Sky Sports announce first NFL Matchups

With the NFL season just 38 days away, the excitement and anticipation grows. Teams are now into training camp and the preseason gets under way this coming weekend with the annual Hall of Fame game. This year it features two teams that will hope to be in postseason play come next January, the Miami Dolphins and Dallas Cowboys.

To further whet our appetites Sky Sports have announced the first two Sunday fixtures they will be broadcasting live. We already know that they are showing all Thursday night games, and of course  this year’s two Wembley games, so this means the kickoff game featuring last year’s champions Baltimore Ravens at the Denver Broncos will start off the 2013 season at Midnight on Thursday 5 September.

They have chosen two spectacular showdowns to kickoff their Sunday coverage on 8 September. The Atlanta Falcons, who had the NFC best record last year, before losing out in the Championship game, travel to New Orleans to face the Saints. Despite a good finish to the season the Saints just missed out on the playoffs. This has the makings of an aerial battle with Matt Ryan will look to outduel his opposite number Drew Brees.

Following this we go to the west coast and see the team that narrowly missed out on the Super Bowl title. The San Francisco 49ers will be looking to get off to a fast start this year, but they will have to get past a Green Bay team looking for revenge. The Packers were outgunned in last year’s playoffs by a devastating performance by QB Colin Kaepernick.

So the opening weekend coverage on Sky is as follows:

Thursday 5September

BALTIMORE RAVENS @ DENVER BRONCOS at 00.00

Sunday 8 September

ATLANTA FALCONS @ NEW ORLEANS SAINTS at 17.30

GREEN BAY PACKERS @ SAN FRANCISCO 49ers at 21.00

Image credit: www1.skysports.com