‘Elite’ Patriots-Steelers Week 3 Matchup Poised For A-Team Coverage

A quick look at the New England Patriots’ 2025 regular-season schedule reveals three games in prime time: Week 5 against the Buffalo Bills (Sunday Night Football), Week 11 against the New York Jets (Prime Video Thursday Night) and Week 13 vs. the New York Giants (Monday Night Football).

In addition, the Patriots’ Week 6 game in New Orleans has a 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff. The Week 18 game against the Miami Dolphins is TBD.

That leaves 12 games with 1 p.m. ET start times this year. Which makes sense, given the Patriots’ performance the last two seasons. But at least one of those games is poised for top billing by CBS Sports: Week 3 vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers.

ESPN.com’s Mike Reiss wrote Sunday that when the NFL schedule was released in May, the Patriots’ ticket office put the Steelers game in its “elite” category as part of its variable pricing plan.

Since then, the Steelers have added four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers while trading for tight end Jonnu Smith and cornerback Jalen Ramsey.

In addition, the Patriots announced Week 3 is the team’s Hall of Fame weekend, which features the induction of wide receiver of Julian Edelman and head coach Bill Parcells. As a result, Reiss concluded the Patriots-Steelers game could get the A-team treatment from CBS Sports.

“An ‘elite’ matchup becomes that much more so, perhaps drawing CBS’ top broadcast team of Jim Nantz, Tony Romo and Tracy Wolfson for the first time in two years,” Reiss concluded.

Reiss noted the Patriots have one other game listed as an “elite” matchup: the regular season opener, when the Las Vegas Raiders visit Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass. on Sunday, Sept. 7.