The NFL released its full slate of games for the 2025 schedule on Wednesday night, and Buffalo Bills fans immediately took to their Week 1 Sunday Night Football matchup against the Baltimore Ravens.
Meanwhile, for Bills' head coach Sean McDermott, his eyes were elsewhere upon receiving the schedule. Speaking on It's Always Gameday in Buffalo, McDermott was asked what he looks for in the schedule each year, saying he opts to focus more on what his team's routine may look like, opposed to the actual opponents.
“I really try and look at the schedule in between games,” McDermott said.
“The time that is going to lapse in between games. Because we’re a popular ticket, a popular show on TV, we play at a lot of odds times, odd parts of the week. You have to embrace it, that’s what you have to do as a team and it’s great for our fans. But it’s hard on the players and it’s hard on their families, and it’s hard on the coaches, in particular, for the preparation we put in.”
The Bills have five primetime matchups in the upcoming NFL season, including a pair of Thursday Night Football contests, the first of which comes in Week 3 in a divisional matchup against the Miami Dolphins, while the second happens in Week 12 against the Houston Texans.
McDermott continued, sharing that the longer rest weeks give coaches more time to prepare in advance for the shorter rest weeks.
“I’m looking right away for how many days in between each game, where the short weeks are going to be and where the longer weeks are going to be, to maybe catch up on some rest or work on one of our short week opponents a little bit.”
According to Fox Sports, the Bills' strength of schedule currently ranks as the ninth easiest in the league. The Bills are hoping their offseason wheeling and dealing, paired with a seemingly easy schedule, positions them nicely to improve upon their 13-4 2024 campaign. Of course, those 17 regular season games are all to set the team up for the playoffs, where the Bills are hoping to make their first Super Bowl appearance since 1993.