The NFL season is right around the corner. An off season that’s been full of drama, behind-the-scenes documentaries, and more player-related controversies than you can shake a stick at is about to come to an end. The college football season has kicked off, the skies are getting more grey and summer is winding down this side of the pond. The NFL season, is most definitely upon us.
With turbulent off-season stories, that teams and coaches alike are trying desperately to put behind them as this new dawn beckons – I’m looking at you Vrabel; the curtain raiser is coming. As well as the rest of week one. But, being completely honest, not all games are created equal.
Whether it be because of the quality of teams that are playing, the time slot that they’ve been given, or even how much drama is surrounding the team, there’s a lot that goes into making an NFL game “juicy”. Without trying to upset too many fan bases, we’ve curated a list of the 16 Week 1 ties, and analysed them on their juice levels.
*these games have been ranked from most to least levels of juice
Bills @ Texans – if you were to tell me this was an AFC Championship Game Preview – I’d believe you. The ever present Buffalo Bills await opening their new stadium with a tough showdown against the Texans on the road. The Texans add so much juice to the field. This team, is so Super Bowl ready, but there is just one huge question mark going into 2026 – who is C.J. Stroud in 2026? Exploding onto the scene fresh from the draft, making people wonder how Bryce Young was ever picked ahead of him, has now had a couple of rocky years where he’s looked a shadow of his former self. This will be a huge test for Stroud, and a good test of where he’s at this year. Final year of his rookie deal; needs to prove his worth to the organisation. And for Josh Allen, possibly the NFL’s best defence for week one is a tough ask.
Cowboys @ Giants – I’m never one to give the Cowboys any credit, but I think this is going to be a good team this year. But for once, the lens of this matchup isn’t tinted Cowboys blue and silver. The focus instead switches to the New York Football Giants, and whatever the heck they’re going to be. John Harbaugh took the reins this off-season after his dismissal from the Baltimore Ravens, a huge move that was surely going to bring calm and class to the dressing room. Oh how wrong we all were. A lot of off-season drama has followed this team around, from the company Jaxson Dart chooses to keep, the human that is Cam Skattebo and players wanting out? This off-season has been anything but quiet for the Giants. Many people are eager to know, just what do the 2026 Giants have in store for us?
Buccaneers @ Bengals – freshly squeezed juice here. Two head coaches that I think are staring down the barrel of being in the last season in their positions. Joe Burrow and the Bengals are desperate to win a Lombardi, and Baker Mayfield may still be disgruntled about how his contract has been handled and is out to prove a point to the Buccs and show them they were right to finally pay out for the extension they have done. Now hopefully Tampa has sorted out all their pre-season drama – could this be a clash of the titans? Neigh, a Super Bowl preview?
Broncos @ Chiefs – a huge AFC West matchup to kick off the season, with some fairly big questions hanging over it. The Broncos were obviously fantastic last year, and Bo Nix and the gang seem set for another good season having made some strong acquisitions over the off-season. The way I look at this game is, where are the Chiefs in 2026? We’re still not sure if Mahomes will be back for this game, in which case Justin Fields will be under centre which changes the game dramatically for the Chiefs anyway. But are the Chiefs even still in their dynasty anymore? They’ve not been the team they were for about 2 years now, Travis Kelce is another year older and, realistically how much is he going to contribute this year? I’m going to keep an eye on the Chiefs, with Patrick Mahomes under centre you’ve always got a chance but, is this still the Chiefs we grew to know? Can they bring that back?
Rams @ 49ers – two titans of the footballing world face-off, continuing a division rivalry. This time just with more kangaroos. There’s three big aspects to this game; how good will the pre-season Super Bowl Champion Rams be? Have the 49ers gone under the radar after making some good additions themselves? And how on earth will the first Australia game go? Both teams are preparing very differently for this game, the Niners are already out there and the Rams are going to essentially fly in, play and fly home before the jet lag sets in. They took this approach with a London game recently so they have precedent for this. It’s going to be a fairly juicy affair down under, with the Rams eager to show they’re worthy of all the hype and the 49ers trying to prove the Super Bowl window hasn’t slammed shut just yet.
Commanders @ Eagles – an NFC East showdown with just one question looming over it – how good are either of these teams? The Commanders; 2 years into the Jayden Daniels experience (insert number 5 jokes here), almost made it to the Super Bowl in year one just for year two to be completely derailed by injuries, most importantly to Jayden Daniels. So entering year 3, which version of the Commanders are we going to see? The Eagles – the team who cut Washington’s dream run short at the NFC Title Game – where are this team? The most polarising coach in the entirety of the National Football League, who even after winning a Super Bowl has most people outside of Philadelphia questioning his ability to coach. This team is either phenomenal, or the world is caving in and Jalen Hurts is public enemy number one of Eagles country. This week one face-off could tell us a lot about both teams, and could telegraph the fate of the loser and winner.
Ravens @ Colts – the Ravens are a Championship calibre team; or are they? I’m beginning to have my doubts over the Ravens. I’m not sure whether Lamar can take it to another level; which then leads us to question the new coaching staff and contribution they will make. But, the Colts are definitely going to provide some story lines here too, as they always do. My podcast mates know my fascination with the Colts, but they’ve gone as Jerry Jones would say “all in”. The Sauce Gardener trade has been nothing short of a disaster so far, is Alec Pierce going to play? Is Daniel Jones fit? They’ve gone all in on him too. Shane Steichen also feels like someone who needs to be looking over his shoulder, after last years collapse I feel like a strong year is needed.
