INDIANAPOLIS â- While the New York Giants celebrate their victory in Super Bowl XLVI, putting a cap on the 2011 season, we turn our attention to the 2012 opener on Sept. 6.
And MetLife Stadium is sure to witness a doozy.
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| Kickoff games since 2004 | |||||||
| Year | Road team | Home team | Result | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Saints | Packers | Packers 42, Saints 34 | ||||
| 2010 | Vikings | Saints | Saints 14, Vikings 9 | ||||
| 2009 | Titans | Steelers | Steelers 13, Titans 10 | ||||
| 2008 | Redskins | Giants | Giants 16, Redskins 7 | ||||
| 2007 | Saints | Colts | Colts 41, Saints 10 | ||||
| 2006 | Dolphins | Steelers | Steelers 28, Dolphins 17 | ||||
| 2005 | Raiders | Patriots | Patriots 30, Raiders 20 | ||||
| 2004 | Colts | Patriots | Patriots 27, Colts 24 | ||||
The defending champs will host one of the following teams: Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins, Saints, Buccaneers, Packers, Browns, or Steelers. While we donât know for sure what team it will be, we can take some educated guesses based on past schedules.
Only once since 2004 â- the year the NFL started scheduling the Super Bowl champions to host the Kickoff game -â has there been a divisional matchup to start the season (Redskins-Giants in 2008), so letâs eliminate the Cowboys, Eagles and Redskins.
Letâs also eliminate the Buccaneers and Browns, since neither of those teams would present a marquee matchup.
While weâre at it, letâs also toss out the Steelers since there only has been one inter-conference Kickoff game (Saints-Colts in â07) since 2004. That leaves us with the Saints and Packers, the two teams to kick off the freshly concluded season in September.
And why were those teams picked to open the 2011 season? It pitted the champions of the previous two seasons.
So there you go, itâs Packers-Giants to open 2012.
Of course, we wonât know for sure until some point in April when the league announces next seasonâs slate. But with no meaningful games for the next seven months, what else is there to do but dream of a dream matchup to kick off things all over again?
