2023 NFL season: 19 must-watch games for Detroit Lions' big playoff push

The Detroit Lions, of course, aren’t the only team ready to soar during the 2023 NFL season, and it's never too early to start scouting for playoff matchups (or first-round NFL draft needs, since the Motor City will be hosting the event in April). Here are 19 games — one for every week, plus a double-dip this weekend, since the Lions are off — for a bird’s-eye view of the league:

Week 1: Eagles at Patriots

4:25 p.m. Sunday, CBS: It’s the defending champs of the … NFC, and not the NCAA, no matter how many Georgia defenders the Eagles draft (two last year and three in April, including polarizing defensive tackle Jalen Carter at No. 9 overall). They’ll face a Patriots offense that finally has a coordinator again — actual offensive mind Bill O’Brien takes over for the position-less Matt Patricia — and a running back you've actually heard of (Ezekiel Elliott, who hasn’t had a 100-yard game since Oct. 10, 2021).

Week 1: Bills at Jets

8:15 p.m. Monday, ESPN: Of the four QBs in the top four of last season’s MVP vote, three (Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts and Joe Burrow) have taken their teams to the Super Bowl over the past two seasons. And then there’s Buffalo’s Josh Allen, who hasn’t even taken his squad to an AFC title game. Oh, and the Jets will have a new starting quarterback. Aaron something or other.

Week 2: Ravens at Bengals

1 p.m. Sept. 17, CBS: Baltimore gave Lamar Jackson $260 million (over five years) this offseason, with $185 million guaranteed. Cincinnati on Thursday gave QB Joe Burrow an even bigger deal, reportedly for five years and $275 million (and $219 million guaranteed). So who wants to go throw the pigskin around?

Week 3: Chargers at Vikings

1 p.m. Sept. 24, Fox: Two 2022 wild-card round disappointments meet up in Minneapolis. The Chargers somehow blew a 27-0 first-half lead, then opted to clear out their coordinators, replacing ex-Lions OC Joe Lombardi with ex-Lions QB Kellen Moore and DC Renaldo Hill (Detroit Chadsey, Michigan State) with Derrick Ansley. The Vikings, meanwhile, ditched DC Ed Donatell (the dad of current Chargers DBs coach Tom Donatell) in favor of former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores. (There’s also a sneaky-good QB matchup of Justin Herbert vs. Kirk Cousins here.)

Week 4: Commanders at Eagles

1 p.m. Oct. 1, Fox: Washington missed out on the playoffs by a single game last season despite a … well, “dumpster fire” might be too charitable … at quarterback. Out of those trials came 2022 fifth-rounder Sam Howell, who’ll be running the show under new offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, bringing a touch of Andy Reid’s system from Kansas City.

Week 5: Jets at Broncos

4:25 p.m. Oct. 8, CBS: The marriage of ex-Packers offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett and ex-Seahawks QB Russell Wilson lasted just one season in Denver. Hackett’s now the OC for the Jets (reunited with that Rodgers guy) and new Broncos coach Sean Payton wasn’t exactly polite when describing Hackett’s Mile High City tenure: “There’s so much dirt around that. There’s 20 dirty hands, for what was allowed, tolerated in the fricking training rooms, the meeting rooms. The offense.”

Week 6: Seahawks at Bengals

1 p.m. Oct. 15, CBS: What is it with the Seahawks and second-round running backs from the state of Michigan? They nabbed MSU's Kenneth Walker III in 2022, and he would up with 1,050 yards and nine TDs. This year, it’s former U-M (by way of UCLA) RB Zach Charbonnet, who had 10 carries for 46 yards in the preseason.

Week 7: Chargers at Chiefs

4:25 p.m. Oct. 22, CBS: Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack will try to bring down Patrick Mahomes. Chris Jones (maybe) will try to bring down Justin Herbert. Then again, if you’ve got plans, you could just tune in late — each of the past four games between these AFC West rivals have been one-score finishes, with three of them decided in the final 90 seconds.

Week 8: Texans at Panthers

1 p.m. Oct. 29, Fox: Let’s check in with the top three picks from April — Carolina passed on two-time Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year C.J. Stroud to take Heisman winner Bryce Young after trading up to No. 1. Houston then grabbed Stroud, and then sent its 2024 top pick to Arizona for the No. 3 pick (and Young’s teammate at Alabama), linebacker Will Anderson Jr.

