Update 5/7/2020: Patriots will reportedly welcome Jimmy Garoppolo, 49ers to Gillette Stadium in Week 7
According to Evan Lazar, the San Francisco 49ers will visit Gillette Stadium in Week 7 — the much anticipated return of quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to New England, where he spent the first three-and-a-half seasons of his career. The game is another 4:25 contest for the Patriots.
With this games added to the list, we now know eight of New England’s contests:
- Week 1: vs Miami Dolphins (September 13, time TBA)
- Week 4: at Kansas City Chiefs (October 4, 4:25pm)
- Week 7: vs San Francisco 49ers (October 25, 4:25pm)
- Week 8: at Buffalo Bills (November 1, time TBA)
- Week 9: at New York Jets (November 9, Monday Night Football)
- Week 10: vs Baltimore Ravens (November 15, Sunday Night Football)
- Week 15: at Miami Dolphins (TBA)
- Week 17: vs New York Jets (TBA)
Update 5/7/2020: Patriots to host Ravens on Sunday Night Football in November
According to NFL blogger Lindsay Ok, another prime time game has popped up on the Patriots’ schedule: the team will reportedly host the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football in Week 10.
With this games added to the list, we now know seven of New England’s contests:
- Week 1: vs Miami Dolphins (September 13, time TBA)
- Week 4: at Kansas City Chiefs (October 4, 4:25pm)
- Week 8: at Buffalo Bills (November 1, time TBA)
- Week 9: at New York Jets (November 9, Monday Night Football)
- Week 10: vs Baltimore Ravens (November 15, Sunday Night Football)
- Week 15: at Miami Dolphins (TBA)
- Week 17: vs New York Jets (TBA)
Update 5/7/2020: Patriots will travel to Kansas City in Week 4
According to reports by CLNS Media’s Evan Lazar and Alex Barth of 98.5 The Sports Hub, three more Patriots games have been leaked: New England will visit the defending world champion Kansas City Chiefs in Week 4 for a 4:25pm game, and travel to Miami to take on the Dolphins in Week 15, and close out the regular season with a Week 17 home game versus the New York Jets.
With those games added to the list, we now know six of New England’s games:
- Week 1: vs Miami Dolphins (September 13, time TBA)
- Week 4: at Kansas City Chiefs (October 4, 4:25pm)
- Week 8: at Buffalo Bills (November 1, time TBA)
- Week 9: at New York Jets (November 9, Monday Night Football)
- Week 15: at Miami Dolphins (TBA)
- Week 17: vs New York Jets (TBA)
Update 5/7/2020: Patriots will reportedly open the season at home against the Dolphins
According to a report by Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, the New England Patriots will open their 2020 regular season against the Miami Dolphins on September 13. While no time has been set, the expectation is that the game will take place at Gillette Stadium. This would obviously be a preferred scenario from the Patriots’ perspective because it would mean that they would not have to travel to Miami early in the season.
We therefore know three of New England’s games so far:
- Week 1: vs Miami Dolphins (September 13, time TBA)
- Week 8: at Buffalo Bills (November 1, time TBA)
- Week 9: at New York Jets (November 9, Monday Night Football)
Update 5/7/2020: Patriots will reportedly play Jets on Monday Night Football in November
According to a report by Brian Costello of the New York Post, the New England Patriots will visit the New York Jets one week after their game in Buffalo for a prime time matchup: the two teams will go at each other on Monday Night Football on November 9.
So far we therefore know two reported games:
- Week 8: at Buffalo Bills (November 1, time TBA)
- Week 9: at New York Jets (November 9, Monday Night Football)
Update 5/7/2020: Patriots will reportedly travel to Buffalo in early November
As part of the slow leaks before Thursday’s schedule release, Bradley Gelber of USA Today announced three games on the Buffalo Bills’ 2020 schedule — one of which a home game against the New England Patriots: according to his report, New England will travel to Buffalo on November 1 for a Week 8 meeting with their AFC East rivals.
Update 5/7/2020: New report suggests Patriots won’t face entire NFC West in Weeks 1-4
The NFL’s 2020 regular season schedule will be released later on Thursday, but leaks and rumors are already making the rounds. One of which, published by Danny Parkins of Radio 670 The Score, would directly contradict Wednesday’s report that the first four weeks of the season would consist entirely of AFC-NFC matchups: he reported that the Chicago Bears would face the Detroit Lions on opening weekend.
If this report turns out to be accurate, every option seems to be on the cards again for the New England Patriots opening week and beyond.
Update 5/6/2020: Patriots rumored to play entire NFC West in Weeks 1-4 of the regular season
The NFL will release its 2020 regular season schedule on Thursday night, but the first reports and rumors are already making the rounds. One of them, courtesy of ESPN’s John Clayton, looks as follows and obviously takes the Coronavirus factor into consideration: the first four weeks of the regular season are expected to exclusively feature games between AFC and NFC teams — an approach that would make sense from the league’s perspective.
How come? Out-of-conference matchups are the least consequential on the schedule in terms of potential impact on postseason seeding (divisional and conference tiebreakers are most important). If push came to shove and the NFL would indeed be forced to postpone or cancel games because of the national health crisis, those contests would be the easiest to eliminate without a major impact on the overall structure of the season.
From the New England Patriots’ perspective, such an approach to scheduling would mean that the team would start its regular season against the four NFC West teams — with two games at home and two coming on the road.
The two road games at Seattle and L.A. would likely be scheduled in back-to-back weeks to limit the number of cross-country trips for the Patriots.
It obviously remains to be seen whether or not Clayton’s report turns out to be accurate, but the logic behind the NFL scheduling out-of-conference games early would certainly make sense. Either way, we will know more tomorrow: the league will officially release its schedule at 8:00 p.m. ET. on Thursday.
Original story 5/5/2020: NFL to announce its 2020 schedule on Thursday night
The NFL will release its schedule for the 2020 season later this week (albeit one that will not include any international games as was confirmed earlier this week): as was announced on Monday, the reveal will happen on Thursday, May 7, at 8:00 p.m. ET. The schedule will simultaneously be released on NFL Network, the NFL mobile app and on NFL.com.
The New England Patriots will go up against the following teams during this year’s regular season:
- Home opponents: Baltimore Ravens, Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos, San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, Miami Dolphins
- Road opponents: Kansas City Chiefs, Los Angeles Chargers, Houston Texans, Seattle Seahawks, Los Angeles Rams, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, Miami Dolphins