Get ready for the biggest season ever. The 2021 NFL Schedule powered by AWS will be released on May 12th.
đź“ş: NFL Schedule Release '21 presented by Verizon on @NFLNetwork Wednesday, May 12th at 8pm ET. pic.twitter.com/PnhtS3V0dd
— NFL (@NFL) April 21, 2021
The NFL revealed this week that the 2021 league schedule will be announced on May 12 at 7 p.m. Central time. It will beannounced on NFL.com, NFL Network, and the NFL app, and is set to feature a 17th regular season game for the first time ever. This is perhaps the most significant schedule change since the league expanded its season to 16 games in 1978.
The Dallas Cowboys are paired up with the New England Patriots, on the road, as the NFC and AFC East catch each other in the new rotational quirk to the schedule.
This additional game was agreed upon whenever the 2020 collective bargaining agreement was passed, and opponents for the newly-added Week 18 games have already been determined.
As part of the original rotation, Dallas will face all four teams from the NFC South and AFC West, home of the Super Bowl combatants Tampa Bay and Kansas City, as well as cross-NFC divisional matchups against the third-place finishing NFC North and NFC West clubs. As always, a home-and-home series against their NFC East rivals is on tap.
Home Games (8)
- Washington Football Team
- New York Giants
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Atlanta Falcons
- Denver Broncos
- Arizona Cardinals
- Carolina Panthers
- Las Vegas Raiders
Away Games (9)
- Washington
- New York
- Philadelphia
- Minnesota Vikings
- Los Angeles Chargers
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- New Orleans Saints
- Kansas City Chiefs
- New England Patriots (added as 17th opponent)
Even with contests against the defending champion Buccaneers, the Chiefs, and the Saints, based on last year’s records,the Cowboys are set to have the third easiest strength-of-schedule in the whole league in 2021. The NFC East poor records a year ago are the biggest reason the Cowboys schedule is projected to be one of the most manageable in the NFL next year. Throw in the New Orleans Saints going at it without Drew Brees and things seem even less daunting, on paper.
Too bad the games aren’t played on paper.
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