Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - If the Buffalo Bills are going to win their sixth-straight AFC East title in 2025, they’ll have to do it by navigating and surviving a middle portion of the season that includes plenty of time on the road.
Starting in Week 6 with a "Monday Night Football" matchup with the Atlanta Falcons at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Bills will hop on a plane for 7-of-10 games, with their bye week mixed in.
That stretch of games away from home includes:
- Week 6 at Atlanta Falcons ("Monday Night Football")
- Week 8 at Carolina Panthers
- Week 10 at Miami Dolphins
- Week 12 at Houston Texans ("Thursday Night Football")
- Week 13 at Pittsburgh Steelers
- Week 15 at New England Patriots
- Week 16 at Cleveland Browns
With that said, there will also be a lot of opportunity early in the season for the Bills to get off to a good start.
After they host the Baltimore Ravens in a rematch of their 2024 AFC Divisional Round playoff game to start the 2025 season, the Bills play six-straight games against teams that did not make the playoffs last season. Those opponents had a combined record of 35-67.
Going 5-2 should be the minimum expectation before heading into a showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 9 at Highmark Stadium.
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The Bills will also be without two free agent signings, defensive end Michael Hoecht and defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi, each for six games due to suspensions for performance enhancing drugs.
Both players will be eligible to play their first game of 2025 in Week 8 against the Panthers, which follows the Bills' bye in Week 7.
Hoecht and Ojunjobi will be eligible to practice with the team following Week 4, so they’ll actually have three weeks of practice before joining the active roster, giving them plenty of ramp-up time before a stretch that has the Bills facing the Chiefs at home, traveling to face the Dolphins, seeing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home, and then the Thursday night game against the Texans.
That’s a much different stretch than earlier in the season, facing three teams who made the playoffs, and four with a combined record of 43-25 last season.
The game in Houston will be the final scheduled prime-time game for the Bills, and also the only game played outside of the Eastern time zone all season.
Due to the NFL’s schedule rotation, the AFC East this year matched up with the AFC North and NFC South. Every team in each of those divisions plays in the Eastern time zone except the New Orleans Saints, who travel to Buffalo in Week 4.
Due to finishing in first place last year, the Bills also matched up with the Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles at home, and the Texans on the road. Houston is in the Central time zone, which is just a one-hour difference.
In fact, the Bills will travel the second-fewest total miles of any team in the league this year.
That type of travel and time schedule is something coaches love to see.
If you were hoping for a break from the cold and possible elements in December and January, this schedule didn’t give it to you.
The final six games, starting Nov. 30 through the end of the season, are all either at Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park, or in other Northeastern cities with outdoor stadiums, including the Steelers, Patriots, and Browns.
