17 Patriots games in 2026, from a Wednesday opener to Munich
The full 2026 New England Patriots schedule with dates, kickoffs and networks, plus the stretches, quirks and two blank January dates that make it read like a story.
The New England Patriots had never played a game on a Wednesday until September 9, 2026. I went through their whole season, from that night in Seattle to two January dates that still have no kickoff, and the most useful thing I can tell you is that this schedule has a shape. It comes in stretches. Each one asks something different of a football team, and of anybody trying to plan a Sunday around it.
Two games are already in the books. New England lost the opener 13-10 at Seattle on September 9, a rematch of Super Bowl LX, which the Seahawks won 29-13 on February 8, 2026. Then came a 20-3 home win over Pittsburgh on September 20, with Christian Barmore forcing an Aaron Rodgers fumble that Elijah Ponder returned 19 yards for a touchdown. That makes 1-1 heading into Week 3 at Jacksonville on Sunday, September 27, at 1 p.m. ET on CBS. Fifteen games remain.
The 2026 season at a glance
- Games
- 17 (8 at home, 9 on the road)
- Bye
- Week 11, the weekend of November 22
- National TV
- Six games, counting five prime-time slots and the Munich morning
- International
- Sunday, November 15, vs. Detroit in Munich, 9:30 a.m. ET
- Still unscheduled
- Week 17 vs. Denver and Week 18 vs. Miami, both at home
The full 17-game list
| Week | Date | Opponent | Kickoff (ET) | TV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wed., Sept. 9 | at Seattle Seahawks (lost 13-10) | 8:20 p.m. | NBC |
| 2 | Sun., Sept. 20 | Pittsburgh Steelers (won 20-3) | 1:00 p.m. | CBS |
| 3 | Sun., Sept. 27 | at Jacksonville Jaguars | 1:00 p.m. | CBS |
| 4 | Sun., Oct. 4 | at Buffalo Bills | 1:00 p.m. | CBS |
| 5 | Sun., Oct. 11 | Las Vegas Raiders | 1:00 p.m. | CBS |
| 6 | Sun., Oct. 18 | New York Jets | 1:00 p.m. | CBS |
| 7 | Thu., Oct. 22 | at Chicago Bears | 8:15 p.m. | Prime Video |
| 8 | Sun., Nov. 1 | at Miami Dolphins | 4:25 p.m. | CBS |
| 9 | Sun., Nov. 8 | Green Bay Packers | 4:25 p.m. | FOX |
| 10 | Sun., Nov. 15 | Detroit Lions (in Munich) | 9:30 a.m. | FOX |
| 11 | Bye | |||
| 12 | Sun., Nov. 29 | at Los Angeles Chargers | 8:20 p.m. | NBC |
| 13 | Sun., Dec. 6 | Buffalo Bills | 4:25 p.m. | CBS |
| 14 | Thu., Dec. 10 | Minnesota Vikings | 8:15 p.m. | Prime Video |
| 15 | Mon., Dec. 21 | at Kansas City Chiefs | 8:15 p.m. | ESPN |
| 16 | Sun., Dec. 27 | at New York Jets | 1:00 p.m. | CBS |
| 17 | Jan. 2 or 3, not yet set | Denver Broncos | Not yet set | Not yet set |
| 18 | Jan. 9 or 10, not yet set | Miami Dolphins | Not yet set | Not yet set |
Why these 17 opponents
Nobody picks a team's opponents by taste. The NFL runs a formula, and once you know it the list stops looking random. Six games come from the division: Buffalo, Miami and the Jets, home and away. Four come from one rotating division in the same conference, which in 2026 is the AFC West, so Denver and Las Vegas visit Foxborough while the Patriots travel to the Chargers and Chiefs. Four more come from a division in the other conference, the NFC North, which sends Green Bay and Minnesota to New England and the Patriots out to Chicago and Detroit.
