The season kicks off with a Thursday night battle with the Chiefs, with five of their first eight games played at Gillette Stadium before the bye, which falls right in the middle of the season in Week 9.<\/p>\n
Their first game on the road will come in Week 2 against the Saints, followed by two home games against the Texans and Panthers. \u00a0After that, they play \u00a0two of their next three on national television, including\u00a0a Thursday night match-up against the Buccaneers. In-between their next game under the lights is a 1:00pm game at MetLife Stadium against the Jets. \u00a0But they’re back on prime time the following week in a Super Bowl rematch at home against the Falcons, followed by a 1:00pm home game against\u00a0Los Angeles. \u00a0After that, comes their bye, which comes on the weekend of November 5th.<\/p>\n
But from there, they’ve got a ruthless stretch and the only break they got from the NFL was the fact they’ll at least have their bye to prepare for it. \u00a0They play five of their next six games on the road, including a tough stretch to begin their second-half run.<\/p>\n
Coming off the bye, they’ll head to Denver to take on the Broncos on Sunday night football on November 12th, which ends up not only being a tough game for a Patriots team that never seems to have much luck there, but it’s the first of two games in tough conditions.<\/p>\n
From there, they head out to Mexico City the following Sunday at 4:25pm to take on the Oakland Raiders. \u00a0Coming off of a game where they’re playing at 5,238 feet above sea level, they’ll endure the challenge of playing another 2,000 feet higher south of the border, so it will be interesting to see how Bill Belichick handles that week from a practice\/preparation standpoint.<\/p>\n
After that, they get one game at Gillette Stadium against Miami before heading back out on the road for games against the Bills, Dolphins and Steelers, before finishing out the season at home against the Bills on Christmas Eve and the Jets on New Years eve.<\/p>\n
Overall, when you look at how difficult the final two months of the season are going to be, it will be an incredible badge of honor if New England repeats their normal success over that span. \u00a0Those games against the Raiders and the Broncos won’t be easy, with Oakland no longer a pushover and Denver always giving the Patriots fits when the game is in their home stadium. \u00a0Then it’s three games against Division opponents who know them better than anyone, followed by a trip to Pittsburgh, and then back home to play two more Division games.<\/p>\n
The schedule makers did them no favors and it’s obvious that on paper, this will easily be one of the toughest schedules they’ll play as they try and repeat as champions. Every game after the Bye could potentially have playoff importance since every one is against a Conference opponent. To take it a step further, should any of those teams surprise everyone and contend for the AFC East, they’ll become that much more critical.<\/p>\n
Obviously a lot will change before the beginning of the season and even more will be different by the time those final weeks get here. \u00a0Either way, it should make for another fun ride that can’t get here fast enough.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/images\/us-presswire\/600w\/2015-Preseason-Game-4-Patriots-Fans-Vindication-600w.jpg\")