2024 Bills Schedule Very Early Updates

[GunnerBill]

The Bills haven't opened with New England since EJ's debut in 2013. I predict we open home to New England at 1pm.

 

Week 2 on the road in prime time. Possibly the Rams but I can see the Dolphins on the road as an MNF.

[bobobonators]

17-0

2 hours ago, Gregg said:

I would bet one of the Dolphins games will be on primetime since the rivalry has heated up again over the past few years.

It has? We wipe the floor with them quite a bit. 

[boyst]

2 hours ago, Big Blitz said:

Bills-Chiefs will absolutely be a SNF game.  
 

In Buffalo.  They almost have to.  
 

If the 49ers win the SB it might even be the SNF opener.  

Super bowl winner always plays it at home. We won't open with the niners or it being snf

 

However when the Swifts win, and they will, the niners @ buffalo Sunday night is the bet id make to open the season. 

[zow2]

The schedule won’t be as daunting in real life as it looks on paper now. The NFL schedule is all about timing. As the saying goes it’s not who you play but rather when you play them.

[Aussie Joe]

6 minutes ago, zow2 said:

The schedule won’t be as daunting in real life as it looks on paper now. The NFL schedule is all about timing. As the saying goes it’s not who you play but rather when you play them.

We say this every year and it’s correct…

 

Could even see the Lions have a bit of a hangover next year … would like to get them early in the season 

[Warcodered]

3 hours ago, Bills!Win! said:

We seem to be Thanksgiving darlings. I predict a San Francisco 49ers at Buffalo Bills Thanksgiving night game

We do play the Lions away this year.

[Big Blitz]

1 hour ago, boyst said:

Super bowl winner always plays it at home. We won't open with the niners or it being snf

 

However when the Swifts win, and they will, the niners @ buffalo Sunday night is the bet id make to open the season. 

 

To clarify - I meant Bills-Chiefs is my bet to be the SNF opener not Bills-49ers.  Obviously if the Chiefs lose the SB.  

 

[Warcodered]

1 hour ago, GunnerBill said:

The Bills haven't opened with New England since EJ's debut in 2013. I predict we open home to New England at 1pm.

 

Week 2 on the road in prime time. Possibly the Rams but I can see the Dolphins on the road as an MNF.

I would love that open against New England with a new HC and a rookie QB.

[Gman10]

Anyone know when the full schedule is released? My wife and I are trying to get there by the end of October. We have never been to Buffalo, but don't want to deal with the freezing cold like some of you savages lol.

[MasterStrategist]

5 minutes ago, Gman10 said:

Anyone know when the full schedule is released? My wife and I are trying to get there by the end of October. We have never been to Buffalo, but don't want to deal with the freezing cold like some of you savages lol.

Usually mid to end of May

[djp14150]

6 hours ago, corta765 said:

It is that time again where I can start filling everyone in on quirks and things you can already piece together. Yes the SB is not done but the matchup already has given some pieces so here we go:

 

-The Bills will not play opening night. The Bills host the Chiefs and 49ers in 2024 so while those games certainly have primetime potential it will not be week 1 against the SB champion. Had it been DET or BAL who won the Bills would've been a possibility

-The Bills have opened the past two years in primetime on the road (Rams 22' Opening Night & Jets 23' MNF (yikes)) so historically expect a home and for those 1pm fans potentially a game at 1pm. It is possible they end up at primetime at home, but coaches love 1pm games and I won't be surprised if McD and crew ask for a normal opener

-The Bills are not in Europe this year as they have no opponents they are traveling to who are in Europe. (NFL Euro home teams Vikings, Panthers, Jags, & Bears)

-BUT the Bills possibly may be on the road in Brazil. The NFL is playing a game in Sao Paulo Brazil and the big rumor is the Dolphins would be the home team. Last year the NFL sent a premier matchup to Europe with the Dolphins hosting the Chiefs. Typically the NFL avoids divisional games abroad, but it isn't impossible the Bills head under the equator.

