The NFL schedule for the regular season opens with the New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers playing at Gillette Stadium and the matchup is on TV from NBC starting at 8:30 pm ET Thursday. The game has live stream coverage on the NBC Sports Live Extra website and the game has Tom Brady playing after his suspension was thrown out, battling against Ben Roethlisberger for the NFL kickoff.
The Patriots got a big boost in court with Brady not getting suspended and now the quarterback will be ready to start Week 1 for the team. The Patriots were preparing to start Jimmy Garoppolo for the matchup and clearly now that is not an issue for the team. Brady was able to work with the team in the preseason and he has been getting reps in practice and now he is primed to start Week 1 against Big Ben.
The Patriots are one of the favorites in the AFC again and the Steelers are also considered a team that could make a run to the Super Bowl. This game will see both teams down their main running backs with suspensions stemming from the same incident, as Le'Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount will be out after being caught in a marijuana related offense last summer. The Patriots have Brady, but the Steelers will be without Martavis Bryant, who is out for a violation for four games.
The Patriots will not be fully healthy for the first game, as the team will be without Bryan Stork with a concussion. Travaris Cadet and Trey Flowers are questionable for the game with injuries. The Patriots come in with the Steelers, Bills and Jaguars as the first three games before playing the Cowboys and those would have been the games that Tom Brady would have missed if he was suspended. The fifth game is the Colts on the road and that should be quite the atmosphere at the The Drum after Deflategate.
The Steelers open the season with the Patriots and then the team plays against the 49ers, Rams and Ravens. The team then has the Chargers, Cardinals and Chiefs before the Bengals, Raiders, Browns and Seahawks. Big Ben is looking to have a huge season and onc Bell comes back the team should be really into gear on offense.
Check here for the full schedule and coverage for the Patriots and the Steelers opening game.