The 2018 NFL schedule is going to be announced this week, as the NFL has formally made plans to spend two hours announcing it on Thursday, April 19 at 8 p.m. ET.

The league has, at least over the past few years, turned the schedule release into a spectacle, making it a two-hour show in which NFL Network breaks down pretty much every team's schedule. 

We'll be doing our own schedule breakdown of course, including a live blog throughout the day that features a whole host of news and leaks regarding the schedule. 

The Pick Six Podcast -- now daily, with 30-minute eps up every morning, subscribe here -- will break it down in full detail on Friday morning. 

And CBS Sports HQ, our new live, 24/7 streaming OTT network, will be loaded with content regarding the schedule. If you're not onto HQ yet, well, what are you thinking: it's free and you can access it easily from Apple TV, Roku, Amazon devices and much, much more. If you have the CBS Sports app, you have the CBS Sports HQ app. 

Go check it out, it's worth your time, because it's real sports news for real fans. Head to CBSSportsHQ.com if you want to watch it via your desktop.

The beauty of the NFL schedule release is that we already know the teams that are playing each other. We've known for a long time too, with the 2018 NFL opponents having been determined back on Jan. 1 when the season ended.

Still, there is something huge about looking at the specific dates and times of all these games. The various revenge factors don't feel real until we see them locked into one spot at a particular time. And the primetime situation is massive as well; you get a sense of what teams the NFL at large believes will be important based on who gets handed the biggest games. 

Let's get the party started on Thursday, and here's hoping Dez Bryant signs with someone in the NFC East a few hours before the fun begins.