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2014 NFL schedule: Packers-Seahawks 'Fail Mary' reunion kicks off season

2014 NFL schedule: Packers-Seahawks 'Fail Mary' reunion kicks off season

The NFL isn't messing around with its 2014 schedule.

The world champion Seattle Seahawks will kick off the season with a game not against their archrivals, the San Francisco 49ers, or the team they beat in the Super Bowl, the Denver Broncos, but rather with a foe that created controversy two years ago.

Remember the replacement referee fiasco game — aka, The Fail Mary — in Seattle in 2012? Yep, the NFL powers-that-be have orchestrated a rematch in Week 1 on Thursday, Sept. 4 on NBC in prime time.

The league announced all 256 games for the regular season, and it features some interesting highlights:

• Three Thanksgiving games that feature all NFC teams for the first time.

• A new Thursday slate of games, split through the season by CBS and NFL Network, that kicks off in Week 2 with a rivalry game of the Pittsburgh Steelers at Baltimore Ravens.

• Flex scheduling that can begin as early as Week 5, which is a change from years past, when it typically began starting in Week 11.

• Other key prime-time Week 1 games — Indianapolis Colts at Denver Broncos (NBC) on Sunday, Sept. 7, and the Monday night doubleheader (both games on ESPN): New York Giants at Detroit Lions for the early game and San Diego Chargers at Arizona Cardinals for the late game.

• A Super Bowl rematch of those Seahawks hosting the Broncos in Week 3. Also in that week, the Redskins' DeSean Jackson returns to Philadelphia for the first time since he was cut.

• Three international games this year, up from two in 2013, all at London's Wembley Stadium. They are: Week 4, Sunday, Sept. 28, the Oakland Raiders vs. the Miami Dolphins (1 PM ET, CBS); Week 8, Sunday, Oct. 26, the Atlanta Falcons vs. the Lions at (9:30 AM ET, Fox — the first-ever nationally televised 9:30 AM kickoff); and Week 10, Sunday, Nov. 9, Jacksonville Jaguars vs. the Dallas Cowboys (1 PM ET, Fox).

Now here's the entire schedule, week by week, for the 2014 NFL season.

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Eric Edholm

is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!