PHOENIX -- The Indianapolis Colts will continue the recent tradition of having the defending Super Bowl champions open the NFL season with a Sept. 6 visit from the New Orleans Saints.

The Thursday night opener will take place at the RCA Dome and will feature the starting quarterbacks from the 2006 Pro Bowl -- Peyton Manning of the Colts and Drew Brees of the Saints.

Manning earned Super Bowl MVP honors in Indianapolis' 29-17 victory over Chicago in February. Brees nearly led the Saints to the Super Bowl, falling short in the NFC title game against Chicago.

The NFL also announced its Kickoff Weekend national television schedule, including a Monday night doubleheader, as well as its Thanksgiving Day slate.

Chicago will visit San Diego on the opening Sunday as the featured game on Fox, while the New York Giants travel to Dallas for the opening Sunday night game on NBC.

For a second straight year, the opening Monday night of the season will feature a doubleheader on ESPN. The night will open with Cincinnati hosting Baltimore and will conclude with Arizona facing San Francisco.

Thanksgiving again serves up three games for the second straight year. The traditional game in Detroit will bring NFC North rival Green Bay to Ford Field on Fox, while the Dallas Cowboys will host the New York Jets on CBS. The night game on the NFL Network will pit Indianapolis at Atlanta.

The announcement of these national television games was made Monday by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell at the NFL meetings in Phoenix.

The remainder of the 2007 schedule will be announced in April.