Jets @ Titans – the Robert Saleh Bowl. It’s going to be interesting to see if either of these teams has gotten better over the off-season. Can Cam Ward and the Titans have a much better year this year? I think the former number 1 pick needs to start consistently showing some of the promise that made him first pick. Robert Saleh will hopefully make the defence competent, and will be looking for revenge against his ex-employer. Aaron Glenn will also be looking for improvement from his team. They’ve made a lot of off-season moves to desperately try and improve the roster, and this game will give us a good sense of where these teams will be looking forward.
Bears @ Panthers – Bryce Young is in a contract year. His 5th year option has been picked up but the Panthers have yet to commit which begs the question – is he the franchise guy? What a year to be having this conversation, the draft class next year is going to be full of QB talent that the lesser teams in the league will be looking at, Bryce has a lot on his shoulders now. They won their division last year but, kind of fell into it after losing their final game so how strong is this team? The Bears had a sensational first season under Ben Johnson, and now the head coach is spouting off how he wants to be the highest scoring team in NFL history. I’d absolutely love to see it but they could also be a prime regression candidate from the progress they made last season.
Patriots @ Seahawks – a Super Bowl rematch, in week 1, how original… Now I don’t mean to just be a contrarian, but this game just doesn’t seem interesting to me at all. Conventionally anyway. The Seahawks have for the most part gone under the radar this off-season. The Rams seem to have won the off-season and have garnered all of the attention. With the moves they’ve made, are the Seahawks going to be better or much the same? Could they be worse? Relying on a suffocating defence and some excellent explosive offensive players. I’m still not convinced by Sam Darnold – you may argue with the wall. The Patriots have had a turbulent time of it to say the least. A.J Brown has now arrived in New England to great fanfare, but we will see how much this moves the needle for them. I think this will be closer than the Super Bowl game, especially with both teams being a bit rusty. Oh yeah and Mike Vrabel- should probably leave this one here.
Packers @ Vikings – an NFC North matchup to kick off the season. The Vikings have gone through a bit more drama at QB this season, bringing in Kyler Murray who’s since won the starting job from JJ McCarthy. Questions about McCarthy’s future are rampant, but until Kyler shows me he can be good for a whole season, with him under centre that still doesn’t really interest me. The Packers feel a bit stagnant at the moment. They’ve made good moves this off season to streamline their offence. But this seems like the year the Packers need to do something, and something big. Make it to the NFC Championship game, maybe even THE BIG GAME. Jordan Love needs to prove his worth this season, where better to start than against a division rival?
Saints @ Lions – the Saints remain in a bit of a sticky spot, cap wise and roster spot wise. This season is the season for Tyler Shough to prove he could be the franchise guy! (And if not then next seasons draft class should be able to sort that out…) The Lions for me are where the interest begins, where is this franchise? They’ve been a bit off, but we know what they can do. With the coaching staff and star-studded roster, I’m far from saying their Super Bowl window is closed. I think the Lions need a dominant win to start this season, or some more question marks are raised. About both of these teams.
Falcons @ Steelers – most games involving an NFC South team are generally quite hard to get excited for – sorry NFC South fans. And sorry to my New Orleans Saints Madden franchise team, love you guys. The Falcons are genuinely somewhat interesting, Michael Penix has won the QB battle of the pre-season by, doing just about nothing? Tua has more played himself out of it. But ultimately this kind of just leaves the Falcons where they were last year, can that offense finally click? The dampener for this game is the Steelers. Possible hot take; is there a more boring team in the NFL? I’m bored of the Aaron Rodgers of it all. He’s not a Steelers legend so why are we bothering with a farewell tour? Drew Allar played so well in the pre-season, let’s see what he’s got in the tank and actually try and rebuild. But they won’t, they’ll stay boring.
Cardinals @ Chargers – the Los Angeles team are doing a lot of the heavy lifting in this tie. There is close to 0 hype around the Cardinals right now, I think it’s a straight shootout between the Cards and Fins to see who’s the stinkiest. The Chargers feel like a team that need to push on this year. If their offensive line can stay healthy – not going well so far – then Justin Herbert needs to prove he can take this franchise to where the higher ups want it to be. Bringing Mike McDaniel in to run the offence does make them an interesting prospect, as now some of the onus will be taken away from Herbert. But Jim Harbaugh needs to start delivering on that success we all assumed would follow him when he walked through the doors. The Cardinals will offer a nice spring board start.
Browns @ Jaguars – other than a hate watching session, I’m completely uninterested in the moribund half of this game. This will be a litmus test for the Jaguars, having been much improved last season, only just being knocked out of the post-season in the wildcard round by the Bills, this game could be a good chance for the Jags to state their intentions for this season. With opinion split seemingly down the middle on whether last seasons Jaguars over-performed, or this is truly the level we should expect from them now, this first game could tell us a lot.
Dolphins @ Raiders – a possible race to the bottom for a week one matchup? I have more faith in the Raiders than most other people I’d say, but now Kirk Cousins has been announced as the starting QB for week one, even the Mendoza angle isn’t interesting for this matchup now. And the Dolphins, genuinely may be one of the worst NFL rosters ever assembled but, we have yet to see. Can Malik Willis make something of this team and prove some of his doubters wrong? The ex-Packers backup quarterback has made the switch to Miami but not looks to be in for a tough season.
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Of course, as we’ve only seen pre-season football, all of the above is just speculation. I mean of course all of this is – what even is a juice-metre?
Safe to say, I’m excited to get stuck back into the football season, if you guys enjoyed this article I might try and make this a weekly addition to the website!
