Seahawks receive spotlight

KIRKLAND, Wash. – Make it to a Super Bowl, get the glare.

The NFL gave the Seattle Seahawks a schedule worthy of a Super Bowl team on Thursday, though not one worthy of recent conference champions. Seattle will play four games on national television in prime time in 2006. They will also play four of the other seven division winners from 2005.

The first of both is a Sunday night, Oct. 1 game at defending NFC North winner Chicago, part of a new featured package for NBC.

The three other national spotlight games are all at home: on Monday night, Nov. 6 against Oakland (ESPN); on Monday night, Nov. 27 against Green Bay (ESPN); and on Thursday evening, Dec. 14 versus San Francisco (NFL Network).

The Seahawks haven’t played two Monday night games in the same season since 1987 and haven’t hosted two since 1986.

Yet this is the first Super Bowl team from the previous season to not be in prime time in Week 1 since the 2002 St. Louis Rams – something the Seahawks have known since the league released the season openers a few weeks ago.

They open their quest to repeat the best season in their history Sept. 10 at Detroit, which will have a new coach (Rod Marinelli) and a new quarterback. Their home opener is the following Sunday, Sept. 17 against the Arizona Cardinals. Then comes a home test against the NFC East-champion New York Giants on Sept. 24.

Meanwhile, Philadelphia fans will get their chance to boo Terrell Owens a month into the 2006 NFL season.

Owens, suspended and then benched by the Eagles last season, will return on Oct. 8 with the Dallas Cowboys in one of the highlight games of the NFL schedule. Owens was let go by Philadelphia and signed by Dallas a month ago.

Several games have already been announced. They include the opener on Sept. 7 featuring Miami at Super Bowl winner Pittsburgh.