NFL schedule announcement set for Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET on NFL Network

Posted: 03:59 PM ET April 16, 2012

By Will Brinson | Senior NFL Blogger

The NFL schedule announcement is scheduled ... for announcement: the league announced on Monday that it would release the full 2012 NFL regular season schedule on Tuesday on NFL Network beginning at 7 p.m. ET.

We already know that the first game of the 2012 NFL season will come on a Wednesday: the Super Bowl champion Giants square off against their hated rival Dallas Cowboys on NBC during the 2012 NFL Kickoff.

The game was moved from the "traditional" Thursday slot to Wednesday because of Barack Obama's speech at the Democratic National Convention.

And, of course, we already know the opponents for 2012. What we don't know is when and how these teams will play.

Peter King of Sports Illustrated predicted (reported?) on Monday morning that one of the first weekend's prime-time games would feature Peyton Manning in his Broncos uniform, and we won't disagree with that notion.

Every game Manning gets will be highly scrutinized, as will all the Jets games, as a result of their trade for Tim Tebow. In fact, we'll go ahead and make a bold, baseless prediction: the NFL rolls with a double-header Monday Night Football game again in 2012, with the first game featuring the Jets and the second one featuring the Broncos. Drama!

Additionally, it'll be fascinating to see how the league handles the Saints situation. Interim coach Joe Vitt is suspended for the first six regular-season games of the season, meaning he'll lose seven weeks of action if the Saints bye comes during that time.

Tags: Peyton Manning, Tim Tebow, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, New York Jets, NFL

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NFL mediation talks set to resume Tuesday

Mediation between negotiators for the NFL players and owners is set to resume Tuesday in Minneapolis. The sides took a break following 13 hours of discussions over two days last Wednesday and Thursday.

NFLPA executive George Atallah tweeted on Monday evening that executive director DeMaurice Smith "will not attend tomorrow's sessions due to a family medical emergency. Thanks for respecting his personal privacy."

The sides were together for longer than nine hours Thursday in the Minneapolis courtroom chambers of Judge Arthur J. Boylan, and mediated talks recessed Friday after a little more than four hours.

Perhaps the break in talks was not surprising considering reports that Thursday's talks were "tough" and included a large amount of "fence-mending."

That would be in reference to the first 16 days of mediation in Washington, D.C., that failed and resulted in the decertification of the union and a league-imposed lockout. In the days that followed, each side criticized the other, with several players calling NFL representatives liars over their characterization of the league's last offer.

As Friday's session ended, Boylan reportedly gave each side a directive to be prepared to negotiate and gave them "homework," according to retired players' attorney Michael Hausfeld. A players' attorney said they have "a lot of work to do" between now and Tuesday.

Albert Breer of NFL Network reported that Boylan is being very methodical because of the sensitivity of the talks and added that both sides are "serious" about the talks because of the possible consequences.

Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive lineman Carl Eller, one of the named plaintiffs in the lawsuit brought by retired players, said he believes there has been some "moving forward," although he did say things "slowed a little bit."

After Thursday's talks, Hausfeld said Boylan indicated mediation would continue "as long as it makes sense."

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