The 2023 NFL season is set up to be a doozy. The schedule was released on Thursday night to much fanfare, and the best games of the season have already been picked out. However, the 2023 season is set to be impactful in a variety of ways. The narrative lovers will have a field day and the implications of some of these games could be wide-ranging and potentially change the way we view the league for 2023 and beyond. What are the most impactful games of the 2023 NFL season, though? Let’s dig in.
This is what the New York Jets dreamed of when Aaron Rodgers declared his intent to play for the team all those months ago. Rodgers makes his long-awaited Gang Green debut against the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football. Is there a more fitting place to start?
The Bills are the current bar in the AFC East. They’ve won three consecutive division titles with relative ease. It might not have led to profound playoff success, but the East runs through Buffalo until proven otherwise. The Bills are looking to be more than just an excellent regular team. Sean McDermott isn’t on the hot seat, but this Bills team is too good to be bounced out of the playoffs in the Divisional Round for the third year. But the competition in the AFC is heating up.
It’s a real opportunity for the Jets to send an early message on day one: there’s a seismic shift coming. The roster is good enough to compete with the Bills, and while the goal for New York is now the Super Bowl, they have to start somewhere. The Aaron Rodgers era begins against the Jets’ stiffest in-division rivals. Can the former MVP lead them to the promised land?
This one slides in for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’ll be the first time in NFL history that a team will play two overseas games in one season. The Jacksonville Jaguars have been playing one home game a year in London for a while now, they’re essentially the UK’s team, but an extra game there is unprecedented.
The Jaguars play their routine home game at Wembley Stadium in Week 4 against the Atlanta Falcons and, rather than heading back home, will spend the next week in London prepping to take on the Buffalo Bills at Tottenham Stadium as the defacto road team. Could this be a stepping stone for the NFL’s first international team? Probably not. But you never know.
However, what really catches the eye here is that the Jaguars and Bills are both legitimate contenders. UK fans haven’t necessarily been subjected to bad games, but the fixtures have been short of marquee games. This one probably only exists because it’s the Jaguars are international regulars. But giving die-hard UK fans a real game between two of the most competitive teams in the NFL should be the norm moving forward. If it goes down well, we could see more big games overseas in the not-so-distant future. This could act as a catalyst.
At first glance, this might not have the allure that one would expect when talking about the most impactful games on an NFL schedule. It’s been four years since the Texans had a winning record, and even longer (six years) for the Panthers. These aren’t two teams that are generally used to winning in recent times but that could all change in the next few years.
This is the battle between the top two quarterbacks in the 2023 NFL Draft: Bryce Young and C.J. Stroud (pictured). Young went No. 1 overall to the Panthers, while Stroud followed by going No. 2 to the Texans. Both quarterbacks will be hoping to change the fortunes of their franchises, and while this game won’t necessarily give us a good indication of who got the better end of the stick - we won’t fully know that for a couple of years - it’ll be a fun matchup between two talented quarterbacks and two teams looking to head in the right direction.
In its totality, we could be looking at two of the future stars in the NFL going head-to-head for the first time. Young and Stroud (pictured) will likely be tied to each other in one way or another for their whole careers and the bragging rights start early. Could this potentially be a Super Bowl matchup one day? We won’t get ahead of ourselves, but Young and Stroud are stars in the making.
Thanksgiving is synonymous with football. The two go hand-in-hand. The NFL has had three Thanksgiving games since the dawn of man, but the prospect of a Black Friday game has massive financial implications for the league. Amazon has exclusive rights to the game but will provide free access for all fans, with the broadcast streaming on Prime Video.
It’s another opportunity for the NFL to put its stamp over another holiday and aligning with Amazon and Black Friday, a holiday that’s exclusively catered to buying items makes complete sense. The fact that no other pro sports have really grabbed the spotlight on Black Friday leaves a gaping hole to exploit too. Ratings will be through the roof, especially since the game is a supposed 3 p.m. Eastern start.
The NFL hasn’t traditionally played games on a Friday, but opportunities to expand the brand and tap into new markets like this don’t come often, and the league could reap the rewards.
The Bengals and the Chiefs have faced off four times in the last two seasons, with two of those games being back-to-back AFC Championship Game bouts, with both teams winning one game apiece. This is the rivalry of all rivalries in the NFL right now. Patrick Mahomes vs Joe Burrow, Kansas City vs Cincinnati. The hottest rivalry between two of the best teams in the AFC and the NFL.
The implications of this game this late in the season are bound to be huge. Both teams will surely be contending for the top seed in the AFC and unless one team dominates the regular season, the Chiefs and Bengals are bound to have close-to-identical records. If they do, this game could be for all of the marbles. A potential rubber match in the AFC Championship is on the cards, but how they get to that spot could really be impacted by this late-season matchup.
Everything in the AFC, who gets the first-round bye, who has a tougher route to the big dance, could be decided by this game.