Colts Will Open Lucas Oil Stadium against Buffalo on
Sunday, August 24
INDIANAPOLIS – The new state-of-the-art stadium in downtown Indianapolis is getting a lot of prime-time, national-television treatment lately.
That treatment continued on Thursday.
The Colts' first home preseason game of 2008 – the first football game of any kind in Lucas Oil Stadium – will be against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday, August 24 at 8 p.m. The announcement came Thursday afternoon as the NFL announced its 2008 preseason schedule.
The game against Buffalo will be televised on the NFL Network.
The Bills-Colts game means the Colts will be on national television twice in the 2008 preseason. Earlier this off-season, the NFL announced that the Colts will play the Washington Redskins in the preseason-opening Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, on Sunday, August 3, at 8 p.m.
The Hall of Fame game will be televised on NBC.
Also next preseason, the Colts will play at Detroit (Week 1, August 7-11), at Atlanta (Week 2, August 14-19) and at home against Cincinnati (Week 4, August 28-29).
Dates and times for preseason games not on national television will be decided at a later date. Earlier this week, the league announced that the Colts will open the regular-season at home with a nationally-televised game against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, September 7.
Indianapolis and Washington last played in the regular season in 2006. The Colts won, 36-22, at the RCA Dome, with Colts quarterback Peyton Manning throwing four touchdown passes.
The Colts lead the preseason series between the teams, 15-10-1, with all previous preseason meetings coming before the Colts' 1984 move to Indianapolis.
The Colts last played in Detroit in the regular-season on Thanksgiving Day in 2004, a game in which Manning threw six touchdown passes. The teams played a preseason game this past season, with the Colts winning 37-10 in the RCA Dome.
The Colts and Lions have played 20 times in the preseason, with the Colts leading the preseason series, 13-6-1
Lions Head Coach Rod Marinelli was the defensive line coach under Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy in Tampa Bay from 1996-2001.
The Colts last played at Atlanta this past season, with the Colts winning 31-13 and Manning throwing three touchdown passes – all in the second quarter. The teams last played in the preseason in 2005, with the Falcons winning, 27-21, in the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan.
The Falcons lead the all-time preseason series, 9-1.
The Colts and Bills last played in the 2006 regular season, with the Colts winning in the RCA Dome, 17-16. The Colts lead the preseason series, 3-1.
The Colts and Bengals have played every preseason since 1992 with the exception of 2000. They have met in the preseason finale every season since 2003. The Bengals beat Indianapolis, 14-5, in the preseason finale last season and lead the preseason series, 10-6.
Their last regular-season meeting came in 2005, when the Colts won at Cincinnati, 45-37.
