Mark your calendar for December 20, the return of Saturday football in the NFL.
The NFL has confirmed that the two Saturday games scheduled for the 2014 season will be in a doubleheader in Week 16. There were no Saturday games in 2013, but in past years the NFL has experimented with Saturday afternoon and Saturday night games. (The last time the NFL played on a Saturday was in Week 16 of 2012, when Calvin Johnson broke Jerry Rice’s NFL record for receiving yards in a season, but the Falcons beat the Lions to clinch home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.)
Exact kickoff times and TV schedules for the two games on Saturday, December 20 have not yet been determined.
The league announced that it was planning two Saturday games when it revealed that CBS would simulcast the first eight NFL Network games of the season. Those Thursday games on CBS will begin in Week Two, after NBC televises the traditional Thursday night Week One opener. The new deal with CBS for Thursdays does not affect Thanksgiving, when CBS, FOX and NBC will continue to show their Thanksgiving games as normal.
Every week of the season will have a Thursday night game except Week 17, when all 32 teams will play on Sunday.