Professional football teams displayed remarkable creativity Thursday evening as they unveiled their upcoming season schedules through an array of entertaining presentations featuring artistic elements, gaming references, film nods, and even animated television shows.
The organizations also took opportunities to playfully tease their future opponents, make light of their own situations, and reference notable offseason incidents.
The Indianapolis team utilized an animated approach featuring characters from the long-running cartoon series. Their presentation acknowledged their extended losing streak in Jacksonville by showing the famous father character vanishing into bushes when displaying their away matchup against the Jaguars.
The animation also depicted the young son character repeatedly scribbling on a school blackboard: “We will not include Tyreek Hill in these videos.”
The New York franchise adopted an artistic “football is ART (craft blend)” concept, mixing specially labeled paint colors to reveal their opponents and corresponding dates.
Their opening game against the Tennessee team featured paint shades called “Dolly Denim” and “Bachelorette Blush,” referencing a city famous for a country music icon and party destinations. The Miami matchup incorporated spray tan, del boca vista, major key and finkle — nodding to the Ray Finkle character from the 1994 film “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” — while the Minnesota game used raspberry beret and minnetonka blue colors.
The New Orleans organization employed a “season forecast” theme that featured personalities including Jim Cantore from The Weather Channel. The Los Angeles team drew inspiration from the film “Napoleon Dynamite” for their “A Dynamite schedule” presentation.
The Pittsburgh franchise created an extended presentation lasting over 4 minutes and 36 seconds that celebrated local culture, traditions, cuisine, and regional dialect with “Ready to yinzify your DNA, n’at?” A Pittsburgh-born actor Billy Gardell guides a new security employee through the experience with the schedule information revealed at the conclusion.
The Los Angeles team produced an even lengthier presentation using the video game Halo Infinite for a 6-minute and 12-second reveal, beginning with a social media post asking whether they should create their schedule video using the game, with “NO” spelled out alongside the word “yes.”
This team also reminded Baltimore about backing out of their potential trade with another franchise for player Maxx Crosby.
They additionally appeared to reference the Patriots coach’s recent activities in their headlines with a mention of “Next Photo Dump 1 Mile.”
The Jacksonville organization capitalized on perhaps the most talked-about offseason haircut, featuring their quarterback Trevor Lawrence trimming his lengthy hair on camera after presenting their schedule, which then displays on screen in an edited version under 2 minutes.
The Tennessee team returned to street interviews for their schedule announcement, building on their 2023 approach. This year, they used “You never know who you’ll see on the street” set to the classic rock song “Who Are You,” asking random individuals if they were notable figures associated with specific opponents.
The Atlanta organization borrowed the style from a popular social media account known as ArtButMakeItSports for their schedule preview. They published a series Thursday morning titled “Art but make it our 2026 opponents,” showcasing paintings representing each opposing team.
