NFL Teams Eye Key Matchups for 2024 Schedule Release, Including Commanders-Cowboys on Christmas

Every NFL team's one schedule wish ahead of 2026 release: Commanders vs. Cowboys on Christmas?

With the full schedule set to be revealed, each team has one key request that could shape its season

By Bryan DeArdo

May 12, 2026 at 10:19 am ET • 15 min read

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On Thursday night, the NFL will release the entire 2026 regular season schedule, including every game for primetime, holidays, international and everything inbetween.

As you can imagine, making an equally fair schedule for each of the league's 32 teams is an almost impossible task. It's inevitable that every team will have at least one gripe about its schedule. Conversely, every team will surely have something that positively sticks out. With that in mind, we decided to come up with one schedule wish for each NFL team ahead of Thursday night.

Arizona Cardinals

2026 opponents

Home

- Philadelphia Eagles - Washington Commanders - Denver Broncos - Las Vegas Raiders - Detroit Lions - New York Jets - Los Angeles Rams - San Francisco 49ers - Seattle Seahawks

Away

- Dallas Cowboys - New York Giants - Kansas City Chiefs - Los Angeles Chargers - New Orleans Saints - Los Angeles Rams - San Francisco 49ers - Seattle Seahawks

Schedule wish: Winnable home opener

The owner of the league's hardest strength of schedule , Arizona, would benefit from hosting one of its weaker opponents in Mike LaFleur's coaching debut. That means the Raiders or the Jets. A Week 1 matchup with the Raiders would be a showdown of two first-time coaches in LaFleur and Klint Kubiak.

Atlanta Falcons

2026 opponents

Home

- Carolina Panthers - New Orleans Saints - Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Chicago Bears - Detroit Lions - Baltimore Ravens - Cincinnati Bengals - San Francisco 49ers - Kansas City Chiefs

Away

- at Carolina Panthers - at New Orleans Saints - at Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Green Bay Packers - Minnesota Vikings - Cleveland Browns - Pittsburgh Steelers - Washington Commanders

Schedule wish: Non-divisional opponent for international game

The NFL already announced that the Falcons to host a December game in Spain. The Falcons play in one of the NFL's most competitive divisions and would surely prefer to play their divisional home games at Mercedes-Benz Stadium rather than on a neutral site.

Baltimore Ravens

2026 opponents

Home

- Cincinnati Bengals - Cleveland Browns - Pittsburgh Steelers - Jacksonville Jaguars - Tennessee Titans - Tampa Bay Buccaneers - New Orleans Saints - Los Angeles Chargers

Away

- Cincinnati Bengals - Cleveland Browns - Pittsburgh Steelers - Indianapolis Colts - Houston Texans - Atlanta Falcons - Carolina Panthers - Buffalo Bills - Dallas Cowboys

Schedule wish: No primetime Week 1 road game

Baltimore started the previous two seasons with daunting, primetime road openers. In both games (at Kansas City in 2024 and at Buffalo in 2025), the Ravens lost close games that contributed to slow starts in both seasons. The Ravens would like to avoid a three-peat of that scenario for 2026.

Buffalo Bills

2026 opponents

Home

- Miami Dolphins - New England Patriots - New York Jets - Kansas City Chiefs - Los Angeles Chargers - Chicago Bears - Detroit Lions - Baltimore Ravens

Home

- Miami Dolphins - New England Patriots - New York Jets - Denver Broncos - Green Bay Packers - Las Vegas Raiders - Minnesota Vikings - Houston Texans - Los Angeles Rams

Schedule wish: Home vs. Patriots or Chiefs in Week 1

The NFL should take advantage of Buffalo's new stadium unveiling by giving the Bills a home game against a formidable opponent in Week 1. Bills fans would likely prefer to see the opponent be either division rival (and defending AFC champion) New England or Kansas City, the team's other rival in recent years. The Patriots might make more sense, though, given the fact that they dethroned the Bills as the AFC East champs in 2025.

