ORLANDO — The defending Super Bowl champion Steelers will kick off the NFL schedule against the Miami Dolphins on Thursday night, Sept. 7, in Pittsburgh, the league announced Monday.

The full schedule will be announced early in April.

The opener would feature the debut of former Minnesota quarterback Daunte Culpepper for the Dolphins if Culpepper has recovered from knee surgery.

On Sept. 10, the national Sunday night television games are Dallas at Jacksonville at 4:15 p.m., and Indianapolis at the New York Giants at 7:15 p.m. in what would be the first game pitting brothers at quarterback, the Colts' Peyton Manning and the Giants' Eli Manning.

The first Monday night games on ESPN are a Sept. 11 doubleheader — Minnesota at Washington at 6 p.m. and San Diego at Oakland at 9:15 p.m.

The league also announced the Thanksgiving schedule that includes a tripleheader for the first time and the debut of NFL Network as a carrier. Traditional Thanksgiving hosts Detroit and Dallas will play Miami and Tampa Bay, respectively, followed by Denver at Kansas City on NFL Network at 7 p.m. The third game will rotate to various sites.

Retiring NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said Monday he believes the job belongs to one person and should not be split, as Houston Texans owner Bob McNair suggested could happen because of the complexity of the task."Any CEO position is a one-person position," Tagliabue said. "Ultimately, one person has to be in charge."Tagliabue will manage the search for his successor and will appoint a committee of owners to facilitate the hiring process, but the committee will not necessarily be named at this meeting. He said a professional search firm will start by interviewing all 32 owners to gauge priorities and key qualities.Besides the two insider favorites of league operating officer Roger Goodell and Atlanta Falcons general manager Rich McKay, names of possible candidates as farfetched as former Sen. Bill Bradley have surfaced.