By ROB MAADDI AP Pro Football Writer
Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs will be featured in at least eight stand-alone games during the upcoming NFL season.
Their Super Bowl rematch against the Philadelphia Eagles won’t be one of them.
The teams will meet Week 2 in Kansas City in the late afternoon game on Fox.
Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and the Eagles dominated the Chiefs, 40-22, to capture their second Vince Lombardi Trophy in February. Philadelphia is getting seven stand-alone games.
Along with Kansas City, Dallas and Washington also have eight stand-alone games, which is the most in the NFL.
There won’t be a long wait for a Josh Allen-Lamar Jackson showdown. Allen and the Buffalo Bills visit Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens in Week 1 on “Sunday Night Football.” Allen edged Jackson for the NFL MVP award last season while Jackson was the AP’s first-team All-Pro quarterback.
No waiting for Aaron Rodgers to face his former team if he does end up signing with Pittsburgh. The Steelers will visit the New York Jets – who now have former Pittsburgh quarterback Justin Fields – in Week 1.
After the Eagles raise their championship banner, they’ll kick off the league’s season against NFC East rival Dallas on Sept. 4. The Chiefs will take on the Chargers in the league’s second game in Brazil, on Sept. 5 at Corinthians Stadium in Sao Paulo.
The Chiefs are visiting Dallas on Thanksgiving Day and hosting the Denver Broncos on Christmas night. Dak Prescott, Micah Parsons and the Cowboys also will play on both holidays. They’ll visit Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders to kick off a tripleheader on Christmas.
The Chiefs are scheduled for three games on Sunday night: at the New York Giants in Week 3; vs. the Detroit Lions on Oct. 12; vs. the Houston Texans on Dec. 7. Kansas City has two Monday night games in the same month: at the Jacksonville Jaguars on Oct. 6 and vs. the Commanders on Oct. 27.
All of those prime-time games give Taylor Swift more opportunities to share the NFL spotlight. The 14-time Grammy Award-winning superstar has been dating Kelce since the 2023 season.
The Chiefs-Bills AFC championship game rematch will be in Buffalo on Nov. 2. The NFC championship game rematch between the Eagles and Commanders will take place in Washington on Saturday, Dec. 20. The teams meet again two weeks later in Week 18.
The NFL schedule has become a weeklong event with various networks revealing select marquee games each day leading up to Wednesday night’s full release.
Netflix, which is streaming the first two games of a Christmas tripleheader, announced earlier that the Lions will face the Vikings in Minnesota in the late afternoon game.
Six of the record seven international contests were announced Tuesday.
The Vikings are playing consecutive games in Ireland and Britain, facing the Steelers at Croke Park in Dublin on Sept. 28 in Ireland’s first NFL regular-season game. They’ll become the first team to play two international games in two different countries when they go to London to face the Cleveland Browns at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium a week later on Oct. 5.
In other international games, the Broncos play the Jets on Oct. 12 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, the Rams face Jacksonville a week later at Wembley Stadium in London, the Atlanta Falcons take on the Indianapolis Colts on Nov. 9 at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin and the Commanders play the Miami Dolphins on Nov. 16 at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid.
Philadelphia visits the Giants on “Thursday Night Football” on Oct. 9 and hosts the Lions on Sunday night Nov. 16.
New Bears coach Ben Johnson, who was the offensive coordinator for the Lions, will face his former team for the first time in Week 2 in Detroit.
No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward could make his NFL debut with the Tennessee Titans against Bo Nix and the Broncos in Denver on Sept. 7.
Former Titans coach Mike Vrabel faces his former team in Week 7 when the New England Patriots visit Tennessee.
Besides Chiefs-Cowboys, the Thanksgiving Day slate includes the Packers-Lions in the early game and the Cincinnati Bengals at Baltimore in prime time.
Rams to open season at home vs. Texans; Eagles rematch set for Week 3
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Chargers’ 2025 opener vs. Chiefs in Brazil is 1 of their 5 primetime games
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