Rams-Chargers battle of Los Angeles is the top game on the NFL's preseason schedule

The NFL had the soft opening of its 2017 schedule on Monday evening, giving us the preseason schedule.

The NFL gave the release of the preseason schedule the big-time treatment, with a show on NFL Network and a banner headline on NFL.com. The regular season schedule will be released later this month, to even more fanfare.

While no game on a preseason schedule can be considered “marquee,” the first (unofficial) game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams stands out. The Rams moved to Los Angeles before last season, and the Chargers joined them this offseason. The two teams will meet at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Aug. 26 at 8 p.m. ET. The Rams will play their home games at the Coliseum the next two seasons, the Chargers will play at a soccer stadium in Carson, and they’ll move in together at an lavish Inglewood stadium in 2019. The Chargers are scheduled to have their first home preseason game the week of Aug. 10-14 against the Seattle Seahawks.

The Hall of Fame Game kicks things off (hopefully anyway … that didn’t go as planned last season), with the previously announced game between the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals on Thursday, Aug. 3. The first regular week of preseason games will take place Aug. 10-14. NFL announced the matchups for each of the four weeks but will finalize the exact dates for each game later.

 

The NFL did announce specific dates for its eight nationally televised preseason games, including a tripleheader on Aug. 27 (all times Eastern):

 

Aug 3: Cowboys vs. Cardinals, Hall of Fame Game, NBC, 8 p.m.
Aug. 17: Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Jacksonville Jaguars, ESPN, 8 p.m.
Aug. 21: New York Giants at Cleveland Browns, ESPN, 8 p.m.
Aug. 25: Kansas City Chiefs at Seattle Seahawks, CBS, 8 p.m.
Aug 26: Chargers at Rams, CBS, 8 p.m.
Aug. 27: Chicago Bears at Tennessee Titans, Fox, 1 p.m.
Aug. 27: Cincinnati Bengals at Washington Redskins, Fox, 4:30 p.m.
Aug. 27: San Francisco 49ers at Minnesota Vikings, NBC, 8 p.m.

 

The full schedule of games can be found here on NFL.com.