by If the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were the most baffled by Tom Brady retiring and calling off his retirement in the span of just 40 days, the NFL’s schedule makers came in second. As you can imagine, putting together an 18-week regular season slate is no easy task, as the NFL not only needs to balance various other in-stadium events (concerts, shows, etc.), but also wants to maximize revenue from TV placing the best matchups in the windows with the most eyeballs.
Of course, when Brady left New England to sign with Tampa Bay in 2020, the Buccaneers landed on the list of teams best suited for primetime windows. With him momentarily gone, it created a drop in star power for the overall NFC package. While the schedule’s creators were concerned about how they would fill that void and put together solid matchups, it was short-lived as Brady announced his return to the NFL after just five weeks out.
For one thing, the NFC pack came back to life with the return of Brady. That said, the programmers, who were already putting together the 2022 regular season, essentially had to start from scratch.
“When Tom Brady retired, we were concerned about the strength of the NFC package because there were so many great Tampa Bay games that we were watching,” NFL broadcast chief Howard Katz told Sam Farmer of the game. Los Angeles Times.
“Then a month later, he retires and we start again.”
Ultimately, this is a good deal for the NFL, even if it requires a rebuild on the overall schedule. During their playoff run a season ago, the Buccaneers were among the highest-rated postseason matchups during Super Wild Card Weekend (vs. Eagles) and the Divisional Round (vs. Rams), according to Sports Media Watch.
While Tampa Bay will have to wait until Thursday’s schedule release for the full rundown of its 2022 regular-season schedule, the Bucs know they’ll be heading to Germany, where they’ll face the Seattle Seahawks in Munich in one of multiple international NFL games. Given that this game will feature Brady and take place in a new frontier for the NFL, it will certainly be a must-watch, as will most of these games in what could be the quarterback’s final season.
The complete 2022 NFL schedule will be posted Thursday, May 12 at 8 p.m. ET on NFL Network, NFL.com and the NFL App. NFL GameDay View: The show’s launch will air that night at 8 p.m. ET on Paramount+NFL.com, the NFL app, YouTube and the NFL Channel.
