2022 NFL schedule: Bills won’t face any well-rested opponents
You cannot say the NFL schedule makers have something against the Buffalo Bills in 2022.
Counting their Thanksgiving Day contest, the Bills have six games already slated for a prime-time kickoff slot next season.
Digging a bit deeper, there are other benefits that were giving to Buffalo as well. They involve rest.
The way the cards ended up falling for the Bills, Buffalo has a key edge many other teams do not have: At no point in 2022 do the Bills face an opponent that had a bye the week before.
The Bills have their own bye in Week 7. The current way the NFL schedules byes, they appear from Week 6 to 14. However, of all Buffalo’s opponents in that range, no one has the week off before taking on the Bills.
This also helped the Bills win the league’s “rest differential” battle.
According to ESPN, Buffalo has a plus-13 rest-day difference as compared to their opponents next season. The Detroit Lions (+11) and Denver Broncos (+9) are the next closest.
On the flip side, a few Bills opponents for next year appear on the other end of the spectrum.
The Green Bay Packers have the worst differential in this area at minus-13. The Houston Texans and Buffalo’s AFC East rival, the New England Patriots, both clock in at minus-10.
In other words, rest, or lack thereof, will be no excuse for the Bills in 2022.
