Seahawks to host Packers in opener

NEW YORK - The Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks get to kick off the NFL’s regular season by hosting the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 4 at CenturyLink Field.

It’s the third consecutive season the Packers have traveled to face the defending Super Bowl champions.

“It’s a tremendous opportunity for our football team,” Packers Coach Mike McCarthy said. “We have experience playing in the kickoff opener three years ago, and we will draw on that. Obviously, being the visiting team this time presents new challenges. It will help sharpen our focus even more during training camp and the preseason.”

The Thursday game is the first of four prime-time games on opening weekend. Also at night will be a Sunday match up of AFC champion Denver and quarterback Peyton Manning hosting his former team, Indianapolis, and a Monday night doubleheader with the New York Giants at Detroit, followed by San Diego at Arizona.

The NFL will play three games in London with the Dolphins facing the Raiders on Sept. 28, the Lions playing the Falcons on Oct. 26 and the Cowboys meeting the Jaguars on Nov. 9. The Detroit-Atlanta game will kick off at 8:30 a.m. Central in an experiment to test the NFL’s audience draw on a Sunday morning.

A Saturday doubleheader in Week 16 has San Diego at San Francisco and Philadelphia at Washington.

For the first time, games in Weeks 5 through 10 can be flexed from Sunday afternoon to night, with a limit of two. Beginning with Week 11, a Sunday game can be moved to prime time each week. Also, a select number of Sunday afternoon games are being “cross-flexed,” moving between CBS and Fox to potentially draw more viewers.

The Thanksgiving triple header features three strong division rivalries: Chicago at Detroit, Philadelphia at Dallas, and Seattle at San Francisco in a rematch of the memorable NFC title game last January.

Looking for the latest installment of Manning vs. Tom Brady? The Patriots host the Broncos in an afternoon game Nov. 2.

And for those looking for the rematch of the Super Bowl - Seattle defeated Denver 43-8 in the title game last season - it’s on Sept. 21 at Seattle.

Denver opens the season against three 2013 playoff teams: Indianapolis and Kansas City at home and the Seahawks on the road.

Sports, Pages 19 on 04/24/2014

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