-With the Bills home for 8 games and on the road for 9 games expect a stretch of either 3 in a row on the road or 3 of 4. I checked the schedules for DAL/PHI/SF/MIN for 2023 all who were playoff teams in 2022 and every one of them had a stretch of three roadies out of four as the NFC was the 9 game conference last year. The NFL is very rythemic and predictable with things like this.

-The Bills already have two games at least at 4pm as they travel to the LA Rams and Seattle Seahawks, although I would bet one of the two is a night game. The 49ers and Cardinals come to Buffalo but that does not guarantee a 4:00pm game as the Bills in 2016 hosted both teams at 1:00pm. The 49ers and Bills were on MNF in 2020 so I could see the FOX/CBS petitioning for the 4pm spot as they missed out in 2020. The Cardinals I would guess may be 1pm, but then again the Bills hosted the Bucs/Giants/Broncos (with on the G-Man making any sense marketability wise) last year all at night so who the heck knows lol.

-The Bills played the NFL max of 7 primetime games last season and I would guess similar in 2024 as a team can play in 6 and get flexed into a 7th week 18. The Bills home schedule includes SF/KC/MIA and road schedule includes HOU/DET/BAL/SEA/MIA/LA who all were playoff teams minus SEA. That isn't even considering the Jets with Rodgers back or the Colts with Richardson either. The one positive if you are a fan of 1pm games is 2xNE/JAX/TEN/ARZ all feel like pretty easy locks for 1pm and even bigger games like Bills v MIA can be 1pm. Last year PIT hosted the 49ers at 1pm which was a national broadcast. I wouldn't hold my breath for that, but with the SEA/LA games already at 4pm I can easily see one later taking away a primetime game. Long story short if the Bills have 7 1 pm starts that feels very possible even with the other 9 games being at 4 pm or night. 

 

That is enough updates for today, but I will leave you one last prediction. The Bills will play the Patriots by week 4 and be finished with playing NE by the first week of December. The Bills have not played New England early in the season since 2019 and for some reason finished with the Patriots in the final three weeks of the season 7 years running. The Patriots hype dies as the league prioritizes Miami and a potentially revived Jets squad instead late.

excluding 3 road/ home games in row with a bye in between…..the league DOES NOT schedule 3 in a row.  The 3 in the row come about in final adjustments in flipping weeks before schedule gets published.

 

The scheduling is a constraint satisfaction problem.  I understand this fully.  They set the national games and thxgvg, special day, foreign site games first.  From there they fill in schedules. This takes into account schedule conflicts like in Seattle, Baltimore, KC, and others that have baseball and football stadiums next to each other.  Look at the baseball schedules. If mariners  is home on opening weekend fri-wed. Seattle opens on the road.  They also take into account other events like concerts and  other events in the area.  Teams submit to the league scheduling office on these conflicts.  
 

they create a subset of games that is used to decide the national games ( including 425 games). You can go through and take games from divisional, inter league, div vs div same conf, placement games, other games of note ( rematch in playoffs), former coach/ QB/ big name player returning, Thursday having all teams on it, younger up and coming teams thry likely get an earlier national game than one in December that gets flexed out, and bye weeks like around overseas game.  It’s far easier in scheduling to do this in advance than try to get them in the schedule.  In the past few years you have seen 2 teams from thxgvg face each other on Thursday the week before or after is not some schedule luck. It was pre- planned.  Similarly teams who have nearby baseball stadium….they try to build schedule flexibility in case games need to be moved.  It’s a first game of divisional teams or the two teams share the same bye week. Stadiums like these are Seattle, Baltimore, Detroit, KC, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and others.

 

 

there is caps on national game scheduling in prime time.  They added other rules around divisional game scheduling where both are not on prime time national tv.

 

it’s possible the bills 2 west coast games get scheduled for the same trip. It can be one on Sunday, followed by one on Thursday.

 

um …divisional games in last weeks….just about all teams have 2-3 divisional games post thxgvg week on their schedule.  Usually a 1 vs 2 in division is one of them.  Expect bills playing jets or dolphins in thr final weeks. Sincr patriots changing coaches I don’t expect a late NE game over the last 3 weeks. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ControllerOfPlanetX]

I still have not gotten over the last game..