Carolina Panthers

2026 opponents

Home

- Atlanta Falcons - Baltimore Ravens - Chicago Bears - Cincinnati Bengals - Denver Broncos - Detroit Lions - New Orleans Saints - Seattle Seahawks - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Away

- Atlanta Falcons - Cleveland Browns - Green Bay Packers - Minnesota Vikings - New Orleans Saints - Philadelphia Eagles - Pittsburgh Steelers - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Schedule wish: Early games vs. cold-weather road opponents

The Panthers face one of the league's toughest schedules, partly because of four road games against cold-weather teams, including Green Bay. Carolina would undoubtedly prefer to get these games out of the way earlier in the season (especially Green Bay).

Chicago Bears

2026 opponents

Home

- Detroit Lions - Green Bay Packers - Minnesota Vikings - Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Philadelphia Eagles - Jacksonville Jaguars - New York Jets - New England Patriots - New Orleans Saints

Away

- Detroit Lions - Green Bay Packers - Minnesota Vikings - Buffalo Bills - Miami Dolphins - Atlanta Falcons - Carolina Panthers - Seattle Seahawks

Schedule wish: Face the Falcons in Spain

Because the Bears and Chiefs have marketing rights in Spain, there is a good chance that the NFL chooses one of those teams for the December game in Madrid. If chosen, it would be a pretty big advantage for the Bears. They have nine home games and will also play a neutral-site game against a team (the Falcons) that doesn't traditionally travel well.

Cincinnati Bengals

2026 opponents

Home

- Baltimore Ravens - Cleveland Browns - Pittsburgh Steelers - Kansas City Chiefs - Jacksonville Jaguars - Tennessee Titans - New Orleans Saints - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Away

- Baltimore Ravens - Cleveland Browns - Pittsburgh Steelers - Indianapolis Colts - Houston Texans - Miami Dolphins - Washington Commanders - Atlanta Falcons - Carolina Panthers

Schedule wish: No primetime road game in Baltimore

Cincinnati would surely prefer to avoid having a primetime game in Baltimore for a fourth-straight year. The Bengals lost in Baltimore on prime time in 2023 (the game where Joe Burrow sustained a season-ending wrist injury) and in 2024. In 2025, the Bengals did extract a measure of revenge by blowing out the Ravens in Baltimore on Thanksgiving night.

Cleveland Browns

2026 opponents

Home

- Cincinnati Bengals - Indianapolis Colts - Atlanta Falcons - Carolina Panthers - Las Vegas Raiders - Baltimore Ravens - Pittsburgh Steelers - Houston Texans

Away

- Cincinnati Bengals - Tampa Bay Buccaneers - New York Giants - Jacksonville Jaguars - New York Jets - Baltimore Ravens - New Orleans Saints - Pittsburgh Steelers - Tennessee Titans

Schedule wish: Home season opener against an AFC North opponent

Cleveland could benefit from hosting one of their division rivals in Week 1. The Browns found past success against Joe Burrow-led Bengals teams early in the season. Cleveland also enjoyed considerable success at home against the Steelers in recent years, with the Steelers last winning in Cleveland in  Ben Roethlisberger's final season (2021). A Week 1 game against Baltimore would be a matchup between two new coaches in Todd Monken and Jesse Minter.

Dallas Cowboys

2026 opponents

Home

- Philadelphia Eagles - Washington Commanders - New York Giants - Jacksonville Jaguars - Tennessee Titans - Baltimore Ravens - Arizona Cardinals - San Francisco 49ers - Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Away

- Philadelphia Eagles - Washington Commanders - New York Giants - Green Bay Packers - Houston Texans - Indianapolis Colts - Seattle Seahawks - Los Angeles Rams

Schedule wish: Not another Week 1 primetime away game  Not facing Micah Parsons  in primetime

Dallas was going to wish for not having yet another Week 1 road game on primetime, but that went out the window with Monday's announcement that the Giants will host the Cowboys on "Sunday Night Football." Dallas is 2-4 in season openers this decade, with a 1-4 record in Week 1 road prime-time games over that span.

Another possible wish could be avoiding a primetime game in Green Bay, which would surely be billed as another revenge game for Micah Parsons.

