Patriots

Taking a way-likewise-early on look at the Patriots' 2022 opponents

The 17-game schedule is hither to stay, but the Patriots volition have an extra game on the route this fourth dimension effectually.

Mac Jones will confront five playoff teams in his second season. AP

Post-obit their blowout to the Bills in the opening round of the playoffs, the Patriots won't take the field again for a competitive game for nearly eight months. Only it's never as well early to await ahead, peculiarly if you're one that likes to make trips based on the Patriots' schedule.

The exact dates and times haven't been released yet for next flavor, though the Patriots know who they'll face and where. They'll play 17 games once again in 2022, and because AFC teams played an actress home game in 2021, they'll instead play an extra road game in 2022. So, the Patriots will play at Gillette Stadium nine times and hitting the route for the other games (unless the NFL makes one of the Patriots' games a foreign, neutral-site matchup).

Every bit part of their schedule rotation, the Patriots volition accept on all of the teams in the AFC North and NFC North. They'll also accept on the teams that finished in second place in the AFC Due south (Colts) and AFC West (Raiders) in 2021. With the new added game, the Patriots will face the Cardinals and, of course, they'll face the other three AFC Due east teams twice.

Hither are some matchups to look out for.

Best game against an NFC opponent: @ Packers. The last time the Patriots fabricated a trip to Lambeau Field, a classic game broke out betwixt Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. Brady is years removed from New England, but Rodgers is withal in Greenish Bay, for now. Rodgers led the Packers to the NFC'southward No. 1 seed for a 2d straight twelvemonth in 2021 and looks to exist the likely MVP winner. Still, Rodgers expressed his want to move on from the Packers prior to the 2021 season, with him and Green Bay somewhen renegotiating a contract that would make it piece of cake for Rodgers to role means at flavour's end.

Even if Rodgers is out of Greenish Bay, the balance of the Patriots' NFC slate isn't too spectacular. They'll travel to Arizona to face the Cardinals, who fabricated the playoffs in 2021 but looked arguably every bit bad every bit the Patriots in one case they got there. Mac Jones will battle a fellow quarterback from his draft course when Justin Fields and the Bears come to Foxborough to have on the Patriots. They'll besides play at Minnesota against the Vikings and at habitation against the Lions.

Best route game: @ Raiders. The Patriots will make their kickoff trip ever to Las Vegas in 2022 to take on the Raiders. In add-on to maybe being the most fun route trip to spotter a Patriots game in 2022, Las Vegas looks like it'll exist one of the better matchups on New England's schedule. The Raiders are fresh off their first playoff appearance in v years, simply questions loom over the franchise. They let general manager Mike Mayock become soon later on their playoff loss and interim head coach Rich Bisaccia isn't a lock to stay, either.

As the Raiders conduct interviews to find their next general director and caput coach, there's a chance the Patriots could run into some one-time faces on the Raiders sideline. Managing director of player personnel Dave Ziegler has interviewed for the full general director gig while inside linebackers bus Jerod Mayo will interview to be the Raiders' next head coach. Offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels has also been reported as a candidate for the job in recent days.

Game with the nearly "fun" potential: vs. Bengals. If you like law-breaking, the Bengals have been one of the most fun teams to watch in the 2021 flavour.

Led by second-year quarterback Joe Burrow, the Bengals ranked 7th in points per game (27.1) during the regular flavour with Burrow throwing for 4,611 yards and 34 touchdowns. A big reason for Burrow's surge was the addition of rookie receiver Ja'Marr Chase, who caught 81 passes for 1,455 yards and 13 touchdowns. The former college teammates accept already cemented themselves every bit 1 of the league'due south best quarterback-receiver duos, and that air raid could be likewise much for the Patriots to stop.

With Chase or Jones being the likely winner for this season's Offensive Rookie of the Year, the 2022 matchup could be a fun revenge game for the thespian that doesn't win the award.

A pair of games confronting old rivals to expect frontward to: vs. Colts and vs. Ravens. Speaking of revenge, the Patriots will become their run a risk at revenge confronting the Colts in 2022. The Week xv loss to the Colts was Indianapolis' first win over New England in 12 years. It likewise began the downturn of the Patriots' 2021 season.

In that game, the Colts jumped out to a xx-0 lead. The Patriots fought dorsum a little, scoring 17 unanswered points to potentially set themselves up for a game-tying or game-winning bulldoze. But Jonathan Taylor sealed the game on a 67-yard touchdown run, giving him 170 rushing yards on the solar day. The Colts looked similar they would be able to walk into the playoffs at that indicate, only a late-season collapse caused them to miss it, leading to questions on starting quarterback Carson Wentz's future.

The Ravens appeared to be on rail to make the playoffs once over again in 2021, holding the AFC's No. i seed as late every bit Week 12. But they accumulated season-ending injuries to several starters throughout the season, with Lamar Jackson's injury being the last smash in the coffin as they lost their last six games. Jackson, the 2019 NFL MVP winner, is 1-1 against the Patriots in his young career and if he's dorsum healthy in 2022, the Ravens should be among the teams to trounce in the AFC.

Best matchup: @ Bills and vs. Bills. The game, or games, rather, that will be circled for every Patriots fan are their matchups against the Bills. Buffalo took out two decades of malaise in its opening-round playoff win over New England, showing the Patriots whose the boss now in the AFC East.

The Bills should still be really good again in 2022, especially as Josh Allen matures and enters his fifth flavor. If the Patriots can get Mac Jones to have a like bound Allen's had in his career, we could exist seeing an heady QB divisional battle for years to come up.

Here are all of the Patriots' opponents for 2022:

Abode:

Bills

Dolphins

Jets

Bengals

Ravens

Colts

Bears

Lions

Away:

Bills

Dolphins

Jets

Browns

Steelers

Raiders

Packers

Vikings

Cardinals

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