The last three games are where last season shows up. The two remaining AFC divisions each supply the team that finished in the same place, and since New England won the AFC East in 2025, it draws the other winners: Pittsburgh, champion of the AFC North, and Jacksonville from the AFC South. The 17th game is an interconference matchup based on the prior year's standings, which paired the Patriots with the NFC West winner. That is Seattle, the team that beat them in the Super Bowl. A formula does not do irony on purpose, but it managed some here.
Reading the season in stretches
The opening month is the hard part on paper. After the cross-country opener and one home game, the Patriots go on the road in back-to-back weeks, to Jacksonville on September 27 and to Buffalo on October 4.
October brings relief, then a squeeze. Las Vegas and the Jets come to Gillette Stadium on consecutive Sundays, October 11 and 18. Four days after the Jets game, New England plays a Thursday night game in Chicago on October 22. Short weeks are part of every NFL season, but this one follows a divisional game, which is rarely a gentle afternoon.
November is the travel month. Miami on November 1, Green Bay at home on November 8, then Munich on November 15. The bye lands the very next week. I could not find the league saying that placement was deliberate, so I will not claim it was. It is still the part of the schedule I like best: fly back from Germany, then get a week to recover.
December is prime time. The Chargers on Sunday night, November 29. Buffalo at home December 6, then the Vikings four nights later on a Thursday. A Monday night trip to Kansas City on December 21, and the Jets on December 27. Of the last six scheduled games, three are under the lights.
The Wednesday that started it all
The season's strangest date has a simple cause, and it is on the other side of the planet. The NFL scheduled its first regular-season game in Australia, the 49ers and Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, for 8:35 p.m. ET on Thursday, September 10. Thursday night is where the league traditionally opens its season with the defending champion at home, so Seattle's banner night moved back a day to Wednesday.
That had happened exactly once before. In 2012 the league opened with the Cowboys and Giants on a Wednesday so the game would not collide with Barack Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, according to CBS Sports. The Patriots' own announcement adds that it was the first Week 1 Super Bowl rematch since Denver hosted Carolina in 2016. So a franchise with six Lombardi Trophies got its first Wednesday because of a cricket ground in Melbourne. I find that delightful, and I suspect a few people in Foxborough found it less so after the fourth quarter.
The two rows still written in pencil
Weeks 17 and 18 carry no date because the league wants to see the standings first. The Broncos game is one of four in a pool that will fill two Saturday windows on January 2, 2027, with the other two played on Sunday, January 3; the NFL says it will announce those no later than immediately after Week 15. The Dolphins finale falls on the January 9-10 weekend, and Week 18 is announced only after Week 17 ends. We walk through exactly how those decisions work, and which other games could move, in our guide to the unset dates and flex rules.
The finale has a nice echo. The Patriots note that it will be the second consecutive season that ends with New England and Miami playing each other.
The morning game in Germany
Munich deserves its own page, and it has one. The short version: Detroit is the designated home team, kickoff is 9:30 a.m. ET, which is 3:30 p.m. in Munich, and it is only the Patriots' second game in Germany after a 10-6 loss to Indianapolis in Frankfurt in 2023. Both clubs hold NFL marketing rights in Germany, which is why the Munich game pairs two teams courting German fans.
If you print one thing from this page, print the table. Write the last two rows in pencil, and leave some room in November for a breakfast game.
Sources
Every factual claim above traces to one of these. Links open in a new tab.
- New England Patriots Announce 2026 Schedule
- NFL 2026 New England Patriots Schedule
- Analysis: New England Patriots 2026 Opponents
- Creating the NFL Schedule
- NFL owners approve formula for determining potential 17th game
- NFL Unveils 2026 International Games Schedule
- Seahawks vs. Patriots: Why the NFL season is opening on a Wednesday for just second time in 107 years
- Seahawks 13-10 Patriots (Sep 9, 2026) Final Score
- Patriots 20-3 Steelers (Sep 20, 2026) Game Recap
- Super Bowl 2026 highlights: Seahawks capture second Lombardi with 29-13 win over Patriots
- Steelers win AFC North title, will host Texans in wild card on Monday
- NFL Week 17 Schedule 2026
