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The 2016 NFL regular season schedule was released a month ago, and we covered a lot of different angles shortly after the Colts' schedule came out. One that we didn't mention, however, was an article from Awful Announcing ranking the top primetime games on the schedule.
Those familiar with Awful Announcing know that they provide analysis on sports media, and so once the schedule was released in April, Brad Gagnon ranked every primetime. We all know that these are subject to change during the flex scheduling period, but overall we do know most of the primetime games on the 2016 slate. So Awful Announcing ranked all 56 of them, and the Indianapolis Colts' game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thanksgiving night cracked the top ten, coming in at number nine:
Andrew Luck and the Indy offense versus Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh offense on Thanksgiving night. This would be highly-entertaining even if it didn’t have big implications, but it probably will.
The Colts have two other primetime games on the schedule as well. The Colts' OCtober 16 matchup against the Houston Texans was 22nd, while their early December game against the New York Jets on Monday Night Football ranked 27th. Their October 2 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at 9:30 a.m. (not sure that counts as primetime, but it does for this list) came in at number 47.
Indy didn't get the maximum number of primetime games, but they certainly got a big one in the Thanksgiving night showdown with the Steelers. It will be the first time that Indianapolis has ever hosted a Thanksgiving Day game and will be televised nationally on the holiday by NBC. The atmosphere at Lucas Oil Stadium should be awesome, but more than that it should also be a good game. The Steelers will likely boast one of the NFL's best offenses, while the Colts should be a competitive team with Andrew Luck back under center. A late-November matchup on Thanksgiving night between the Andrew Luck-led Colts and the Ben Roethlisberger-led Steelers in a game that likely will have at least some playoff implications on the line will make for a great game. According to Awful Announcing, it's one of the top primetime games on the 2016 NFL schedule.