Gang Green Nation
There’s a science to it.
The NFL schedule is set to be released this week. The league will announce select games over the next few days heading into the full release of the schedule Wednesday night at 8:00 pm Eastern on NFL Network. The league is really pumping up the hype for this. Yes, it is a very slow time of year.
This is probably a good time to remind you that for all the hype of the next few days, every team in the league knows all 17 opponents they will face. This week is merely announcing the dates and times of the games along with which games will be played at neutral international venues.
This time every year some people claim the schedule makers have launched a conspiracy against the Jets to give them tough opponents.
In reality, there is a formula. Here is how the Jets came to get these opponents.
Each team plays home and away against the three other teams in its division.
Buffalo
Miami
New England
at Buffalo
at Miami
at New England
Each year, teams play all four teams from another division in its conference. The division rotates each season. This year the Jets and the rest of the AFC East will take on the AFC North. The last time the Jets faced the AFC North in 2022, they faced the Bengals and Ravens at home and the Steelers and Browns on the road. That flips this time.
Pittsburgh
Cleveland
at Baltimore
at Cincinnati
Each year, teams play all four teams from a division in the opposite conference. The division rotates each season. This year the Jets and the rest of the AFC East will take on the NFC South. The last time the Jets faced the NFC South in 2021 they faced the Buccaneers and Saints at home and the Falcons and Panthers on the road. (The game against the Falcons was in London, but Atlanta was designated the home team.) That flips this time.
Atlanta
Carolina
at New Orleans
at Tampa Bay
The Jets take on the four teams in the AFC North this season. Like all other teams, they will face the teams from the other two divisions in their conference who finished in the same spot in the standings last year. The Jets were third place in the AFC East so they get the third place Broncos from the AFC West and third place Jaguars from the AFC South. The last time the Jets faced the entire AFC North in 2022, they faced their one AFC West opponent on the road and their one AFC South opponent at home (and ironically they faced the same two teams). That flips this time.
Denver
at Jacksonville
Starting with the 2021 season, the league instituted a 17th regular season game for each team. There is now a second rotation of divisions...
