10 things to know about the Bills 2022 schedule
1 – The first league game of the year
The Bills are a Super Bowl favorite, and the league obviously recognizes it. Buffalo was chosen as the opponent for the defending Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams in the Kickoff Game on Thursday, Sept. 8th at SoFi Stadium for a 9 pm kickoff. It's the first time Buffalo will take part in the league opening Thursday game.
This is the first meeting between the two clubs since the 2020 season when the Bills beat the Rams in a barn burner of a game 35-32. Josh Allen threw a game-winning touchdown pass to Tyler Kroft with 15 seconds left in regulation.
This game also marks the first for Buffalo free agent signing Von Miller in a Bills uniform. And Miller will do it against a Rams team he helped win a Super Bowl on their home field.
2 – Back-to-back primetime
For the first time in their history, the Bills will open the season with back-to-back primetime games. Buffalo's Week 1 Kickoff game on Sept. 8th will be followed by a Monday night home opener against the Tennessee Titans on Sept. 19th for an 8:20 pm kickoff.
The Bills and Titans squared off in primetime just last season on Monday night in a back-and-forth game that saw Tennessee escape with a 34-31 victory.
The last time the Bills and Titans played in primetime in Buffalo was in 2000, a Sunday night season opener won by the Bills 16-13.
The closest the Bills came to opening the season with back-to-back primetime games was in 1996 when they had two primetime games in the first three weeks of the season when they opened on Sunday night on the road against the Giants and then played Monday night on the road in Week 3 at Pittsburgh.
3 – Primetime high
The Bills have been scheduled for a franchise-high five primetime games this season. After their Thursday night opener and Monday night home game against the Titans in Week 2, Buffalo will again find themselves in primetime in Week 8 against the Packers, Week 13 at New England and Week 17 at Cincinnati as Josh Allen and Joe Burrow square off for the first time.
Buffalo had four primetime games just last season along with a handful of times in the early and mid-90's, but never have they been scheduled for five primetime contests in one season.
All told two of Buffalo's primetime games are on Thursday (Weeks 1 & 13), two are on Monday night (Weeks 2 & 17) and one is on Sunday night (Week 8).
4 – Thanksgiving… again
Buffalo will have a sixth stand alone game in addition to their five primetime matchups on Thanksgiving when they travel to Detroit to play the Lions at Ford Field.
The Bills and Lions will be the lead off game of the NFL's Thanksgiving-day tripleheader with kickoff set for 12:30 pm.
This is the third time in the last four seasons that Buffalo has played on turkey day as well as the third time their holiday game will be played on the road. The Bills have won each of their last two Thanksgiving-day games. In 2019, Buffalo won at Dallas 26-15 and last season they won at New Orleans 31-7.
The last time Buffalo played a Thanksgiving-day game in Detroit was in 1994 when they dropped a 35-21 decision to the Lions.
5 – Revenge week
The team that ended each of Buffalo's last two playoff runs will host the Bills in Week 6 on Oct. 16th for a 4:25 pm kickoff. For the Bills this is the fifth meeting with the Chiefs since 2020 including the playoffs.
Kansas City eliminated the Bills from the playoffs in the Divisional round in overtime last season when the two teams combined for 78 points and 974 total yards. They also bounced Buffalo from the playoffs in 2020 in the AFC Championship game.
Buffalo's lone victory against Kansas City in those last five matchups came in Week 5 last season, a 38-20 win at Arrowhead.
The game is expected to be broadcast to the majority of the country as it features Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes, who both rank in the top five in passing yards and passing touchdowns since 2020.
6 – Rodgers vs. Allen on Sunday night
The quarterback that edged out Josh Allen for league MVP in 2020 will be coming to Buffalo with the Green Bay Packers for a Sunday night primetime contest in Week 8 on Oct. 30th.
The Packers have never won a game against the Bills in Buffalo going 0-6 in franchise annals. Rodgers lost his only previous start in Buffalo in 2014 when the Bills beat the Packers 21-13. Green Bay's franchise QB completed only 40 percent of his passes, did not throw a touchdown and had a pair of interceptions. His passer rating of 34.3 still stands as the lowest rated single-game performance of his career.
This will be Josh Allen's second time facing Rodgers and the Pack. Allen and the Bills lost in Green Bay in his rookie year (2018) as Buffalo was shut out 22-0 in Week 4 of that season.
It is the only time Allen has been shut out in his career.
7 – Roadies early, home for division games late
The front end of Buffalo's schedule features a heavy dose of road contests. The Bills will be playing away from home in three of their first four games. Sean McDermott's team will play at Los Angeles in Week 1, at Miami in Week 3 and at Baltimore in Week 4.
Buffalo last had three road trips in the first four weeks of the season in 2018.
Things appear to even out on the back end of the schedule where three of Buffalo's final five games are at home. What's interesting is each of those three home games in December and January are against their three division opponents.
Buffalo faces the Jets in Week 14, the Dolphins in Week 15 and New England in Week 18. In fact, the Bills have four division games in the final six weeks of the regular season.
8 – A pair of TBD games at home
In previous seasons the Bills have had a game date to be determined late in the season. This fall they have two such games. In Week 15 the Bills will host the Dolphins either on Saturday Dec. 17th or Sunday Dec. 18th.
Three weeks later in the regular season finale, Buffalo will host New England either on Saturday Jan. 7th or Sunday Jan. 8th in Week 18.
Buffalo and Miami make up one of the five games in Week 15 that could possibly have their game flexed to Saturday. The NFL will schedule two of those five games on Saturday with the remaining three to be played on Sunday. The same goes for Buffalo and New England in Week 18.
The game dates and kickoff times will be determined no less than four weeks prior to game day.
The NFL does this in Week 15 and Week 18 in an effort to showcase games that have playoff implications.
9 – Rest opportunities
Buffalo's 2022 schedule affords them more than just their bye week as an opportunity to get some rest. After their season opener on Thursday, Sept. 8th, the Bills will not only get their longest road trip out of the way early, but also 10 days of rest before they play again on Monday night Sept. 19th at home.
Their bye in Week 7 gives them a break between two difficult opponents in Kansas City and Green Bay.
And while the Bills do have a short turnaround between their Week 11 game against Cleveland and the Thanksgiving-day game against Detroit, they get a full week before they play the following Thursday night at New England and then another nine days before playing the Jets in Week 14.
10 – Christmas Eve in Chi-Town
Buffalo won't be playing a game on Christmas day when the NFL has three games scheduled, but they will be playing on Christmas Eve. The Bills will play the Bears in Chicago on Dec. 24th in Week 16 for a 1 pm kickoff that Saturday.
The last time the Bills had a game on Christmas Eve was in 2017 in New England.
The Bills haven't played in the Windy City since 2014 when they won a thrilling overtime game 23-20 over the Bears.
Josh Allen has never started against Chicago. He was injured when the Bills last played the Bears in 2018, a game started by Nathan Peterman in Buffalo.