Denver Broncos

2026 opponents

Home

- Kansas City Chiefs - Las Vegas Raiders - Los Angeles Chargers - Buffalo Bills - Miami Dolphins - Jacksonville Jaguars - Los Angeles Rams - Seattle Seahawks

Away

- Kansas City Chiefs - Las Vegas Raiders - Los Angeles Chargers - Buffalo Bills - Miami Dolphins - Jacksonville Jaguars - Los Angeles Rams - Seattle Seahawks

Schedule wish: More home than away prime time games

As one of the NFL's best teams in 2025, and with a talented young quarterback to boot, the Broncos are expected to be featured on prime time quite a bit in 2026. If that's the case, Denver could find itself in multiple primetime road games. The Broncos getting just as many, or more, home games in primetime would be a compromise.

Detroit Lions

2026 opponents

Home

- Chicago Bears - Green Bay Packers - Minnesota Vikings - New Orleans Saints - Tampa Bay Buccaneers - New England Patriots - New York Jets - Tennessee Titans - New York Giants

Away

- Chicago Bears - Green Bay Packers - Minnesota Vikings - Atlanta Falcons - Buffalo Bills - Carolina Panthers - Miami Dolphins - Arizona Cardinals

Schedule wish: Easy Munich opponent

The Lions will be the designated home team for their upcoming game in Germany. The Giants, Buccaneers and Patriots are the favorites to be their opponent. One would think the Lions want to face the Giants, who have built just one winning season since 2017.

Green Bay Packers

2026 opponents

Home

- Minnesota Vikings - Detroit Lions - Chicago Bears - Atlanta Falcons - Carolina Panthers - Buffalo Bills - Miami Dolphins - Dallas Cowboys - Houston Texans

Away

- Minnesota Vikings - Detroit Lions - Chicago Bears - New Orleans Saints - Tampa Bay Buccaneers - New England Patriots - New York Jets - Los Angeles Rams

Schedule wish: Favorable road schedule

Green Bay has an interesting list of road opponents from a weather standpoint. Ideally, the Packers would travel to New England, Chicago and New York early in the season and travel to Tampa Bay later in the year. Green Bay would also probably prefer to avoid the Rams in primetime, given the West Coast travel.

Houston Texans

2026 opponents

Home

- Indianapolis Colts - Jacksonville Jaguars - Tennessee Titans - Baltimore Ravens - Buffalo Bills - Cincinnati Bengals - Dallas Cowboys - New York Giants

Away

- Indianapolis Colts - Jacksonville Jaguars - Tennessee Titans - Cleveland Browns - Green Bay Packers - Los Angeles Chargers - Philadelphia Eagles - Pittsburgh Steelers - Washington Commanders

Schedule request: Better bye week

Houston hasn't had much luck with bye weeks in recent years. They had a Week 6 bye in 2022 and in 2025, a Week 7 bye in 2023 and a Week 14 bye in 2024. It's safe to say the Texans would prefer a bye that falls closer to the middle of the season (weeks 8-11) this time around.

Indianapolis Colts

2026 opponents

Home

Baltimore Ravens Cincinnati Bengals Dallas Cowboys Miami Dolphins New York Giants Houston Texans Jacksonville Jaguars Tennessee Titans

Away

Kansas City Chiefs Philadelphia Eagles Pittsburgh Steelers Minnesota Vikings Washington Commanders Cleveland Browns  Houston Texans Jacksonville Jaguars Tennessee Titans

Schedule wish: More primetime games

After getting just one primetime game in 2025, the Colts should be in line for more marquee time slots in 2026. Indianapolis started 8-3 last year, after all, before Daniel Jones ' injury led to a six-game slide to finish the season.

Jacksonville Jaguars

2026 opponents

Home

- Houston Texans - Indianapolis Colts - Tennessee Titans - Cleveland Browns - New England Patriots - Philadelphia Eagles - Pittsburgh Steelers - Washington Commanders

Schedule wish: Titans for first London game

Jacksonville will play in consecutive games in London during Weeks 5 and 6. The Jaguars face division rival Hous

_Originally reported by [CBS Sports](https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2026-nfl-schedule-release-biggest-wish-explained/)._