Seahawks Open Regular Season At Home Against Chiefs

Barring falling ceiling tiles, the Seahawks will open their 1995 season at home in the Kingdome on Sept. 3 against Kansas City.

It’s an uncharacteristic opener for the Hawks, who have started six of the past seven seasons on the road.

In fact, three of the first four games are at home, with the open date falling in week four.

The season stacks up strangely, though, as the Hawks meet AFC West opponents in four of the first five games, and all three of the last three weeks, but take on non-division opponents in seven games in an eight-game stretch during the middle of the season.

Only one game, on Dec. 17 at home against the Raiders, will be televised nationally. ESPN will carry that contest.

The Hawks’ schedule, by month:

Sept. - 3, Kansas City; 10, at San Diego; 17, Cincinnati; 24, open date.

Oct. - 1, Denver; 8, at Los Angeles; 15, at Buffalo; 22, San Diego; 29, at Arizona.

Nov. - 5, New York Giants; 12, at Jacksonville; 19, at Washington; 26, New York Jets.

Dec. - 3, Philadelphia; 10, at Denver; 17, Los Angeles (5 p.m., ESPN); 24, at Kansas City.

Nobody ever said being an expansion team would be easy. The Carolina Panthers will find that out fast, playing their first two NFL regular-season games on the road.

The NFL schedule, released Tuesday, has Carolina opening at Atlanta on Sept. 3, and then playing at Buffalo a week later. Jacksonville, the other expansion franchise, opens the season at home in a new downtown stadium against Houston and then travels to Cincinnati in Week Two.

Carolina will play its home games this season at Clemson University’s Memorial Stadium in Clemson, S.C., before moving to Carolinas Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., for 1996. The Panthers’ first home game comes Sept. 17, against the transplanted St. Louis Rams.

The only other teams opening with two straight road games are Detroit and Tampa Bay.

There will be 11 day games played on Christmas Eve and the regular season concludes on Christmas night, with Dallas at Arizona.

The playoffs begin with the wild-card round on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 30-31. Divisional playoffs are scheduled for Jan. 6-7, with the AFC and NFC championship games set for Jan. 14. The Super Bowl will be played at Tempe, Ariz., on Jan. 28.