At least that’s the verdict from the NFL’s super-hyped schedule reveal, which didn’t include a single game for the 2025 season on a Sunday night, Monday night or Thursday night featuring the league’s No. 1 pick overall and his rebuilding Tennessee Titans.

Talk about disrespect. Ward, the former Miami Hurricanes quarterback who catapulted to the top of the NFL draft in a remarkable rags-to-riches rise, is pegged to begin his NFL journey 0-for-prime-time.

Shoot, the Titans even had a prime-time game last season when, gulp, Will Levis and Mason Rudolph, took turns at quarterback.

And now they’ve got this electric passer in Ward not getting a single prime-time game?

Go figure.  

Of course, given the NFL’s flexible scheduling option, it’s still possible that we could see Ward in a national showcase game under the lights. That would largely be a case of the Titans – who finished 3-14 last season and picked No. 1 for mighty good reason – exceeding expectations during Ward’s NFL initiation.

Good luck with that, kid.

Ward will debut at Denver, which brings a nasty defense and one of the prized rookie quarterbacks from last year’s class, Bo Nix.

Then comes the unveiling before a home crowd at Nissan Stadium in Week 2 against the Los Angeles Rams, the team that came closest to knocking off the eventual Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in the playoffs in January.

Two weeks, two of last season’s playoff teams. The stuff about the Titans having one of the NFL’s “easiest” schedules, based on their opponents’ 2024 records, is so circumstantial. I mean, three of the four teams in the AFC South had losing records in 2024 with the Titans bringing up the rear in a division that still has the Houston Texans as favorites.

There’s a test, too, with three straight road games (Weeks 4-6) followed by a matchup on Oct. 19 against the New England Patriots, coached by a fellow, Mike Vrabel, who might have a point to make against the team he used to coach.

Other highlights include two matchups against the Jacksonville Jaguars and Travis Hunter in Week 13 and Week 18, a road finale that is TBD for date and time. In Week 16, Patrick Mahomes comes to town. (Read: Opportunity for a rookie quarterback to take notes.) And circle a Week 14 matchup at Cleveland: Ward vs. Shedeur Sanders?

We’ll see.

Never mind the buzz attached to Ward in the ramp-up to the draft, where he was widely considered the best quarterback in a purportedly marginal class. It led to a big prime-time moment on the stage with Commissioner Roger Goodell to christen the draft in Green Bay.

But that was then already. Maybe the NFL schedule-makers just didn’t get the memo.

As it stands now, the Titans have 11 of their 17 games slotted for noon CT kickoffs on Sundays, which is about as low of a bar as it gets for marquee value.

How rare is this?

Well, the last time a quarterback was chosen No. 1 overall and didn’t have a prime-time showcase game came in 2011 with Cam Newton.

Maybe that’s it. It’s a Cam thing.

Between 2011 Cam and 2025 Cam, nine quarterbacks were taken No. 1 overall. And all nine had at least one prime-time appearance.

And this includes Baker Mayfield, who started the 2018 season on the bench for the Cleveland Browns … but in Week 3 replaced an injured Tyrod Taylor and passed for 201 yards, plus caught a pass to spice a victory against the Jets on ‘Thursday Night Football.’

Sure, you can expect only so much from a rookie quarterback cutting his teeth with a rebuilding team. And it can be so rough. Caleb Williams absorbed 68 sacks and went 5-12 (two prime-time games) for the Chicago Bears last season. The year before, Bryce Young suffered 62 sacks with a Carolina Panthers squad that finished 2-15. In 2021, Trevor Lawrence (17 picks) went 3-14 with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

So, no, there’s not a lot of incentive for the league and networks (and streaming services) to put the growing pains of high-profile rookie quarterbacks in the prime-time windows – even as good as last year’s rookie QB crop (hello, Jayden Daniels) turned out to be – when there are so many star-powered alternatives.

In other words, there’s good reason that five quarterbacks – Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen and Joe Burrow – are slated for a combined 27 prime-time games.

Perhaps the day is coming when Ward will be positioned on such an elite level. The Titans are certainly banking on that. He represents some major hope for second-year coach Brian Callahan and a franchise that is 16-35 in three seasons since it last made the playoffs and won a division title in 2021. But it’s a process. It includes building the supporting cast and certainly involves the impressive prospect flowing on the NFL learning curve.

