MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The NFL season starts tonight with a rematch of February's Super Bowl. The defending champion Seahawks will host the New England Patriots in Seattle. No need to check your calendar. It is Wednesday - a rarity for an NFL season opener. Here to talk about that and what else we can expect this season is CBS sports writer John Breech. John, good morning.
JOHN BREECH: Good morning, Michel. Thanks for having me.
MARTIN: Well, thanks for coming. So, OK, only the second time in the league's 107-year history that it started the season on a Wednesday. Why is the NFL doing this?
BREECH: Well, the NFL usually opens the season on a Thursday with the defending Super Bowl champion hosting a game, but the league decided to throw a wrench into things this year by holding a game in Australia. And that game is so far away that the league wanted to give the teams time to travel there, which meant that game had to be held in Week 1, and it was going to be on a weekday. So they knew as soon as they announced the game that was going to be on a Wednesday or Thursday. They decided to play that game on a Thursday, but they wanted to keep the tradition alive of letting the Super Bowl champ host the first game of the following season. So the Seahawks, the champs, are playing Wednesday night against the Patriots, and then you get the Thursday night game in Australia. So we might see this again at some point in the future, so maybe we should get used to these Wednesday games.
MARTIN: OK. So speaking of the international games, this year, the NFL will have nine international games played in seven cities. What is the NFL hoping to do by playing these games abroad?
BREECH: Well, based on what NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has said, the NFL is just trying to take over the world. They are trying to spread the love of this sport. This started back in 2007. The NFL played one game in London. That's how the International Series started. Now you have nine games this year. They're playing in Rio de Janeiro for the first time. They're playing in Paris for the first time. They're playing in Melbourne, Australia for the first time. So they're adding these new cities, these new locales, every year. They've been talking about playing in Japan in the future. And the NFL's ultimate goal is to play 16 international games per season, which would have each team playing one game abroad each year. And I won't be surprised if that happens at some point in the next five years.
MARTIN: OK. So football fans better start saving now, right? Open up another account for this. Alright, let's get into the actual football. What games are you paying attention to Week 1?
BREECH: Yeah, there's a lot of fun games. Seahawks-Patriots tonight, obviously. Rams-49ers in Australia. That's a good one. But when you look toward this weekend, one of the big ones is Broncos-Chiefs on Monday night. All eyes are kind of on Patrick Mahomes, the superstar quarterback for the Chiefs. He tore his ACL last December. And so this is going to be his first game back, and people are going to want to see how healthy he is. There's also the Steelers and the Falcons. You have - the Steelers have a new head coach for the first time in 20 years. Mike McCarthy, they're playing a Falcons team that also has a new head coach in Kevin Stefanski. And then you have Aaron Rodgers, who is probably going into his last season as - in the NFL after more than 20 years. He's going to be retiring at the end of the season. He's the Steelers' quarterback. So that game is going to be very, very interesting. The Cowboys and the Giants on Sunday night. The Giants have a new head coach and John Harbaugh. So there are a lot of fun games to watch this weekend.
MARTIN: Before we let you go, any rookies who have caught your eye?
BREECH: Well, there's always some fun rookies. The Titans have Carnell Tate. So if you flip around and see them playing, he's a wide receiver. He should be - went to Ohio State. He's a fun guy to watch. The Cardinals have Jeremiyah Love, a running back that's really good out of Notre Dame. And then the Seahawks, the defending champs playing tonight, they have a rookie running back who could be impressive. So if you're looking for a rookie to watch in tonight's game between the Seahawks and Patriots, go with Jadarian Price.
MARTIN: That's John Breech - covers the NFL for CBS Sports. Thanks for coming. This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
And I'm Leila Fadel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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