Seahawks to open 2017 season at Green Bay, play 4 prime-time games
Apr 20, 2017, 5:10 PM | Updated: 6:02 pm
Seattle will open the season against the Packers, which will mark Eddie Lacy's return to Green Bay. (AP)
(AP)
The Seahawks will open their 2017 regular season against the Packers in Green Bay and finish it on New Year’s Eve at home vs. Arizona. In between, they’ll play four prime-time games, three of which are at home and one of which is against the Falcons in a rematch of last year’s divisional-round playoff loss in Atlanta.
Those are some of the highlights of the Seahawks’ schedule, which was released Thursday evening along with those of every other NFL team. Home and away opponents have been known since the end of last season, so the full schedules revealed the dates and times.
The Seahawks’ bye is in Week 6, which may be a bit earlier than some teams would prefer.
But working in their favor is what at first glance appears to be a very manageable road schedule. Seattle will only play one game in the dreaded 10 a.m. PST time slot – in Week 14 against a Jaguars team that won three games last season. And the Seahawks’ bye falls between their only back-to-back road games, which means Seattle won’t spend consecutive weekends away from home all season.
Green Bay will make for a tough opener, though. That game will carry plenty of intrigue as it features two of the NFC’s top contenders and will also mark new Seahawks running back Eddie Lacy’s return to where he spent his first four seasons.
Seattle and Green Bay have become somewhat regular opponents in recent seasons. The Seahawks lost in each of the last two regular seasons at Lambeau Field after beating the Packers in Seattle in their previous three meetings, including the NFC title game in January of 2015.
The first of Seattle’s four prime-time games comes in Week 4 against Indianapolis at CenturyLink Field. It’s a Sunday night game that will mark only the second meeting between Russell Wilson and his quarterback counterpart from the 2012 draft, Andrew Luck.
Seattle’s second and third prime-time games are in Weeks 10 and 11, at Arizona on Thursday night and at home vs. Atlanta on Monday night. The 11 days between those games makes that a mini-bye for Seattle.
The final prime-time game is in Week 13 at home against Philadelphia on Sunday night. Four prime-time games is one fewer than the Seahawks had last season, which tied a franchise record.
Seattle’s schedule gets tough over the final two weeks. The Seahawks play at Dallas on Christmas Eve and finish the regular season at home against the Cardinals, a game that could again decide the NFC West.
Here’s the Seahawks’ preseason schedule, with the just-announced dates and times:
Sunday, Aug. 13, at Chargers, 5 p.m. on FOX
Friday, Aug. 18, vs. Minnesota, 7 p.m. on FOX
Friday, Aug. 25, vs. Kansas City, 5 p.m. on CBS
TBD, at Oakland on FOX
More on those games can be found here. All preseason and regular-season games can be heard on 710 ESPN Seattle and KIRO Radio 97.3 FM.
