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Seattle Seahawks

Seahawks 2019 regular season schedule is set – Seattle will get five prime-time games

In this Dec. 2, 2018 photo, Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll reacts on the sideline during the second half of an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers in Seattle. (Elaine Thompson / Associated Press)
By Bob Condotta Seattle Times

The Seahawks’ 2019 regular-season schedule, officially released Wednesday with dates and times, starts with a Sept. 8 home game against Cincinnati, concludes with a home game Dec. 29 against the 49ers and includes the maximum five prime-time games between.

The Seahawks are one of 10 NFL teams to get the maximum five prime-time games and have now had at least four or more prime-time games for seven straight years.

The Seahawks also have four of the dreaded 10 a.m. Seattle time kickoffs, necessitated this year by having drawn the NFC South and AFC North as schedule partners and making trips to Atlanta and Carolina as well as Cleveland and Pittsburgh. None of those games was picked for prime time.

The prime-time games, instead, are both contests against the defending NFC West-champion Rams, games at Philadelphia and San Francisco, and a home game against the Vikings.

The schedule also features the return of some familiar faces with Earl Thomas and the Ravens coming to Seattle on Oct. 20 and Richard Sherman and the 49ers to close things out.

The opener against the Bengals marks Cincinnati’s first visit to Seattle since 2011, a game remembered for being Sherman’s first Seahawks start.

As for a few quick thoughts on the schedule:

  • Seattle probably can’t find much to complain about with its two weekends off – the so-called mini-bye following its Thursday night game and then its official bye. The mini-bye will come in early October following a Thursday night home showdown against the Rams, who have won the division the past two seasons, and then their full bye the weekend of Nov. 17. Each comes at a decent time, the mini bye after the Seahawks have played five regular season games, and then the full bye in week 11.
  • The roughest part of the schedule comes in November and early December, when Seattle will play four of five on the road – though interrupted by the bye. That means the Seahawks will play just one home game from Nov. 3 to Dec. 22 – a Monday-nighter against Minnesota on Dec. 2, the second straight year the Vikings have played in Seattle in December on a Monday night. But should Seattle get through that stretch in decent shape, the Seahawks then have the last two games at home against Arizona and the 49ers.
  • Unlike last year, when the Seahawks spent the first two months of the year feeling like they were never at home – only two games in Seattle and September and October – the Seahawks will open the year at home and will play two of the first three, three of the first five, four of the first seven and five of the first nine at CenturyLink Field, trading off home and road games in the first 10 weeks and playing away on back-to-back Sundays just once (with another road back-to-back broken up by the bye).
  • Once again, December has a distinctly NFC West feel with the Seahawks playing at the Rams on Dec. 8 and then finishing the season with consecutive home games against Arizona and San Francisco. Seattle has finished its season every year since 2009 with a game against an NFC West team.
  • The four 10 a.m. starts certainly is noticeable. That number is double what the Seahawks have played the last two years combined – they had none in 2017 and two last season (if you throw out the London game against Oakland, which was a 10 a.m. Seattle time but 6 p.m. London time). But 10 a.m. starts haven’t been the bugaboo of late that fans may think. After going 1-3 in 10 a.m. starts in 2012 the Seahawks went 4-1 in them in 2013 and went 2-0 in 10 a.m. starts last year (wins at Detroit and Carolina). Overall, Seattle is 11-9 in 10 a.m. starts since Russell Wilson became QB in 2012 but 10-6 since 2013.

Here is the entire schedule, with all times listed as Pacific:

Sunday, Sept. 8 – vs. Cincinnati, 1:05 p.m., CBS

Sunday, Sept. 15 – at Pittsburgh, 10 a.m., FOX,

Sunday, Sept. 22 – vs. New Orleans, 1:25 p.m., CBS

Sunday, Sept. 29 – at Arizona, 1:05 p.m., FOX

Thursday, Oct. 3 – vs. Rams, 5:20 p.m., FOX/NFLN

Sunday Oct. 13 – at Cleveland, 10 a.m., FOX

Sunday, Oct. 20 –vs. Baltimore, 1:25 p.m., FOX

Sunday, Oct. 27 – at Atlanta, 10 a.m., FOX

Sunday, Nov. 3 – vs. Tampa Bay, 1:05 p.m., FOX

Monday, Nov. 11 – at San Francisco, 5:15 p.m., ESPN

Week 11 (Nov. 17) – Bye.

Sunday, Nov. 24 – at Philadelphia, 5:20 p.m., NBC

Monday, Dec. 2 –vs. Minnesota, 5:15 p.m., ESPN

Sunday, Dec. 8 – at Los Angeles Rams, 5:20 p.m., NBC

Sunday, Dec. 15 – at Carolina, 10 a.m., FOX

Sunday, Dec. 22 – vs. Arizona, 1:25 p.m., FOX

Sunday, Dec. 29 – vs. San Francisco, 1:25 p.m., FOX

The Seahawks also announced the full preseason schedule for 2019, which includes two Thursday home games. Here it is:

Thursday, Aug. 8 – vs. Denver, 7 p.m, Q13 FOX

Sunday Aug. 18 – at Minnesota, 5 p.m., FOX

Saturday Aug. 24 – Los Angeles Chargers, 7 p.m., Q13 FOX

Thursday Aug. 29 – vs. Raiders, 7 p.m., Q13 FOX