Patriots Preseason Schedule Released

The NFL announced it's preseason schedule this afternoon, dates TBA, and along with it comes the teams the Patriots will be facing this August.

The schedule:

Week 1: At Philadelphia Eagles

Week 2: Home against Tampa Bay Buccaneers (nationally televised game on Fox, August 16th at 8 PM)

Week 3: At Detriot Lions

Week 4: Home Against New York Giants

Quick Thoughts: Not a whole lot of surprises on this schedule, as New England has seen all of these teams in the preseason before. In fact, this is almost an exact replica of the 2011 preseason schedule, with the Eagles replacing the Jaguars this time around. The real storyline will be which of the four opponents Bill Belichick will host joint practices with, which has become a custom of his over the past few seasons. Odds are it will either be Philadelphia or Tampa Bay, with the Buccaneers as the heavy favorite, although I think it would be great to see them practicing with the Lions. Going up against Calvin Johnson would be great practice for our cornerbacks, and I for one would love to read about the inevitable fistfight between Logan Mankins and Ndamukong Suh, but I'm not holding my breath. As for the Giants, I personally am getting sick of seeing the New England backups playing the New York backups every year during the last week of the preseason, but I guess that matchup is here to stay. Oh well. Regardless, it should be an exciting couple of weeks.