I hope they schedule all the games on Thursday on Amazon of which I am not a subscriber.

[sven233]

I know there is no way you can avoid it.  Your number has to come up at some point in the rotation, but man, I wish there was a way we could never play an international game again.  They are ridiculous.  And while nobody knows what would have happened had we not gone on that London trip, I still remember thinking that after that game that we lost any real chance we had at competing for a title.  Now, obviously, we still ended up with a chance and you could probably argue that if Bernard and Benford are healthy against the Chiefs, there was a pretty good chance we could have won.  But man....that England trip was devastating to this team and I have no desire to see the Bills play outside of the US anytime soon.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

I'd think the home team in Brazil will be an NFC team as this year the NFC gets the extra 9th home game.  That is one thing good about going to 17 game schedule whichever conference has the extra home game, they assign most of them as the home team in Europe and no reason to believe difference for Brazil.

[LABILLBACKER]

5 hours ago, bigK14094 said:

I don't see a #1 seed. To many cap problems.  Lots of vets will leave for the money in free agency and I don't blame them.  I think the Bills will struggle with a lot of rookies and cheap free agents playing and we will finally see the Von Miller gambit for the big mistake it was.   But, you gotta  break a few eggs to make and omelet they say. Go Bills

Yup, that brilliant Von contract is looking like a disaster. At least there's no ridiculous Euro game and the opener likely looks like a home 1pm. I want to see Josh get off to a great start.

Edited February 1 by LABILLBACKER

[Gregg]

13 hours ago, bobobonators said:

17-0

It has? We wipe the floor with them quite a bit. 

 

The Bills also won the majority of games during Kelly-Marino years, but it was considered one of the league's best rivalries at the time.

[SoCal Deek]

10 hours ago, sven233 said:

I know there is no way you can avoid it.  Your number has to come up at some point in the rotation, but man, I wish there was a way we could never play an international game again.  They are ridiculous.  And while nobody knows what would have happened had we not gone on that London trip, I still remember thinking that after that game that we lost any real chance we had at competing for a title.  Now, obviously, we still ended up with a chance and you could probably argue that if Bernard and Benford are healthy against the Chiefs, there was a pretty good chance we could have won.  But man....that England trip was devastating to this team and I have no desire to see the Bills play outside of the US anytime soon.

Next time….come with us. We all had an absolute blast! 

[WhitewalkerInPhilly]

I suspect we end the season vs the Jets. We've been rotating and the NFL loves doing division matchups on Week 18

[corta765]

16 hours ago, Buffalo_Stampede said:

Schedule is brutal next year. Maybe it’s a good year to cleanse the cap and go young.

 

We say this every year and then it changes as things happen. Buffalo is good and will just need to do work like always

11 minutes ago, WhitewalkerInPhilly said:

I suspect we end the season vs the Jets. We've been rotating and the NFL loves doing division matchups on Week 18

 

I have kind of thought either we host or are at NYC to end the year. I think they will think MIA might be down and NYJs up to try for end of year divisional race game.

14 hours ago, GunnerBill said:

The Bills haven't opened with New England since EJ's debut in 2013. I predict we open home to New England at 1pm.

 

Week 2 on the road in prime time. Possibly the Rams but I can see the Dolphins on the road as an MNF.

 

That has been my guess for a bit now. Buffalo gets a preferred 1pm open at home after two primetime roadies the last two years and we get a new NE team which is preferable.

16 hours ago, Bills!Win! said:

We seem to be Thanksgiving darlings. I predict a San Francisco 49ers at Buffalo Bills Thanksgiving night game

I have wondered about black friday. Rumor is two games this year

[HIT BY SPIKES]

The wife is a Seahawks fan and we plan on flying out of Toronto to Vancouver and then taking the train to Portland for a couple of days before taking the train back up to Seattle for a couple of days and the game before flying back to Toronto from Vancouver.

 

Any speculation as to when that game may be?