Updated Sep 7, 2026 · Week 1 board.
What Week 1's kickoff grid actually contains
The grid below carries all 16 Week 1 games by kickoff slot, converted from the official kickoff time to US Eastern. Read the slot column first.
| Slot | Kickoff (ET) | Games |
|---|---|---|
| Midweek | Wed Sep 9, 8:15 PM | Patriots @ Seahawks |
| Thursday | Thu Sep 10, 8:35 PM | 49ers @ Rams |
| Sunday early | Sun Sep 13, 1:00 PM | Falcons @ Steelers, Jets @ Titans, Saints @ Lions, Bears @ Panthers, Browns @ Jaguars, Buccaneers @ Bengals, Ravens @ Colts, Bills @ Texans |
| Sunday late | Sun Sep 13, 4:25 PM | Cardinals @ Chargers, Packers @ Vikings, Commanders @ Eagles, Dolphins @ Raiders |
| Sunday night | Sun Sep 13, 8:20 PM | Cowboys @ Giants |
| Monday | Mon Sep 14, 8:15 PM | Broncos @ Chiefs |
Eight games kick off at 1:00 PM. Four kick off at 4:25 PM. The last four each take a window of their own, on Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday night and Monday. That grouping is where this checklist starts.
It is arithmetic on the official kickoff times and nothing more. No rest number is attached to anybody yet, and none can be until there is a Week 2 to compare against.
Three kickoffs outside the Sunday-afternoon window
Patriots at Seahawks, Wednesday, 8:15 PM Eastern. 49ers at Rams, Thursday, 8:35 PM Eastern. Broncos at Chiefs, Monday, 8:15 PM Eastern. Three teams in three unusual windows, in the first week of the season.
In a normal week a Thursday or Monday game follows a Sunday game four or five days back, and that is the setup that produces a real short-week deficit for a defense. Week 1 has no game before it. So these are three non-Sunday broadcast windows, and they are not three short-week penalties. The label matters, because the same phrase gets used for both.
The one real cross-country trip on the board
Wednesday's 8:15 PM game, New England at Seattle, sends the only Eastern road team to a Pacific-coast host. The other two non-Sunday games are West-to-West, 49ers at Rams and, on the Sunday slate, Cardinals at Chargers, where the visitor is already based near the host's coast. We hold no travel-distance number for any team. So this checklist prints what it has, which teams are involved and which single game crosses the country, and not how far anybody flew.
That distinction is what keeps a travel angle honest. A West Coast team visiting another West Coast team is not the trip a coast-to-coast flight is, however similar the two look on a schedule. Both get called a rest disadvantage in casual talk. Only one of them is written down anywhere on this board.
How this angle works once there's a Week 2
The standard rest-and-travel check sets each team's own days of rest against its opponent's and flags the games where that gap is widest. A team off a Thursday game against one off a full week, for instance. The gap turns up in a total, or in a defense's fourth-quarter snaps, before it reaches the opening spread. None of that works on a single week of games.
Every team starts here from the same place, no prior game and no rest difference to measure. The three non-Sunday games above are the ones to re-check once Week 2 is set, because those are the teams who will actually be on a short turnaround for their next game.
The live board as kickoffs approach sits on the odds page or the NFL desk. The season-long version of this angle is at schedule spots and rest/travel and short-week defensive fatigue. How the Monday total gets priced is at Monday Night Football totals.
Sources
We checked the Week 1 odds board on Sep 7, 2026. Three games sit outside the standard Sunday-afternoon window. One is a genuine coast-to-coast trip. No team on the list carries a rest-day number, because no team has a prior game on record.
A broadcast slot is a fact you read straight off the schedule. A rest disadvantage is a claim, and checking it needs a Week 2 game that does not yet exist for any of these 32 teams. Watch for the Week 2 schedule, then come back for which of these three non-Sunday teams actually drew the short turnaround.
