FOXBOROUGH, Mass.- The National Football League announced the 2015 regular-season schedule tonight and the defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots and their fans learned that the team will host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thurs., Sept. 10, as part of the NFL's 2015 Kickoff Weekend. The Patriots will unveil the Super Bowl XLIX Championship Banner as part of a star-studded pregame ceremony. Details of the event will be announced at a later date. 

The last time the Patriots played Pittsburgh in the season-opener was in 2002 in the grand-opening of Gillette Stadium, a 30-14 win on Monday Night Football when the Patriots were coming off their first Super Bowl win. 

The NFL's Thursday Night Kickoff tradition began in 2002 and the defending Super Bowl Champion has hosted every year since 2004. The Patriots won the first two such contests. New England defeated Indianapolis, 27-24, on Sept. 9, 2004 and Oakland, 30-20, on Sept. 8, 2005 in Thursday games at Gillette Stadium. The Patriots will open the season at home for the first time since 2010 when they hosted the Cincinnati Bengals in the home opener. 

Including the season-opener, the Patriots are scheduled to play in five nationally-televised games during the regular season, including three at Gillette Stadium. After opening on prime time against Pittsburgh, the Patriots next prime-time game at home will be on Thurs., Oct. 29 when they host the Miami Dolphins on Thursday Night Football on CBS/NFL Network (8:25 p.m.), followed by a Monday Night Football game against AFC East rival Buffalo on Monday, Nov. 23 on ESPN (8:30 p.m.). 

The Patriots are scheduled to appear in two other prime-time games on the road with Sunday Night Football games at Indianapolis on Oct. 18 and at Denver on Nov. 29 on NBC (8:30 p.m.). The Patriots have faced both teams in the AFC Championship Game in the last two seasons. 

The Patriots and Colts will face off for the 13th consecutive year, including the postseason. The two teams have met at least once in the regular season or postseason since 2003, playing 16 games (11 regular season and five postseason games) over that span. The Patriots faced the Colts on Sunday Night Football last season, a 42-20 Patriots win on Nov. 16. The Patriots then faced the Colts in the AFC Championship Game, advancing to Super Bowl XLIX with a 45-7 win at Gillette Stadium on Sun., Jan. 18. 

New England will travel to the Denver Broncos for the first time since losing the 2013 AFC Championship Game. Last season, the Patriots got revenge from that game with a 43-21 win at Gillette Stadium on Nov. 2. Patriots QB Tom Brady and Broncos QB Peyton Manning have had many epic battles over the years, facing each other 16 times overall, with Brady leading the Patriots to wins in nine of the 12 regular season games. Brady and Manning are tied at 2-2 in postseason matchups. 

The Patriots will play each AFC East rival twice and will play one game against each of the AFC South and NFC East teams. As the AFC East Champions, the Patriots will play the 2014 division winners of the AFC North (Pittsburgh) and the AFC West (Denver). 

PATRIOTS 2015 SCHEDULE WEEK-BY-WEEK 

The New England Patriots will begin defense of their Super Bowl title when they host the Pittsburgh Steelers as part of the NFL's 2015 Kickoff Weekend on Thurs. Sept 10 at Gillette Stadium. Three of the Patriots next four games will be on the road with games at Buffalo on Sept. 20, at Dallas on Oct. 11 and at Indianapolis on Oct. 18 with a home game against Jacksonville in Week 3 on Sept. 27. 

After raising the Super Bowl XLIX banner in the season-opener, the Patriots will begin AFC East play at Buffalo on Sept. 20. The Patriots have won 26 of the last 30 games overall against Buffalo, but did split the 2014 season series  with the Bills. Tom Brady has 23 wins against Buffalo and is tied for the second most (Brett Favre 23 vs. Chicago) wins by a quarterback against an opponent. Favre is first with 26 wins against Detroit. 

The Patriots will return to the confines of Gillette Stadium when they host Jacksonville on Sept. 27. New England has a 9-1 all-time record against the Jaguars. 

The Patriots Bye Week comes in Week 4, the earliest since the 2008 season when they also had a bye in Week 4. The Patriots will return to action when they travel to Dallas on Oct. 11 to make their debut at AT&T Stadium, which opened in 2009. The Patriots have won the last four meetings against Dallas, dating back to 1999. 

For the second straight season, the Patriots will travel to face Indianapolis on Sunday Night Football with an Oct. 18 game at Lucas Oil Stadium. Last season, the Patriots beat the Colts, 42-20, in a Sunday Night game on Nov. 16 in Indianapolis. The Patriots have won six straight games against the Colts, including the playoffs. 

The Patriots will return from the two road games to play two straight division games, hosting the New York Jets on Oct. 25 and then playing Miami on Thursday Night on Oct. 29. The 2015 season marks the first time in franchise history the team will play multiple Thursday games. The Patriots have won six straight regular-season home contests against the Jets. Brady is 12-1 at home against Miami, with his only loss coming in the final game of the 2005 season when the Patriots had already locked up the AFC East title. Brady played only in the first quarter of that game. 

The Patriots will then play two games against NFC East opponents, welcoming the Washington Redskins to Gillette Stadium on Nov. 8 and then traveling to play at the New York Giants on Nov. 15. New England beat the Redskins, 52-7, in Washington's only trip to Foxborough during the Bill Belichick era. The Giants snapped the Patriots' 20-game home winning streak with a 24-20 win in the last regular-season meeting on Oct. 16, 2011. 

The Patriots will play in back-to-back prime-time games with a Monday Night Football game against Buffalo on Nov. 23 and then will be on the road for a Sunday Night Football game at Denver on Nov. 29. Last season, the Patriots played back-to-back prime-time games with a 41-14 Monday Night Football loss at Kansas City on Sept. 29 followed by a 43-17 Sunday Night Football win at home against Cincinnati on Oct. 5. Monday Night Football returns to Foxborough for the first time since 2012, a 42-14 win over Houston on Dec. 10, 2012. 

After Philadelphia travels to Gillette Stadium for a Dec. 6 game at 4:25 p.m., the Patriots will close out the season with three of four games on the road, all at 1 p.m. The Patriots have won all four games, including the postseason against the Eagles under Belichick. 

The Patriots will travel to face Houston on Dec. 13. Brady has started all six of the meetings against Houston, while the Texans have started five different quarterbacks. Matt Schaub is the only Houston quarterback to have started multiple games against the Patriots. Among Houston's possible starters for this year are former Patriots Ryan Mallett and Brian Hoyer. 

The Titans will play in Foxborough on Dec. 20 for the first time since a 59-0 loss on Oct. 18, 2009. The Patriots will close out the season with two road games for the first time since the 2006 season when they play at the New York Jets on Dec. 27 and at Miami on Jan. 3, 2016. New England completes its regular season away from Gillette Stadium for the first time since 2009.

2015 PRESEASON SCHEDULE

2015 REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE

• Sync Schedule to Calendar

RELATED LINKS

• Analysis of 2015 schedule
• Patriots 2015 opponent storylines