Best and worst Thursday Night Football matchups on 2022 NFL schedule

Credit where credit is due. The NFL has definitely improved on its Thursday Night Football offering. It’s come a long way from the early days where it was kind of a primetime participation trophy for bad teams. With the release of the 2022 NFL schedule, we got our first look at the Thursday night slate, and there are some choice games on the docket.

One thing to remember about TNF this season is that it’s exclusive to Amazon Prime Video. The NFL Network is not carrying any of those games this season.

The Thanksgiving primetime game is included on this list, but that’s technically under NBC’s Sunday Night Football umbrella—it’s just a Thursday night version of it. The same goes for the season opener. That’s on a Thursday night, but it’s technically NBC’s Sunday Night Football on Thursday.

Best Thursday Night Football matchups

Week 2: Los Angeles Chargers at Kansas City Chiefs

Every AFC West game this season is going to be must-see TV, and I’m thankful we’ll get a primetime spot this early in the season to catch one. The Chiefs and Chargers split the series last year, with the Chiefs losing the first one and needing overtime to win the second one. And neither of those games was decided by more than six points. The Chargers should be better this season too.

Week 8: Baltimore Ravens at Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Ravens underachieved last year, but it’s unlikely to stay that way in 2022. After a huge offseason, Baltimore should be in contention, and they’ll get a rare look at the Buccaneers, another Super Bowl aspirant, in what could very well be Tom Brady’s last season.

Week 13: Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots

Before rolling over New England in the Wild Card round last season, the Bills and Patriots split their regular season series. The Patriots should be a much better team this season, and Bill Belichick always seems to get his teams up to play a division rival.

Worst matchups

Week 6: Washington Commanders at Chicago Bears

The Bears should be an exciting young team with Justin Fields at quarterback, but their offseason commitment to make the players around him actually worse doesn’t bode well for their outlook. Washington has some fun players to watch, but also Carson Wentz.

Week 9: Philadelphia Eagles at Houston Texans

Houston got better during the offseason, but they’re a long way from being ready for prime time. This is going to feel like a seven-on-seven scrimmage for the Eagles.

Week 10: Atlanta Falcons at Carolina Panthers

Rebuilding team versus rebuilding team is never a recipe for fun.

Sneaky good matchups

Week 11: Tennessee Titans at Green Bay Packers

People are writing off the Packers mostly because they didn’t replace Davante Adams. While that’s a valid concern, I think we’re over-inflating it. Watching these two teams slug it out is a nice way to kick off Week 11.

Week 16: Jacksonville Jaguars at New York Jets

Going out on a limb here, because neither one of these teams is exactly Super Bowl material this season. However, they both have more talent than we’re used to seeing for either squad, and there’s reason to believe that we should see more competent coaching from both sidelines. I think this will be a fun one.

Full 2022 Thursday Night Football schedule

Week 1: Bills at Rams, 8:20 p.m. ET
Week 2: Chargers at Chiefs, 8:15 p.m. ET
Week 3: Steelers at Browns, 8:15 p.m. ET
Week 4: Dolphins at Bengals, 8:15 p.m. ET
Week 5: Colts at Broncos, 8:15 p.m. ET
Week 6: Commanders at Bears, 8:15 p.m. ET
Week 7: Saints at Cardinals, 8:15 p.m. ET
Week 8: Ravens at Bucs, 8:15 p.m. ET
Week 9: Eagles at Texans, 8:15 p.m. ET
Week 10: Falcons at Panthers, 8:15 p.m. ET
Week 11: Titans at Packers, 8:15 p.m. ET
Week 12: Patriots at Vikings, 8:20 p.m. ET (Thanksgiving)
Week 13: Bills at Patriots, 8:15 p.m. ET
Week 14: Raiders at Rams, 8:15 p.m. ET
Week 15: 49ers vs. Seahawks, 8:15 p.m. ET
Week 16: Jaguars at Jets, 8:15 p.m. ET
Week 17: Cowboys at Titans, 8:15 p.m. ET