Who has the easier schedule in the AFC East in 2020?

The NFL 2020 schedules are now live and the AFC East is going to be a fun division to watch as a major shake-up in New England has left it open.

It is likely too early to consider the Miami Dolphins a challenger for the AFC East even with Tom Brady out of the division. The real question is which other team in the division is ready to take it from the Patriots or if the Patriots can win with a QB not named Brady.

Buffalo Bills

Many believe that the Bills, a playoff team in 2019, is the team that is best positioned to take the division. The last team to win the division was the Miami Dolphins in 2008. The Bills have a solid defense and offensive weapons but it will be the play of Josh Allen that will really matter the most.

The Bills open against the Jets in 2020 and travel to Miami in week two. Their first big challenges come on the road against Tennessee in week five. They face the Rams and Raiders in between with the Raiders in Las Vegas.

The Bills will then face the Chiefs after the Titans before facing the Jets for the second and final time of the year. They then have the Patriots and Seahawks before heading to Arizona. The Bills will take their bye week in week 11. They will finish the season against the Chargers, at the 49’ers, home against the Steelers, on the road against the Broncos and Patriots, then wrap their season at home against Miami.

Overall, the Bills play four primetime games and one additional is possible late in the season with flexing. They have six games against playoff teams from last year.

New England Patriots

The Patriots will open their 2020 season at home against the Dolphins. It will be the first game without Tom Brady. Jason Stidham will be the starter for the 2020 season. This will be an interesting game for both the Dolphins and the Patriots and could really send a message for either team to the rest of the NFL.

They will then travel to Seattle for a Sunday night prime game before returning to Foxboro to face the Raiders. In week four it gets good as the Patriots will travel to Kansas City to face the Chiefs. That is an important early-season game that could have post-season seeding implications. They will return home for the Broncos before having their bye week.

Following the bye, they face the 49’ers at home and then visit both the Bill and Jets on the road. The schedule gets interesting from there. They face the Ravens at home and then travel to Houston for the Texans. The Patriots’ final slate of games is not that hard on paper and they should win four or five of those final six games.

Travel wise, this is the toughest part of the Patriots schedule. They face the Cardinals at home but then travel to Los Angeles for the Chargers and Rams in back-to-back weeks and then to Miami for the Dolphins. They finish the season at home against the Bills and Jets.

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New York Jets

The Jets are a team that no one really knows what to expect. Adam Gase is, well, Adam Gase, and there is no guarantee that he can turn the franchise around no matter what kind of players he has to work with. Of course, there are also questions regarding Sam Darnold as well.

As for the schedule, the Jets open at Buffalo and return home to face the 49er’s in week two. Then it’s off to the Colts and home for two games against the Broncos and Cardinals. They have a very good chance of starting the season 0-3 heading into their primetime Thursday night game against Denver. If they are 0-3, the wheels on that bus could definitely start falling off.

After the homestand, they are off to L.A. for the Chargers then home for the Bills, and frankly, it doesn’t get easier. They have the Bills, at the Chiefs, the Patriots, and at Miami in a four-week span before hitting the bye week.

The Jets will face the Dolphins in back-to-back games with a bye week in between as the Bills, Dolphins, and Jets all have the same bye week. The Raiders follow Miami, then a two-game road trip to Seattle and Los Angeles for the Rams before wrapping the season with a home game against the Browns and a final trip to New England to finish the season.

AFC East

Of the four teams in the division, the Jets have a harder schedule with the Dolphins following behind them. The Bills and Patriots’ schedules are not easy by any stretch as they have their own trials along the way. It is not going to come down to schedules however, it will come down to execution and which team can control the division games.