Find it difficult to believe that this schedule is not intentional.. over the years of this great run, the games against division rivals always seem to be some of the closest as they all know each other so well, to play the Dolphins twice in a three week period then play the Bills twice in a 4 week period is absurd and stupid.
Goodell and his minions always try for some sort payback, fortunately the Pats are smarter than he is..
But doesn't that advantage play both ways?
Further, isn't a greater advantage to Belichick? The Patriots will play the same team twice in three week. The Dolphins will probably play two very different teams.
Many teams 'do what they do.' The Patriots seem to actively try to do different things to make it harder to game plan against them.
For example, defenses may prepare for a two-receiver, three-receiver, two tight end, etc. formations. The Patriots do very different things from the same formation, based on whether Lewis, Burkhead, or White are in. They can do very different things from the same personnel grouping without huddling, pounding Devlin and two tight ends into the line and flexing Devlin and Gronk out wide on the next play, forcing the defense to cover them with corners and placing Amendola and Cooks in the slot under a linebacker.
I don't really see this as a disadvantage for the Patriots at all.
A bye in the middle, two high-altitude away games scheduled back to back, all are nice schedule benefits. A Thursday night game in the first week is an advantage in terms of future short weeks, and a longer second week to plan for game 2. (Too bad they lost it - but that had zero to do with schedule, since it was game 1.)
If we are going to fuss about a bunch of away games stacked in the back half of the schedule, we should celebrate all the home games in the front half. Do the Pats even have a disadvantage playing on the road right now?
