By Nick Wojton / Billswire.usatoday.com
The full Buffalo Bills 2020 NFL schedule is now live. The Bills have some tough, intriguing matchups en route, assuming the season goes on as planned.
Better get used to taking some mid-day naps to stay up a bit later, too.
With that, here are nine takeaways from the Bills’ 2020 schedule:
Welcome to primetime
The Bills finally got their respect from the big networks. Buffalo will be playing four times on primetime this upcoming season. The first comes in Week 6 in a tough one: A short week on Thursday with the Chiefs coming to town.
Then three of Buffalo’s final five games are on primetime. After the champs, the NFC champion 49ers will host the Bills on Monday Night Football in Week 13. Week 14 then is another repeat primetime game from last season, as the Steelers visit the Bills on Sunday Night Football. In Week 16, it’ll be one more as the Patriots invite the Bills to town, once again on Monday Night Football.
Having four marks the first time since 1996 the Bills have had that many, which is a single-season high for the team. In Week 15, the Bills play a “TBD” game against the Broncos as well. Perhaps another primetime-type game awaits then?
Later bye week
Always one thing you look right for when the schedule is released is when Buffalo’s bye week falls. Personally, players want it right in the middle of the season. With that in mind, the Bills have theirs Week 11. Not too bad, all things considered. It could be worse, like Week 4.
But here’s a little silver lining: If the Bills end up playing an extra game in the playoffs, or perhaps two, a Week 11 bye kind of turns into a mid-season bye, right? Let’s maybe not get too far ahead of ourselves, though. But for what it’s worth, Buffalo’s bye week last year was Week 6.
Quick visit from champs
One of the toughest games in general is going to be whenever the defending champs are on it. The Chiefs and Bills do play in 2020. But it’s an even further interesting matchup. And does Buffalo have an edge?
The Bills host this one. In addition, it’s on a short week: Thursday Night Football. Notoriously, Thursday games are much tougher for the team that’s on the road. So the Bills could have the leg-up here. But regardless, if the Bills do pull this one off in Week 6, it’ll catch everyone’s attention across the league.
No long trips
The Bills have a lot of travel on their schedule this season, playing a few west coast teams. But having said that, the Bills won’t have any “long trips” on their schedule. By that, we’re referencing when teams do some changing up to their travel schedules.
Say the Bills played the Raiders, followed by the Cardinals. Both games on the road. On occasion, NFL teams will just stay out on the west coast. Just stay on the same time zone. It’s a smart play, but the Bills don’t have any opportunities to do so this year, so they’ll be going back and forth to Buffalo plenty.
Just one homestand
On the flip side of that, the Bills really don’t have any sort of homestands next year, either. Only one time the Bills play back-to-back games at home. In Weeks 8 and 9, the Bills host the Patriots and then the Seahawks. That’s the only time the Bills stay put in Orchard Park. But there’s two occasions the Bills are on the road back-to-back games. The first is Week 4 (Raiders) and Titans (Week 5) and then again in Week 15 (Broncos) and Week 16 (Patriots).
Really, overall, the Bills have a pretty balanced out schedule.
Zero teams coming off bye
Another plus: The Bills don’t play a single team that’s coming off their bye week next season. Along with Buffalo, only the Titans have their schedule arranged this way. This is a big edge for the Bills.
First, those teams are always much more rested because they weren’t getting beat up the week prior like Buffalo was. In addition, they have two weeks to prep for the Bills, as opposed to just one while the Bills also only have one week to prep for that team. This is a pretty big advantage for Buffalo next season, something they could use since their strength of schedule is the fifth-hardest in the NFL.
Tough mid-season
The Bills once again have a tough middle-part of their schedule. The toughest might be Week 6 to Week 10. The Bills start that with their short week against the Chiefs at home, then Buffalo travels out to New York to face the Jets, who will be an improved team themselves.
Buffalo does have that back-to-back slate at home in Weeks 8 and 9, but tough opponents in the Patriots and the Seahawks. No Tom Brady, but the Pats are still a great defense. Russell Wilson is also pretty awesome at quarterback for the Seahawks. This stretch rounds out with a long cross-country visit to the Cardinals in the desert. The Bills need to handle their business in this stretch.
The forecast
Let’s round this out with the forecast look. On the hot side of things, the Bills have only one early game that could be a bit warm, depending on how September is feeling. They’ll be in Miami in Week 2, which will likely be hot.
On the flip side of that, the cold confides of New Era Field will only be hit twice in December. One will be cool, Sunday Night but it’s against their closest opponent in the entire league: the fellow cold guys in Pittsburgh. In Week 17, Miami will be in town, so edge the Bills there, weather-wise.
Of course, let’s hope that’ll be Jake Fromm’s first start since the Bills have the playoffs wrapped up…