Week 2 NFL Early Games Open Thread

In Week 2, our Minnesota Vikings will not be kicking off at the greatest time for NFL football action, which we all know is noon Central time. They’re going to be part of the late afternoon window this week and next week, so that means that we have something to look forward to, and we get it two weeks in a row.

Yes, today marks our first limited, modified RED ZONE SUNDAY of the 2021 NFL season! We can just sit back and soak in all of the early NFL action while we wait for the one game that matters to get underway.

If you don’t have the Red Zone Channel. . .and man, that sucks. . .here’s a look at the broadcast maps from 506 Sports to let you know which games are going to be on the local channels in your area.

Early Games on CBS

• Green - Houston Texans at Cleveland Browns - Greg Gumbel, Adam Archuleta - DirecTV Ch 705
• Yellow - Denver Broncos at Jacksonville Jaguars - Spero Dedes, Jay Feeley - DirecTV Ch 706
• Blue - New England Patriots at New York Jets - Kevin Harlan, Trent Green - DirecTV Ch 707
• Red - Las Vegas Raiders at Pittsburgh Steelers - Ian Eagle, Charles Davis - DirecTV Ch 708

Early Games on FOX

Remember, FOX only has one game this week, so if you’re getting one of the late games (either Vikings at Cardinals or Falcons at Buccaneers), you won’t have an early game this week on your FOX affiliate.

• Orange - New Orleans Saints at Carolina Panthers - Chris Myers, Daryl Johnston - DirecTV Ch 709
• Yellow - Cincinnati Bengals at Chicago Bears - Kevin Kugler, Mark Sanchez - DirecTV Ch 710
• Green - Los Angeles Rams at Indianapolis Colts - Kenny Albert, Jonathan Vilma - DirecTV Ch 711
• Aqua - Buffalo Bills at Miami Dolphins - Brandon Gaudin, Matt Millen - DirecTV Ch 712
• Blue - San Francisco 49ers at Philadelphia Eagles - Adam Amin, Mark Schlereth - DirecTV Ch 713

The Vikings/Cardinals game is in purple on the map, while the Falcons/Buccaneers game is in red.

That’s your early schedule for Week 2 of the 2021 NFL season, folks. We’re about half an hour away from kicking things off. Enjoy the early games, and we’ll start putting stuff up for our game starting at around 1:30 PM Central time with the inactive lists.