Week 9: Bills at Bengals

8:20 p.m. Nov. 5, NBC: It’s slated to be Buffalo safety Damar Hamlin’s on-field return to Cincinnati, where he suffered a cardiac arrest after a hit in a Jan. 2 game against the Bengals. Since getting out of the hospital, Hamlin has been active in charity and touring the country to teach CPR. That included a stop in Cincy — his “third home,” as he called it in late July when he paid tribute to the University of Cincinnati trauma team that saved his life: “Today we have members of the (UC) trauma team. They treated me with a care that was unmatched. I told them they treated me like family. I didn't feel like a patient that was going through a life-or-death situation. I felt like a family member."

Week 10: 49ers at Jaguars

1 p.m. Nov. 12, Fox: Want proof that winning QBs can come from anywhere in the draft? Here’s a QB matchup of the first overall pick in 2021, Trevor Lawrence, and the last overall pick in 2022, Brock Purdy. Purdy went 7-0 last season after injuries elevated him to the starting job in San Francisco before an elbow injury of his own knocked him out of the Niners’ NFC title game loss. Lawrence, meanwhile, passed for 25 TDs and just eight interceptions with the Jags in Year 2.

Week 11: Cardinals at Texans

1 p.m. Nov. 19, CBS: There are so many questions here — Will Arizona QB Kyler Murray play this season? Are the Cards tanking anyway with an eye on No. 1 in 2024? Is Clayton Tune the next Tom Brady or the next Trevor Siemien (actually, we kinda know the answer to that one) — in what could be a matchup of the two worst teams in the NFL. It’d be a battle for the top spot when Detroit hosts the draft next April, but the Cards already have Houston’s pick, thanks to a draft-night deal last April.

Week 12: Dolphins at Jets

3 p.m. Nov. 24, Amazon Prime Video: We know, we know, it’s online-only, but this is also the NFL’s first-ever Black Friday game, and we know you’ll need something to watch while getting ready for Michigan State’s first-ever Black Friday game at Ford Field (vs. Penn State at 7:30 p.m. on NBC). The Dolphins may still have some questions about the arm and health of QB Tua Tagovailoa, but they don’t have many about their receiving corps, featuring Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill.

Week 13: 49ers at Eagles

4:25 p.m. Dec. 3, Fox: For the rematch of January’s NFC championship game, the Eagles won’t have running back Miles Sanders (now in Carolina), who had two TDs on the ground vs. the Niners. They will have, however, running back (and, yes, former Georgia star) D’Andre Swift — assuming his injury luck is better than it was with the Lions.

Week 14: Bills at Chiefs

4:25 p.m. Dec. 10, CBS: The Bills have won the past two regular-season meetings — both at Arrowhead Stadium — between these AFC powers (and original AFL squads). The Chiefs have won the past two playoff meetings — also both at Arrowhead Stadium — as part of the 2020 and 2021 postseasons.

Week 15: Giants at Saints

1 p.m. Dec. 17, Fox: The starting quarterbacks in this one — New York’s Daniel Jones and New Orleans’ Derek Carr — combined for 39 TD passes and 19 interceptions (with the Giants and Raiders, respectively) then signed four-year deals this offseason worth a combined $310 million. (Patrick Mahomes, meanwhile, had 41 TDs and 12 picks by himself.)

Week 16: Ravens at 49ers

8:15 p.m. Dec. 25, ABC: A Christmas tripleheader — Raiders/Chiefs and Giants/Eagles are the first two games — wraps up with a rematch of Super Bowl 47. Will Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh — the loser in that one — stop by to cheer on his big bro and the Ravens?

Week 17: Bengals at Chiefs

4:25 p.m. Dec. 31, CBS: Beware the potential for flexed games, but we’re pretty sure this rematch of the past two AFC title games will stay put on New Year’s Eve. The unsung hero of January’s Chiefs win: Former Western Michigan wideout Skyy Moore, whose 29-yard punt return in the final minute left Kansas City needing just 11 yards to set up the winning field goal with 8 seconds left.

Week 18: TBD

TBD, Jan. 7: No times or TV slots have been announced for the final week of the regular season, so we’ll punt on picking any one game as well. There should be a few appealing matchups with playoff implications competing for the coveted “Sunday Night Football” slot on NBC, including Steelers at Ravens, Jaguars at Titans and — gulp — Vikings at Lions.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 2023 NFL season: 19 must-watch games for Detroit Lions' playoff push