NFL teams tapped into their creativity Thursday night while rolling out a variety of takes revealing their schedules for this season with a mixture of art, video games, movie references and yes, even “The Simpsons.”
They also made sure to poke plenty of fun at upcoming opponents, themselves and offseason flubs.
The Indianapolis Colts pointed the finger at themselves in their Simpsons’ cartoon. First, they referenced the long drought since their last win in Jacksonville along with Homer Simpson disappearing into the hedge for the team’s road game against the Jaguars.
The video also had Bart Simpson writing repeatedly on the chalkboard: “We will not include Tyreek Hill in these videos.”
The New York Jets went with a “ football is ART (craft blend)” approach mixing uniquely named daubs of paint colors to mix and draw out their opponents by the date.
Their season opener against the Titans features colors “Dolly Denim” and “Bachelorette Blush” for a team in a town known for Dolly Parton and bachelorette parties. Playing the Dolphins uses spray tan, del boca vista, major key and finkle — a reference to the Ray Finkle character in the 1994 movie “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective" — and raspberry beret and minnetonka blue for the Vikings.
New Orleans used a “season forecast” approach that included people such Jim Cantore from The Weather Channel. The Los Angeles Rams tapped the movie “Napoleon Dynamite” for “A Dynamite schedule” reveal.
Pittsburgh went long with a video lasting more than 4 minutes, 36 seconds that leaned into local style, customs, food and “Pittsburghese” with “Ready to yinzify your DNA, n'at?" Actor Billy Gardell, a Pittsburgh native, walks a new security guard through it all with the schedule buried at the end.
Video game style
The Los Angeles Chargers went even longer using Halo Infinite for a reveal video lasting 6:12 and they opened with a post asking if they should make their schedule release video with the game spelling out “NO” with the words “yes.”
The Chargers reminded Baltimore of the Ravens backing out of their trade with the Raiders for Maxx Crosby.
They also made an apparent reference to Patriots coach Mike Vrabel's offseason in the headlines with a mention of "Next Photo Dump 1 Mile.”
Short but sweet
Jacksonville took advantage of perhaps the most famous offseason haircut with quarterback Trevor Lawrence getting his long locks cut short on camera after introducing the Jaguars' schedule that then plays out on the screen edited down to less than 2 minutes.
Fan assistance
The Tennessee Titans went back to the streets quizzing random people in their schedule reveal in a twist to the team's 2023 schedule reveal. This time, the Titans went with “You never know who you'll see on the street” set to the Who song “Who Are You” asking random people if they were a big name with a specific opponent.
Artistic reveal tease
The Atlanta Falcons tapped the approach used by the social media account (at)ArtButMakeItSports to preview their schedule release. The Falcons had a thread Thursday morning using “Art but make it our 2026 opponents” featuring paintings for each team.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
