NFL schedule 2015, Week 1: The 1st weekend of real football is here

Football is officially back as of Thursday, when the New England Patriots took down the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first game of the season. Tom Brady was in action, Ben Roethlisberger was in action, Rob Gronkowski caught a lot of touchdowns and everyone is now ready for the real action to get underway with Sunday's full slate of games.

A total of 13 games will be played on Sunday, with seven set for the early slot, five for the afternoon slot and an NFC East matchup between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys set for Sunday Night Football. The day features plenty of good matchups, obviously -- you've got a rookie quarterback battle when the Tennessee Titans play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Ndamukong Suh making his debut for the Miami Dolphins, new quarterbacks starting all over the place for the Browns, Bills and Texans and a whole lot more.

As usual, Monday night will feature two games for Week 1. The first Monday Night Football game pits the new-look Philadelphia Eagles (they'll probably be considered "new look" every year going forward, so long as Chip Kelly is head coach) up against the Atlanta Falcons. The latter matchup will see the Minnesota Vikings traveling to take on the San Francisco 49ers.

Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears

Aaron Rodgers and the Packers will be up against Jay Cutler and the Bears in an early NFC North matchup. Green Bay is looking as good as it has in a long time, while Cutler and the Bears took some serious steps toward relevance this offseason. This game could be a close one.

Kansas City Chiefs at Houston Texans

The Houston Texans have a new starting quarterback in Brian Hoyer, and his first test of the season will be the Kansas City Chiefs. Houston is otherwise well-stocked on both offense and defense, but if Hoyer can't find success, it could be another middling season for the Texans. Meanwhile, the Chiefs are trying to take it to the Denver Broncos in the AFC West. Peyton Manning has to slow down at some point, right?

Cleveland Browns at New York Jets

Josh McCown is the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, and Ryan Fitzpatrick is under center for the New York Jets. It's not quite Brady vs. Manning, sure, but it could be fun at least. Well, unless you're a fan of one of those teams.

Indianapolis Colts at Buffalo Bills

Rex Ryan is interesting every time he's in front of a camera, and that should be a fun team to watch all season. Quarterback Tyrod Taylor going up against a tough team like the Indianapolis Colts and dueling Andrew Luck in his first start really doesn't seem fair, though.

Robert Griffin III is healthy, you guys! Of course, he won't be starting, and if Washington's coaches have their way he probably won't play at all this season. No, it will be the Kirk Cousins show in Washington when they take on Ryan Tannehill and the Miami Dolphins. That's a tough break for Cousins, who will now have to be chased by Miami's biggest offseason addition: Ndamukong Suh.

Carolina Panthers at Jacksonville Jaguars

Cam Newton is healthy and pumped up, but the Panthers don't have Kelvin Benjamin, Newton's top target last season. Benjamin is out for the season, but the Jaguars aren't necessarily the toughest team in the league and it will give Newton plenty of time to try and get things going with Greg Olsen, Devin Funchess and Ted Ginn Jr.

Seattle Seahawks at St. Louis Rams

The NFC West is still one of the toughest divisions in football, and the Seahawks are favorites to win it again. All four teams in the division built themselves to take out their rivals, and they can't afford to drop one against the Rams. Nick Foles will be under center for St. Louis, and it's looking like he won't have to worry about safety Kam Chancellor hounding him in the secondary as his contract holdout continues.

New Orleans Saints at Arizona Cardinals

Carson Palmer was excellent as the Cardinals won all six games he started in 2014. The problem with that stat: he only started six games in 2014. Their top task on Sunday will be to iron out the kinks in the offensive line and keep Palmer upright, which shouldn't be difficult against a Saints defense that doesn't look like it will provide much of a pass rush this season.

Detroit Lions at San Diego Chargers

Philip Rivers, fresh off a huge contract extension, will duel Matthew Stafford. But if it's a battle of arsenals, the Lions have the Chargers beat big-time with the pairing of Calvin Johnson and Golden Tate. Rivers is also without one of his favorite targets in tight end Antonio Gates, who is serving a four-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs.

Jameis Winston, the top pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, will duel Marcus Mariota, the No. 2 pick in the 2015 NFL Draft. It's a battle of rookie quarterbacks, and at this stage really anything can happen. Neither the Buccaneers nor the Titans are known for excellent defensive play, so this one could be a shootout.

Cincinnati Bengals at Oakland Raiders

Can Derek Carr actually make the Raiders a good team this year? He's got Michael Crabtree and Amari Cooper to throw it to, and on defense Khalil Mack might just be pairing up with the recently signed Aldon Smith -- if he does, in fact, play.

Baltimore Ravens at Denver Broncos

Peyton Manning probably has to slow down at some point, and the guy is about to turn 40 years old. Still, the Broncos are a safe bet to throw for a million yards and a bunch of touchdowns, Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders will put up ridiculous numbers, and there's not a whole lot the NFL at large can do to stop them. But the Ravens do have a pretty good defense, and will do their best while Joe Flacco and Justin Forsett try to keep up on offense.

The NFC East was one of the worst divisions in the league just a couple seasons ago, but last season there was actual excitement coming from its top teams. The Cowboys were one of those teams, and they've ranked highly in power rankings heading into the season, despite losing DeMarco Murray, the NFL's leading rusher, in free agency. Eli Manning, fresh off a contract extension of his own, is healthy and ready to put the Giants back in the discussion.

Chip Kelly has turned the Eagles into his team, a lot more drastically than a head coach is typically even able to do within a couple years at the helm. Now we get to see the Eagles with DeMarco Murray at running back and Sam Bradford at quarterback, which should be ... should be something. Also, Matt Ryan and the Falcons will be there, probably throwing touchdowns to Julio Jones.

A sad, terrible, ridiculously awful offseason is officially over for the San Francisco 49ers. After making the NFC Championship in three of the last four seasons, Jim Harbaugh is out and Jim Tomsula is in. How that will manifest on the field after all of the player retirements and other issues is a massive question mark. Meanwhile, Adrian Peterson is back in action and will try to shred a depleted 49ers defense.