NFL teams have tapped into their creativity in recent years to celebrate their schedule releases with a mixture of art, video games, satire, movie and TV references.
Each season, the production values get better and better as league social media teams try to outdo one another.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers did their part Thursday night, bringing in comic and Tampa native Bert Kreischer to star in a sendup of “Baywatch.”
Kreischer joins burly Bucs Cody Mauch and Ko Kieft as lifeguards defending the region’s iconic beaches from fans of opposing teams.
The mission begins with a call from “Tampa Bay Watch” captain Baker Mayfield, who tells the trio there are “tourists causing trouble” and they need “to take care of it.”
From there, Kreischer encounters a young Carolina fan building a sandcastle, an Atlanta follower flying a kite, a Dallas sunbather, a goth Baltimore fan on a bench, and a raft full of snowbirds from the land of the NFC North.
The 3-minute video gets the job done, unveiling a schedule that opens on the road at Cincinnati on Sept. 13. The Bucs return home the following week for a three-game homestand against Cleveland, Minnesota and Green Bay.
Tampa Bay will have three prime-time games, including a Thursday night trip to Dallas on Oct. 8. The Bucs host a Sunday night game against Chicago on Nov. 8, and “Monday Night Football” against NFC South rival Carolina Nov. 30.
The Bucs’ first division game isn’t until Week 7 against the Panthers, who edged the Bucs for the division crown last year. Tampa Bay gets a midseason bye — Week 10 — a preference of Coach Todd Bowles, and it doesn't have an international game this year, although the NFL scheduled a record-high nine this year.
The NFL has left the Bucs’ final three weeks open for flex scheduling, which allows the league to shift kickoff times to showcase games with playoff implications in stronger television windows. Week 16 at Atlanta and the Week 18 finale at New Orleans could be played on either Saturday or Sunday. The Jan. 3 home game against the Los Angeles Rams has no assigned kickoff time or TV designation yet.
The league opens the season on Sept. 9 with a Super Bowl rematch between New England and defending champion Seattle. The first game is on a Wednesday for only the second time.
Thanksgiving week will have games on five of six days, starting with Packers-Rams on Thanksgiving Eve, Bears-Lions, Eagles-Cowboys and Chiefs-Bills on Turkey Day, Steelers-Broncos on Black Friday and the rest of the league on Sunday and Monday.
Christmas Eve showcases Eagles-Texans, and a Christmas Day tripleheader features Packers-Bears, Bills-Broncos and Rams-Seahawks.
