Taking a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of the New England Patriots’ 2025 schedule.
The 2025 NFL Schedule is officially out, and now we know what the New England Patriots have in store for them this Fall. We’ve known who they were playing, and where, for some time, and now we know when as well. After a disappointing two seasons, will this be the year that they’re able to turn things around?
Based on this schedule, I’d say that there are plenty of reasons for optimism. Compared to last year, when the Pats were staring down the barrel of some brutal games and travel, the 2025 slate of games has shaken out fairly favorably for New England.
But it isn’t all roses. There are some rough patches in there, as well as some downright ugly ones.
Let’s take a look at them all. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly from the Patriots’ 2025 schedule.
The good
Two of three prime-time games at home. That the Patriots even have three prime-time games this year means that there’s at least some degree of confidence from the powers that be that they’ll be worth watching. New England has a Thursday (New York Jets), a Sunday (at Buffalo Bills), and a Monday (New York Giants) night game this season. And two of those three games will be at Gillette, which is a nice bonus. Prime-time games always mess with a team’s schedule, which is regimented right down to the minute, and not having to hop on a bus or plane at midnight to head back to Massachusetts two times out of three makes it a lot easier to adjust.
Three of four winnable games at home to open the season. Not only do the Patriots open at home against the Raiders, but three of their first four games are at Gillette Stadium, and all of them are against beatable teams. At Miami in Week 2 is likely a loss, but the Las Vegas Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Carolina Panthers are all beatable teams (at least at this point in the offseason). A 3-1 start isn’t completely out of the equation, which would be an amazing change of pace from seasons past.
Closing at home against Miami. It’s always a good thing when the Patriots can host the Dolphins at home late in the year, as the cold weather plays to New England’s advantage. Obviously, these are professional athletes here, so the elements aren’t any kind of make-or-break scenario for anyone… but I’d much rather go to South Beach when everyone is still used to the warm weather and then have the Fins come to Foxboro when it’s frigid. If all goes well for New England this year, there’s a legit chance that both the Patriots and Dolphins will be fighting for a Wild Card spot, giving this game the potential for huge implications. I’m glad that it’s at home.
The bad
Three straight road games in October. After a nice little home stand in September, New England has to travel to Buffalo, New Orleans, and Tennessee in back-to-back-to-back weeks. Luckily, they won’t be putting a ton of miles on the team bus/plane in terms of distance, but that’s still a tough stretch of travel for consecutive road games. Especially since those three road games start with…
At Buffalo on Sunday Night. The counterpoint to putting this game in the Bad column is that since they’ll likely lose anyway, they may as well get the benefit of the prime-time upset juju that happens every once in a while. However, traveling to Buffalo on Sunday Night after a cushy start to the year has the potential to be a massive kick in the junk that rattles the team a bit. I’m going to go ahead and stay optimistic and say that the Patriots will make it competitive, put on a good showing Stefon Diggs will light it up against his old team, and the Bills game will be yet another confidence booster for a team looking to make serious strides forward in 2025. But there’s also a chance that Buffalo curbstomps the Patriots at home on Sunday Night and kicks off a tough road trip.
The ugly
Yet another Week 14 bye. This marks back-to-back seasons where the Patriots have to wait all the way until Week 14 to get a bye, and the third time in five seasons. You’d figure the NFL would both want to switch up the late bye teams and maybe give that Week 14 bye to teams that are more likely to be playing deep into January, but apparently not. Honestly, I think I’d rather have a Week 4 or 5 bye over a bye week this late.
Bills and Ravens back-to-back in December. Coming off that super late bye week, the Patriots have the Bills and the Ravens to look forward to in consecutive weeks. Odds are that both Buffalo and Baltimore will be vying for playoff seeding at that point in the year and will need to keep winning in order to stay on pace with the other AFC contenders, so they won’t be taking New England lightly. There’s a chance that the Patriots will also be in the playoff hunt as the season draws to a close, and having to take on Buffalo and Baltimore back-to-back isn’t likely to make their road to the postseason any easier.
Jets on Thursday Night. I know I also have this game in the Good column, but let’s be honest: this is going to be an extremely ugly game. New England will have just returned from Tampa and will need to turn everything around too quickly, and like most Thursday Night games, it’s going to be a lousy product. I can’t see too many people tuning in to this one. On the plus side, this should be a winnable game for the Patriots, but everything kind of goes out the window for Thursday Night games as ill-prepared teams who aren’t healthy yet and haven’t had adequate time to install an effective game plan slug it out for three hours hoping to escape with an injury-free W. I can see another 16-6 turd on the horizon here.