Maybe it’s a matter of time before Ward forces himself – and his team – into prime-time exposure. The resume speaks. Ward set an NCAA Division I record by firing 156 touchdown passes while playing for three schools. On top of the rocket arm, so many rave about his leadership, grit, football IQ and other intangibles. He should be something to watch.

Want a peek at how he’s progressing on the next level?

Here’s the advice: Get up early.

Follow Jarrett Bell on social media: @JarrettBell

The Winter Olympics are less than a year away and, for the first time in two decades, snowboarding superstar Shaun White is not training to compete.

The retired three-time Olympic gold medalist said he’s not going to sugarcoat it: It definitely feels weird.

‘I’m excited and I’m happy for the next [generation] that’s coming through and what they’re going to do at this next Games,’ he told USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday. ‘But yeah, there will be some part of me that’s a little like ‘ugh’ − wanting to compete and wanting to ride.’

That, of course, doesn’t mean White has thought seriously about a return to competition such as the comeback that one of his contemporaries, Lindsey Vonn, made a few months ago. ‘I’m not contemplating it at all,’ White said.

Instead, as the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina near, the 38-year-old explained that he’s shifted his focus to the future of snowboarding − how the sport will evolve, and the athletes that will be at the center of that evolution. Last year, he founded a new snowboarding and freeskiing league called The Snow League, which held the first of its four events in Colorado in March. And next month, he’ll be on Mount Hood in Oregon to work with top junior athletes as part of Project Gold, a national talent identification program run by U.S. Ski & Snowboard.

‘It’s all elements of the industry becoming more professional and more looked at like a true sport,’ White said. ‘I think that for a long time it was just like ‘oh, this is cool’ (but) people didn’t really take it seriously.’

White grew up attending the High Cascade Snowboard Camp that will serve as the backdrop for Project Gold. He also became a part-owner of the summer camp, and its freeski counterpart, in 2023.

A summer camp for winter sports like snowboarding and skiing might feel like an odd match, but White said off-season training has become critical, especially for elite athletes. It’s why, even though Mount Hood boasts year-round snow, the camp recently also added a dry slope with an adjustable takeoff ramp and airbag-cushioned landing area for training runs.

‘When I talk about the future of the sport and where this next amazing athlete’s going to come from, I always say − and I do believe − that they’ll come from somewhere that doesn’t have any snow,’ White said. ‘They’ll be in a situation where they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve just been training on this bag year-round, I had access to this facility and I’m just going every day.”

White pointed to Japan, where snowboarders have access to indoor halfpipes and other year-round training facilities, as one example. The country is home to the reigning Olympic gold medalist in men’s halfpipe, Ayumu Hirano, and one of the sport’s recent pioneers in big air, Hiroto Ogiwara. At the Winter X Games in January, the 19-year-old Ogiwara became the first snowboarder to land a 2340 − which, to spare you the math, is a whopping six and a half rotations.

‘It’s wild,’ White said with a laugh when asked about that feat. ‘I was like ‘oh my God, I got out at the right time.”

White announced his retirement from competitive snowboarding after a fourth-place finish at the 2022 Beijing Games. After winning three gold medals across five editions of the Winter Olympics, he said he doesn’t take many runs through full-size halfpipes anymore but he does still spend plenty of time strapped to a board. He’s found new joy in backcountry trips with friends and family, or hitting jumps and rails.

‘I really feel for athletes in the football world and others, where it’s like, how are they going to go enjoy the game in a solo situation? Go throw the ball around in the yard?’ White said. ‘For me, it’s like maybe the band’s no longer together, but I can still play the guitar. And that’s a very enjoyable thing. I can still go ride the mountain.’

At times, White admitted, his mind has also drifted to an all-too-natural question: What if? He’ll watch a video clip of a halfpipe trick and wonder if he could still do it, or see headlines about Vonn returning to the podium after a five-year hiatus and having a passing thought about a similar attempt.

Then, he said, his mind will settle and he’ll ‘come back to reality.’ He’s happy with the decision that he made to walk away.

‘Retirement’s such a kind of ugly word, in a way,’ he said. ‘I’ve definitely just shifted my focus to something else.’

Bad football is like bad pizza, right? Sure, comfort food has various degrees of excellence – or lack thereof – but at the end of the day, you’re probably still going to reach for it.

Wednesday night’s complete revelation of the 2025 NFL schedule is similarly metaphoric to savoring something you bought on the Lower East Side … or wolfing down Chuck E. Cheese because the options are limited at that birthday party of 4-year-olds you’re helping to chaperone.

