Las Vegas Raiders: Week 5 @ Kansas City Chiefs
Man, talk about front-loading the challenges. After opening their season in Carolina against the Panthers, the Las Vegas Raiders begin a brutal stretch that spans September into mid-October. In Week 2 they host the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football. Then they travel to New England to take on the Patriots in Week 3. In Week 4 they host the Buffalo Bills, who are coming off a playoff season a year ago, and they close out this part of their schedule with a trip to Arrowhead Stadium to take on the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 5.
At least they get a bye in Week 6.
But that is a difficult cluster of games, building with the Saints game and into their toughest of the season, their yearly visit to Kansas City. If they can survive that part of the schedule, they’ll feel much better about what they can do in the second half of their year.
(That is, if they can top Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coming out of their bye week).
Los Angeles Chargers: Week 17 @ Kansas City Chiefs
A difficulty in making a pick for the Los Angeles Chargers’ most difficult game – at least right now – is trying to predict who is going to be the quarterback for the team at each point in the season. If Tyrod Taylor is going to be the QB for the entire campaign, that might lead us to picking a game that is different than a selection if Justin Herbert is going to be under center. One could argue that Herbert’s first game – wherever that falls – will be their toughest of the season.
Putting the quarterback issue aside, the Chargers have some tough games in the year ahead. A trip to New Orleans to play the Saints on Monday Night Football is a tough test, as is playing the New England Patriots in Week 13 at home after traveling to Buffalo to play the Bills the prior week. But their toughest game might be their final game of the year, a Week 17 tilt against the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium.
Los Angeles Rams: Week 3 @ Buffalo Bills
As the Los Angeles Rams fight to stay in the mix of the NFC West race, they’ll do it facing a schedule that provides some geographical challenges. They face a number of trips to the East Coast, including a game in Miami against the Dolphins at the start of November and a game in Tampa Bay to take on the Buccaneers at the end of November on Monday Night Football.
But a potential back-to-back on the East Coast is perhaps their toughest stretch of games the season has to offer. In Week 2 they are slated to be in Philadelphia to play the Eagles, and the following week they are also back in the Eastern Time Zone, taking on the Buffalo Bills. Making this game against Buffalo particularly challenging is what the Bills can do against them offensively. Buffalo has the potential to be a dangerous vertical passing team, with the recent acquisition of Stefon Diggs, and that might be a challenge for a secondary that could be breaking in some new faces.
Miami Dolphins: Week 5 @ San Francisco 49ers
The Miami Dolphins are coming off a wildly productive offseason. With a ton of salary cap space and draft capital at their exposure, they remade their team virtually overnight. In free agency they added players like Kyle Van Noy, Byron Jones and Shaq Lawson to their defense, then in the draft they were able to fool everyone and take quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, when everyone had them doing something else in the first round.
Schedule-wise, however, the picture might not be as rosy. In addition to their AFC East games, which look difficult given both New England and Buffalo twice, they also get the defending Super Bowl Champions at home. Furthermore, the Dolphins take on the NFC West this year, putting trips to both Arizona and San Francisco on their plate. It is that game against the 49ers, on the road in Week 5 after playing the Seattle Seahawks in Week 4, that might be their stiffest test of the season.
Minnesota Vikings: Week 5 @ Seattle Seahawks
When NFL schedules are released, fans of many teams wonder how many national or even prime-time games their favorite team will have in the year ahead. However, you might forgive Minnesota Vikings fans if, when they were looking for those games on the Vikings’ schedule, they were doing it out of fear. Quarterback Kirk Cousins, while actually performing well statistically, has not delivered a ton of wins on the national stage. Since becoming the full-time starter for the Washington Redskins in 2015, Cousins has a record of 8-15-1 in prime-time games.
This year, the Vikings have two such games – three if you count their Christmas Day tilt against the New Orleans Saints which kicks off at 4:30 Eastern – and while their Week 10 game at Chicago might not be terrifying, their Week 5 Sunday night game could be intimidating. That night the Vikings go into Seattle to take on the Seahawks, in one of the NFL’s most unforgiving environments. Combining a prime-time game with CenturyLink Field might be a very tough test for Cousins and the Vikings.
New England Patriots: Week 2 @ Seattle Seahawks
This could be a very different season for the New England Patriots than their fans are accustomed to. Not only will the Patriots be breaking in a new quarterback in – we expect – Jarrett Stidham but they also face what is on paper a difficult schedule. They get to play the Baltimore Ravens, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Houston Texans, with the games against Kansas City and Houston coming on the road. They also get a tough stretch in December when they play at the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday, December 6, then stay in town to play the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday, December 10, then come back east to play the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, December 20.
But it is their Week 2 game in Seattle against the Seahawks that might be the toughest on their schedule, and that includes the Week 4 game at Arrowhead Stadium. If Stidham is indeed the starter, having his second regular season start come at CenturyLink Field is a very difficult task. The last time the Patriots visited Seattle was back in 2012, when the Patriots lost to the Legion of Boom 24-23 in a game that perhaps got people buying into the Seahawks that season. Obviously, these are two different teams now, but this will be a very tough early test for the new look Patriots.
New Orleans Saints: Week 14 @ Philadelphia Eagles
The New Orleans Saints gave quarterback Drew Brees some help this offseason. First they signed wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders in free agency, giving him another target in the passing game and giving Michael Thomas a talented running mate. Then they drafted Michigan interior offensive lineman Cesar Ruiz in the first round, one of the more talented interior linemen in the class. For good measure they added Dayton tight end Adam Trautman later on Day Three, a player some considered one of the best tight end options in the class.
The additions will be welcome, as they face a tough schedule this season. Of course there are the two games against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which are sure to be must-watch games given the matchup between Brees and Tom Brady. The Saints also host the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 15. But their post-Thanksgiving slate is the toughest stretch of the season for them. They travel to Denver to take on the Broncos in Week 12, then travel to Atlanta to play the Falcons in Week 13, and finish a three-game road swing by playing the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 14. That is a three-game stretch that can make or break a season, and that Eagles game might be the toughest of the season given the schedule.
Their reward for surviving that span of games? Then they come home to host the Chiefs.
New York Giants: Week 13 @ Seattle Seahawks
New York Giants fans will have to wait a little bit longer to see the official beginning of the Joe Judge Era, as the Giants are set to play in the first of two Monday Night Football games in Week 1. They will host the Pittsburgh Steelers to help close out the first week of play. The Giants also have some tough games in the first half of the season, including a visit from the San Francisco 49ers and a trip west to take on the Los Angeles Rams.
But the second half of the season also has some potential pitfalls, and probably their two toughest games on paper. In Week 13 they travel to the Pacific Northwest to play the Seattle Seahawks, and then in Week 16 they travel down Interstate 95 to play the Baltimore Ravens on the road. Both games look very difficult, but it is the trip to Seattle that probably looms largest on their schedule.