Buffalo Rumblings
Do miles traveled correlate with a competitive advantage?
With the 2025 NFL schedule now released in full, we have a clear picture of just how far each team will travel in total during the regular season. Teams playing in the NFL International Games series naturally drift to the top of the mileage chart given the miles it takes to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Interestingly, the Buffalo Bills aren’t part of this year’s international slate of games. Furthermore, the Bills will travel the second-fewest miles among all 32 teams — Buffalo will log in at 10,546 miles. Only the Cincinnati Bengals will travel less this season, at 8,753 miles.
The furthest Buffalo will travel during the 2025 season is to Southeastern Texas, where they’ll take on the Houston Texans. Interestingly, it’s also the Bills’ only game not to be played in the Eastern Standard time zone.
Leading the league in mileage are Los Angeles Chargers who will travel a massive 37,086 miles. A huge part of their total is due to the international game they play in São Paulo, Brazil at Corinthians Arena.
But does it matter how many miles an NFL team travels? It’s of course hard to give a definitive answer. Last season Buffalo traveled 16,710 miles, which was only nine miles less than the Kansas City Chiefs.
Importantly though, less travel miles means less chances for jet lag. The Bills won’t need to worry about players having to adjust their bodies to a three-hour time difference on the West Coast or an even greater time difference if they were playing in Europe. When Buffalo played the Jacksonville Jaguars in London two seasons ago, it was clear that jet lag played a factor in the offense appearing flat for the majority of the game.
When the NFLPA released their player surveys a couple of months ago, Buffalo received a low grade for travel. That was partly due to a lack of leg room on their chartered flights. Less travel time may alleviate some of those gripes.
For those in Bills Mafia wanting to travel with the team for road games, they won’t have to invest the kind of money that would be needed to fly across the country. That’s a guaranteed win, as is being just a little bit closer to their Orchard Park, NY home for the final season in the current Highmark Stadium.