So while we’ll breathlessly anticipate games like Ravens-Bills, Lions-Commanders or the Super Bowl 59 rematch between the Chiefs and Eagles, we’re here to list the five least-appetizing games on the 2025 scheduled in this space – ranked bad to worst – even though we suspect you’ll still grab a slice (or five) anyway:

5. Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles, Sept. 4, 2025

How does the matchup initiating the league’s 106th season make the list? Weeelll, it’s the end of summer. No more vacation. School is back in session. The weather is going to turn. The Cowboy Carter Tour will be over while the Cowboys embark on what will surely be a 30th consecutive tour around the league that won’t conclude on Super Sunday.

Stick to football? Fine.

Few matchups are as overanalyzed and overburdened – in terms of their actual importance – as the first of the regular season’s 272 games. And when you add “America’s Team” to the mix? If the Eagles win comfortably, the narrative will be that a team which largely dominated during the 2024 playoffs will be on its way to a successful Super Bowl defense. Any other outcome? Then the Eagles aren’t nearly as good as you thought … and the Cowboys are back in a big way and under the radar no longer … plus, hey, maybe rookie head coach Brian Schottenheimer can become the first to get Jerry Jones a ring since Barry Switzer three decades ago.

You can see where this is going, hot takes just running amok for days until the rest of the league’s teams get out of the gate. Yes, it will be fun to have the NFL back and to ring in its return with one of the league’s better rivalries and two of its most high-profile teams. But just a little bit of dread is baked in here, too.

4. Cleveland Browns at Detroit Lions, Sept. 28, 2025

Why do I include this contest, which is appropriately buried at 1 p.m. ET on a Sunday? On its surface, it shapes up as one of the season’s more lopsided pairings, the home team chasing a third consecutive division title (and much more) while the visitor seemingly remains in its decades-long quarterback – and holistic – purgatory. (Detroit rates seventh in my most recent power rankings, 22 spots ahead of Cleveland.) Yet this game will roughly mark the 16th anniversary of the Lions’ 38-37 defeat of the Browns at Ford Field in 2009, when then-rookie QB Matthew Stafford – playing through a dislocated non-throwing shoulder – outdueled Brady Quinn and Co. (seriously) by throwing the game-winning touchdown pass on the final play in one of the best Alcoa Fantastic Finishes nobody saw or remembers … except me. (And make no mistake, Cleveland and Detroit were typically putrid back in 2009, combining for seven victories.) It’s precisely why all manner of pizza gets consumed. And who knows, maybe Jared Goff vs. Shedeur Sanders – perhaps – is, um … ‘legendary?’ Maybe?

3. Houston Texans at Seattle Seahawks, Oct. 20, 2025

They should be fine teams, each coming off a 10-win effort in 2024 and both stocked with some of the league’s compelling, younger players. But not only is this game in the dreaded 10 p.m. ET time slot that will regrettably return twice to Monday night this season, you’ll also have to hope the WiFi doesn’t blink – this showdown in the Pacific Northwest is exclusive to ESPN+ – or you could miss the next time Sam Darnold or C.J. Stroud gets sacked.

2. Atlanta Falcons vs. Indianapolis Colts, Nov. 9, 2025

If I want to watch this – if – then I have to get up by 9:30 a.m. ET to view the first regular-season game staged in Berlin? Didn’t the NFL foist Daniel Jones off on the Germans last year? (Yes. Yes it did.) Perhaps it’s an unexpected barnburner between teams that could be playoff dark horses. Maybe Atlanta RB Bijan Robinson is even anchoring my fantasy lineup. And perhaps it’s a battle of franchises that have typically been also-rans for the past decade in a game when the ball could quite realistically hit the ground half the time it’s put into the air. Sorry, Deutschland.

1. New York Giants at New England Patriots, Dec. 1, 2025

If you’re potentially feeling grateful after Thanksgiving weekend, you’ll doubtless be over it by Monday night. Tom Coughlin, Eli Manning, Tom Brady and Bill Belichick won’t be walking through that door – well maybe TB12 and BB will (game’s in Foxborough, so never say never) – in what could very likely wind up a showdown between three-win teams with Drake Maye and Jaxson Dart, who might well be making his prime-time debut by that point of the season, at the controls. High degree of skepticism for a tasty meal here … even if leftovers sometimes taste better.