Here's the Patriots' 2024 reschedule released by the NFL, along with our quickie takeaways:
BSJ ANALYSIS
• First thing I looked for: the bye week. That's a really, really late bye in December, but it sets up perfect for Drake Maye to take the reigns if the Patriots are out of contention and get some on-the-job training for the final four weeks.
• Bengals are a tough open on the road with Joe Burrow being healthy, but Seattle in the home opener Week 2 and at the Jets on Thursday night in Week 3 is not terrible.
• Patriots get only one prime-time game. How the mighty have fallen.
* Patriots have a soft middle with Houston, at Jacksonville, home Jets, at Tennessee, and at Bears.
* Bills aren't until Dec. 22 at Buffalo, and the Patriots play them twice in the final 3 games.
* The Patriots are not staying out west for games at San Francisco and Arizona.
* At Tennessee (11/3), at Miami (11/24) and at Arizona (12/15) are the good weather trips for New Englanders.
* No bad weather games outside of at Buffalo (12/22). At Jacksonville (10/20) and at Miami (11/24) could have been murderous if they were in September.
* Soft dome teams Rams (11/17), Colts (12/1) and Chargers (TBD, likely 12/29) come to New England where there could be a weather advantage.
* I like the schedule. Decent open. Soft middle. Decent end.
* Don't think there's an overly daunting stretch. Jets-49ers-Dolphins could be tough, but we really don't know. Bills-Chargers-Bills could be a tough close if the Bills are good without Stefon Diggs and Jim Harbaugh is working his magic.
* What do you think?
GIARDI'S THOUGHTS
- Bedard has gone soft on us all. Three of the first four on the road against quality QBs and/or systems (Cincy, NYJ, SF) should not be anyone's idea of a good time.
- The Jaguars will have already been in London the week prior (technically the visiting team against the Bears). Jacksonville went 2-0 last year in their back-to-back games in England. Pats could have asked for a bye post-trip but elected not to, for those of you who were wondering.
- Would have been much nicer had the bye week been somewhere in the middle instead of so late. I'd prefer to see Maye with the extra week of in-season prep (assuming he doesn't win the job at some point prior). Mind you, that won't prevent the team from making the switch if they feel necessary, but if we were living in a more perfect world, that would have been the best scenario.
- I loathe the schedule-makers doing the same opposition two times in three weeks (Bills). I'd also rather catch the Bills early rather than late. With the number of personnel changes they have made, September could be a rugged stretch for Buffalo.
- Stroud, Stafford, Richardson, and Herbert all come to Foxborough, assuming they are healthy. That's a difficult - but fun - group of QBs to see in person. Throw in Burrow, Lawrence, Caleb Williams, and Murray (in addition to the divisional foes), and this defense will have to be all that they think they can be, or it could get rough.