Schedule Reveal Hits Patriots’ Biggest Rivals With Cold Reality
The NFL dealt a significant blow to two of the Patriots' biggest rivals during the league schedule release.
Schedule Reveal Hits Patriots’ Biggest Rivals With Cold Reality originally appeared on NESN . Add NESN as a Preferred Source by clicking here . The NFL unveiled its complete 2026 schedule on Thursday night, featuring the New England Patriots with five primetime games.
In contrast, their division rivals, the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins, didn’t fare as well. Both teams will be absent from the primetime spotlight, with no games in that slot, as they are projected to be among the league's weakest this season. The Jets and Dolphins have the opportunity to have some games moved to a night slot later in the season, but this will only happen if both teams perform better than expected, as the Patriots did last season.
Last season, New England found itself in a similar situation to New York and Miami this year, with most of their games scheduled for 1:00 p. m. ET.
The Patriots won only four games in 2024, so when the 2025 schedule was released, they had few prime-time slots. However, everything changed during the season when the Patriots emerged as one of the top teams in the NFL, leading to several of their games being flexed to prime time later in the season. Perhaps the Jets or Dolphins will surprise us like the Patriots did last season, going on a winning streak that leads to a few games being shifted to prime time later in the fall.