anyway, it's always "The Eagles and the Bears both looked pretty good, since Donovan McNabb accidently got his legs eaten. I'll watch to see what happens this week."

Preseason Can't-Miss schedules work in College Football of course.
posted by Stan Chin at 11:48 AM on September 7, 2002


Which brings up something I just thought about, why doesn't Monday Night Football use the ESPN Gameday format where they travel to different big games each week?
posted by Stan Chin at 11:55 AM on September 7, 2002


Fans here in Wisconsin don't seem to care all that much about the Packer's/Bears "rivalry" which has been pretty lopsided in favor of the Pack over the years, IIRC. It's the Packers/Vikings thing that gets the cheeseheads all hot and bothered. Both teams have been in a statistical dead heat for as long as I can remember
posted by MrBaliHai at 11:59 AM on September 7, 2002


FPP?
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 11:59 AM on September 7, 2002


Bears vs Packers overall record: 84 wins, 73 losses, 6 ties.
posted by pemulis at 12:22 PM on September 7, 2002


FPP?

It stands for front-page post.

(swing and a miss)
posted by The God Complex at 12:24 PM on September 7, 2002


I know what it stands for. I was asking if this was worthy of going on the front page.
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 12:57 PM on September 7, 2002


Yes, I know. I was just being an ass. And it seems fine to me unless there's a big problem with sports-related posts amongst the mefi populace.
posted by The God Complex at 1:50 PM on September 7, 2002


MrBaliHai: You got that right. Even when the Vikes are on fire, they can never seem to take the Packers for both games. Stupid Lambeau Field.

Mmmmm... Football.
posted by Galvatron at 1:54 PM on September 7, 2002


Okay then... :)
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 4:04 PM on September 7, 2002


Stupid Lambeau Field.

Never.... Go Pack!
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 4:05 PM on September 7, 2002


Personal Top 16 Games to watch for the 2002 season:

Every Jaguars game.

ahem....Go Jags!
posted by JaxJaggywires at 8:35 PM on September 7, 2002


Steve_at_Linnwood: Yea, FPP. Tomorrow is the start (aside from the Thursday game) of NFL regular season. That's a big deal to some... me included. I don't expect there to be daily NFL FPPs. But for today... a Saturday for cryin' out loud, it's appropriate.

All hail!
posted by Witty at 10:14 PM on September 7, 2002


{note to self: finish reading the thread before "commenting"... bonehead}
posted by Witty at 10:16 PM on September 7, 2002


All hail!

/me bows down.

I am a Packer fan here in Milwaukee, so don't get me wrong!
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 10:34 PM on September 7, 2002


Which brings up something I just thought about, why doesn't Monday Night Football use the ESPN Gameday format where they travel to different big games each week?

You do realize that the only games scheduled on Monday nights are those that ABC and the NFL have selected in advance to be scheduled on Monday night ... just for MNF? They don't have a choice they can dynamically change. It's a consequence of no more than one pro game a week for any club. The whole point of the TV show is to pull one pro game off the usual weekend schedule and over to prime time where it can be broadcast nationally and make some money for the network -- which presently is not the same network that broadcasts the rest of the NFL games. Occasionally, this even creates minor tussles.
posted by dhartung at 10:36 PM on September 7, 2002


It's the start of the season! Who cares what to watch? All games will be great, (that's my preseason pick). Go Eagles!
posted by gwong at 7:10 AM on September 8, 2002


Most boring, the NFL or soccer?

I just can't decide! I hope that Metafilter isn't turning into CrapUSProSportsFilter.
posted by mark13 at 9:41 AM on September 9, 2002


Perhaps those would be the threads that you should avoid participating in... MARK13!
posted by Witty at 10:13 AM on September 9, 2002


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