Short answers, pulled from the story.
The National Football League regular season begins on the weekend following the first Monday of September and concludes in early January before the playoffs tournament starts. The schedule spans 18 weeks during which 272 games are played across the league.
Each of the NFL's 32 teams plays exactly 17 games during an 18-week period that includes one designated bye week for rest and recovery. This structure ensures every team has equal time off while maintaining competitive balance throughout the long season.
Since 2012, the NFL schedules games in five distinct time slots including Thursday night at 8:15 pm ET, Sunday afternoon games starting at 1 pm ET or 4:05 pm ET, and Sunday night games airing at 8:20 pm ET. Monday night games start at 8:15 pm ET with occasional variations when two games air on that day.
Sunday afternoon games are broadcast by CBS or Fox depending on conference rights while Thursday night games air on Amazon Prime Video except for kickoff and Thanksgiving games on NBC. The Sunday night game airs on NBC and the Monday night game appears on ESPN/ABC.
The first NFL regular season game played outside the United States occurred in 2005 between the Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers in Mexico City. Subsequent international games include a match between the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins at Wembley Stadium on the 28th of October 2007.