3 Big Takeaways From Patriots' 2024 Season Schedule Release
After a lengthy wait, the New England Patriots schedule for the 2024 NFL regular season has officially arrived. We now have the full scope of how this team's games will look from weeks one to 18, and what to expect for this exciting year ahead.
Even with week one's kickoff still sitting around four months out, the NFL schedule release day allows fans to inch one step closer to getting that taste of what should be a thrilling season ahead, also unveiling a few key dates for the year in the process.
As for New England, several dates of note have finally been discovered for their season ahead, giving fans some perspective on what to expect for this first year of a new era led by rookie head coach Jerod Mayo. It should be a fun season to come, but one that will still have its fair share of challenges.
Amid the league's new schedule release, here are three big takeaways from the Patriots' new calendar for 2024:
1. Rough Stretch Out of the Gates
The Patriots look to be starting off the year with a gauntlet of a schedule.
Right from the start, New England will begin their season on the road against Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals, and while things get a bit lighter against the Seattle Seahawks the week after, the journey only gets bumpier from there.
The Patriots will then be up against a brutal stretch consisting of the New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers, Miami Dolphins, and Houston Texans in the following four. As a reminder, three of those teams achieved postseason honors in 2023, and New York was an Aaron Rodgers Achilles rupture away from having a strong playoff case of their own.
It's a bit of a rude awakening for the Patriots to kick off their 2024, but it'll inevitably be a great test for this offense as they progress further into the year. A beginning lineup of matchups versus defenses like Seattle, New York, San Francisco, and Miami is far from a light load and will be a steep challenge for whoever ends up under center to start the season.
2. Heading Back Overseas!
After spending a week in Germany for the 2023 season, the Patriots will be back overseas to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars in London for their week seven matchup. It's New England's first game against the Jaguars since their 50-10 rout in 2022, and they'll look to reclaim that same dominance two years later.
During the Patriots' franchise history, the team is 3-1 when traveling overseas, suffering from their first loss last season against the Indianapolis Colts in an abysmal 6-10 defeat. Now led by first-year coach Jerod Mayo, this squad will be seeking to get a bit of redemption.
Considering the Jaguars will be stationed for another London game in the week before their contest vs. New England, it could add another layer of difficulty for Mayo and Co. Still, considering the all-time dominance the Patriots have had against Jacksonville (8-1 overall record), there's still good reason for hope here.
3. Drake Maye's Outlook Post-Bye
One of the biggest storylines to come as a result of the Patriots' recently released schedule is where their bye week would land, along with how it would impact any potential appearance of third-overall pick Drake Maye.
Now that the team's full slate of 18 weeks is here, we now know New England's bye will fall towards the tail end of their schedule on week 14, leaving four games to go in closing out the year.
Depending on how well Maye shows out in camp, we could end up seeing week 14 used as a marker for the first appearance of the UNC product. Given that he's a young prospect with limited college experience (only 21 starts), it's well within the realm of possibilities that this staff opts to let him sit for a majority of the year, then hand him the ropes for the final four games.
Of course, with a strong preseason campaign, there's a world where Maye comes in as the week one starter over Jacoby Brissett. However, we likely won't know until we get closer to September who ends up winning that quarterback battle. The schedule reveal, at the very least, gives us some clarity behind where and when we can expect the Patriots' week of rest to fall on.