It’s been a wild first week of the 2020 NFL season with Tom Brady having a rough showing in his debut with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Cam Newton thriving in his first game with the New England Patriots. Week 1 will end on Monday night with two games to kick off ESPN‘s Monday Night Football. The first game – Pittsburgh Steelers vs. New York Giants – will start at 7:10 p.m ET. The second game – Tennessee Titans vs. Denver Broncos – will begin at 10:20 p.m. ET. Both games will air on ESPN and can be streamed on the ESPN app.
The biggest storyline of the night will be the return of Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. He missed nearly the entire 2019 season due to an injured elbow, and it was one of the reasons the Steelers missed the playoffs for the second consecutive season. Back in August, Roethlisberger talked about how frustrated he was about not playing last season.
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“It was awful, it was awful … for a few reasons,” Roethlisberger said to Yahoo Sports. “You look at how special the defense is — and I say ‘is’ because they continue to be good — but last year they were amazing, and you want to be out there because I’ve been around Super Bowl teams and the whole reason that they’re Super Bowl teams is because they had a defense that was talented and really good.”
The Steelers are facing a Giants team that is looking to have their first winning season since 2016. The team has a new head coach in Joe Judge, who spent the eight seasons with the New England Patriots. The Giants are expecting big things from second-year quarterback Daniel Jones who threw for 3,027 yards and 24 touchdowns last year.
As for the late-night game, the Titans are ready to take the next step after reaching the AFC Championship game last year. Led by quarterback Ryan Tannehill and running back Derrick Henry, the Titans come into the 2020 season as favorites to win the AFC South. They are facing a Broncos team who is looking to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2015, the same year they won the Super Bowl. However, the Broncos will have to play without their star player, Von Miller, who suffered a season-ending ankle injury last week.
Monday Night Football will have a new broadcast team this season – Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Louis Riddick. Along with Lisa Salters who will be the field reporter, the group will call the Titans-Broncos game. As for the Steelers-Giants matchup, Chris Fowler and Kirk Herbstreit will have the call with Maria Taylor down on field.
