One of the biggest knocks on the 2025 Patriots was that they played an easy schedule. While no team has any control over the slate of regular-season games they’ll face, no one will be able to characterize New England’s 2026 schedule as soft.
By virtue of winning the division and thanks to a rotation that has all AFC East teams playing every team from the AFC West and NFC North, the Patriots will have anything but a collection of creampuffs next season.
The home opponents include their AFC East rivals (Bills, Dolphins, Jets) and games against the Broncos, Packers, Steelers, Vikings, and Raiders (who beat them at Gillette Stadium in 2025, somehow). Road games include (beyond Buffalo, Miami, New York) trips to Seattle, Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City, Jacksonville, and L.A., to face the Chargers.
In 2025, the Patriots’ schedule went like this: Raiders, at Dolphins, Steelers, Panthers, at Bills, at Saints, at Titans, Browns, Falcons, at Buccaneers, Jets, at Bengals, Giants, Bills, at Ravens, at Jets, Dolphins. After starting 1-2 (with home losses to Las Vegas and Pittsburgh), the Patriots ripped through the rest of the slate, losing only at home to the Bills.
The Patriots eventually earned the No. 2 seed, with a wild-card win over the offensively-challenged Chargers, a divisional victory over a Texans team that had too many turnovers to contend, and an AFC Championship in Denver that saw both offenses shut down when the snow started to accumulate.
With the Chiefs, Ravens, and Bengals missing the playoffs and the Bills losing in overtime to the Broncos, the Patriots didn’t have to face the best of the best quarterbacks in the AFC. By the time the Pats got to the Super Bowl, they ran into a Seattle buzzsaw.
The game was never close. It felt like a ‘70s/'80s-era Super Bowl smothering, where one team was clearly better than the other. Indeed, if they played Super Bowl LX ten times, the Patriots would have been hard pressed to win once.
Maybe quarterback Drake Maye’s downplayed shoulder problem was a factor. Maybe left tackle Will Campbell’s lingering knee issue made it even harder to fend off Seattle’s defensive front. Maybe the abundance of 12s, and the silent count they forced, made it anything but a neutral-site game.
Regardless, the Patriots successfully climbed the AFC playoff tree only to step on a rake in Santa Clara. Next year, it will be much harder to emerge as the No. 2 seed. It could be much harder to win the division, if the switch from Sean McDermott to Joe Brady gives the Bills the boost they’re hoping for.
So, good news — there will be no asterisk attached to the 2026 Patriots schedule. Bad news, next year will be much more meat grinder than cake walk.
