New England Patriots: 2020 regular season schedule released

The NFL released the full 2020 regular season schedule for all 32 teams — and the New England Patriots own the hardest slate in the league this year.

Well, the party’s over.

After years of lucking out and nabbing either the easiest or one of the easiest ranked regular season schedules in the league — despite the fact they were perpetual winners — the New England Patriots are finally getting a little bit of comeuppance … and it couldn’t come at a worse time.

In their first season without trusty No. 12 under center, the Pats are scheduled to take on what should be the league’s most difficult schedule in 2020 based off 2019 win/loss records.

Here’s the full schedule:

• WEEK 1: Sunday, September 13 vs Miami Dolphins (home) at 1:00 pm EST
• WEEK 2: Sunday, September 20 vs Seattle Seahawks (away) at 8:20 pm EST
• WEEK 3: Sunday, September 27 vs Las Vegas Raiders (home) at 1:00 pm EST
• WEEK 4: Sunday, October 4 vs Kansas City Chiefs (away) at 4:25 pm EST
• WEEK 5: Sunday, October 11 vs Denver Broncos (home) at 1:00 pm EST
• BYE WEEK 6
• WEEK 7: Sunday, October 25 vs San Francisco 49ers (home) at 4:25 pm EST
• WEEK 8: Sunday, November 1 vs Buffalo Bills (away) at 1:00 pm EST
• WEEK 9: Monday, November 9 vs New York Jets (away) at 8:15 pm EST
• WEEK 10: Sunday, November 15 vs Baltimore Ravens (home) at 8:20 pm EST
• WEEK 11: Sunday, November 22 vs Houston Texans (away) at 1:00 pm EST
• WEEK 12: Sunday, November 29 vs Arizona Cardinals (home) at 1:00 pm EST
• WEEK 13: Sunday, December 6 vs Los Angeles Chargers (away) at 4:25 pm EST
• WEEK 14: Thursday, December 10 vs Los Angeles Rams (away) at 8:20 pm EST
• WEEK 15: Sunday, December 20 vs Miami Dolphins (away) at 1:00 pm EST
• WEEK 16: Monday, December 28 vs Buffalo Bills (home) at 8:15 pm EST
• WEEK 17: Sunday, January 3 vs New York Jets (home) at 1:00 pm EST

https://twitter.com/Patriots/status/1258539671404986368

The Patriots will also play the Detroit Lions, Carolina Panthers, Philadelphia Eagles, and New York Giants during the four weeks of the preseason between August 13 and September 4 — assuming the league has figured out how to proceed in the midst of the current pandemic by then.

We’ll go more in-depth with our analysis of the schedule over the coming days, but here are some quick thoughts and instant takeaways:

• Expect New England to stay on the West Coast — probably in Los Angeles — for their back-to-back road games against the Chargers and Rams during Weeks 13 and 14 of their schedule. The NFL did the Patriots a favor by putting both L.A. games right next to each other in the span of just five days. It’s also a good look given the COVID-19 situation and concerns over the health and safety of players, coaches, etc. during travel.
• The Patriots still have five primetime games this year despite the fact they no longer have Tom Brady under center (Seahawks, Jets, Ravens, Rams, Bills). This is clearly a reflection on how popular New England is as a team around the country and around the world, despite the fact they lost their best and most popular player in free agency this offseason.
• While reputable sources suggested the Patriots would play their NFC West foes during the first four weeks of the season, it appears that report was inaccurate. New England’s interconference schedule is spread out across Weeks 2, 7, 12, and 14.
• The Patriots once again will have the luxury of playing their final two games of the season at home. New England hasn’t had a road game during Weeks 16 or 17 since the 2016 season.
• New England usually has also had the great fortune of having their bye somewhere right around the middle of the season. Not so this year — they’ll be taking it during Week 6. It’s not the earliest it could have been, but it’s still earlier than you’d like.
• While three of the first five games for the Patriots and presumptive starting quarterback Jarrett Stidham are at home — which is good — the two road games are against extremely difficult combatants in arguably the hardest away venues to play at in the NFL. Stidham and his young teammates will have their work cut out for them trying to win on the road against the Seahawks and the Chiefs in Weeks 2 and 4.
• Former Patriots backup QB Jimmy Garoppolo leads the reigning NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers into Gillette right after New England’s bye in Week 7. It will mark Jimmy G’s first return to Foxborough in a different uniform.
• While the entire schedule looks challenging in different places in different ways, keep an eye on Weeks 10-15. The Patriots will travel during four of those six weeks — including three straight road games during Weeks 13-15. Even the home games are tough — against Baltimore and Arizona. The four away opponents are the Texans, Chargers, Rams, and Dolphins.
• New England lost to four teams last year during the regular season: the Ravens, Texans, Chiefs, and Dolphins. While the Patriots play Miami twice this year and every year as AFC East division rivals, their games against the other three 2019 division winners are as follows: Kansas City (Week 4), Baltimore (Week 10), and Houston (Week 11).

What are your predictions as far as the New England Patriots’ regular season schedule is concerned? Let us know in the comments section below!