Change in next year's opponents

[BradfordPatsFan]

I know this year hasn't even started yet and next year is up in the air anyway but Reiss points out a change to next year's rotation on his blog.

The Pats are playing the AFC West and as per the previous rotation, the Pats would be going to KC and Denver, welcoming SD and Oakland. However, next year the Pats will host SD and KC, traveling to Oakland and Denver.

I asked Reiss, via twitter, if he was right, he said he is. I then asked if this was happening will all divisional rotation. I haven't gotten a reply yet, but will update when I do. However, I have a feeling it may have to do with teams traveling all the way to the west coast several times. We'll see if other cross country-type changes pop up on next year's opponents list across the league.

 

[Calciumee]

So still 2 long flights, but not like last time

 

[alamo]

This change was made after the 2008 season, it was a direct response to all the publicity about the Pats staying on the west coast.

The league asked itself why both west coast teams were paired in the home/away game rotation rather than one west coast team (SD, OAK) and another division team in the other time zones (KC, DEN). The answer was basically "noone ever thought about it before". So they changed it.