The 2023 NFL schedule was released last night and while everyone knew what the matchups would be this coming season, we didn’t quite know when. Now that we do, NFL Network has identified the team with the toughest road to Super Bowl LVIII.
This year’s team with the toughest schedule on paper are the New England Patriots. Eric Edholm wrote that they have the toughest first five games of any team in the league even though three of them are at home.
Those first five games are against the Eagles, Dolphins, at Jets, at Cowboys and the Saints. They have the third-highest strength of schedule in the NFL and don’t have their bye until Week 11.
Via NFL.com:
The Patriots’ 2023 schedule is relentless. Pound for pound, this is the toughest opening quintet of any team this year — and really, they might have the toughest closing five-game stretch, too. Granted, three of those first five games are at home, and they’ll have had the bulk of the offseason to prepare for Jalen Hurts in the opener, but it also includes back-to-back road tests against the Aaron Rodgers-led Jets and the Cowboys. Following the game in Germany against the Colts and the Week 11 bye, five of their final seven opponents finished above .500 last season. If there’s one fortunate wrinkle to that stretch, it’s that New England will have 11 days to prepare for the Chiefs in Week 15, but that contest is preceded by a tough Thursday game at Pittsburgh and there’s a road trip to Buffalo awaiting the team in Week 17.
The only real letup on the schedule seems to come in a pair of two-week stretches.
The Saints and Raiders games in back-to-back weeks could give them momentum, as could their home game against the Commanders followed by their game against the Colts in Frankfurt, Germany before the bye.
Last year the Patriots missed the playoffs for the second time in three years. If they want to avoid missing it three times in four, they need to find a way to overcome this gauntlet.