Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Breaking: New England Patriots’ Daunting 2026 Schedule Released

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Pats have an opportunity to make a statement and conquered their demons right out of the gate in 2026. This is Locked-on Patriots. We're live. You are Locked-on Patriots. Your daily New England Patriots podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. What's happening? I am your host of Nick Cattels on today's episode, three noteworthy positives from our initial read of the Pats, 2026. schedule. In the second segment, there are at least three significant negatives from this year's slate. But first, the biggest possible matchup starts the 2026 season. I am shocked that the NFL decided to go with the Super Bowl rematch in week one. I am shocked. I thought that

Starting point is 00:00:57 Seattle and New England would happen later in the season, at least midway through, maybe even towards the final quarter of the season. But right over. But right. way, the NFL, right out of the gates, Patriots at the Seahawks in week one. No buildup needed. The build up as you look back at the Super Bowl, the buildup is this offseason. In a huge, huge matchup in week one, a tremendous challenge. And some might say the toughest game of the season is your very first game on the docket. Now, does the NFL, I have to wonder, does the NFL think the Pats might regress this season? Are they trying to get this one out of the way, so to speak?

Starting point is 00:01:42 You know, if the Patriots or the Seahawks are not as good as they were last year this season, then if you wait on this matchup, it loses the excitement. It loses the interest. So maybe the NFL felt that one of these two teams, both of these teams, maybe they'll regress. And this way, you start week one right out of the gate. shot out of a cannon with the Super Bowl rematch. There's going to be a lot of anticipation, a lot of pomp and circumstance for this football game,

Starting point is 00:02:14 and the league might just think, we have the best shot of having the best game between these two teams in week one. Maybe that's their thinking. But this is, don't get it twisted, a gigantic challenge for the Patriots to start their season off in Seattle. This is going to be a big challenge for Drake May.

Starting point is 00:02:33 Think about Drake May. Last time he's on the football field playing a game that matter against this Seahawks defense, against Michael McDonald and in his defensive scheme. The last time we saw Drake May, he looked a little rattled. The last time we saw Drake May, he was looking around trying to figure out what was happening to him. The last time we saw Drake May, he was trying to figure out this Seahawks defense. Who was going to Blitz? Where was that Blitz coming from?

Starting point is 00:03:00 At what time were the Seahawks going to Blitz? It was a pretty difficult challenge in the Super Bowl for May and this offense. And so now, week one, he's got to be ready. And not only does May have to be ready, the offensive line has to be ready. Will Campbell. Can you imagine what Will Campbell is thinking? The last time he was on a field playing a game that mattered, he was getting absolutely handled by the Seahawks defensive line,

Starting point is 00:03:26 by the Seahawks pass rush. Now all of a sudden, week one, in a rowdy atmosphere, that place is going to be crazy, right? It's Banner Night. The Seahawks are going to celebrate their championship. And yes, it's going to be brutal to watch. It's going to be a brutal pregame to watch to go through all of that. It's going to hurt. It's going to hurt watching the Seahawks celebrate.

Starting point is 00:03:48 But that stadium is going to be loud. The 12s are going to be out of their minds. And with such a loud stadium, you talk about communicating. talk about the offensive line understanding what they're trying to do. I mean, that's going to be very, very difficult. So you've got your quarterback having to figure out the pre-snap versus the post-snap. You had problems with some of that back at the Super Bowl, the unpredictable blitzing from the Seahawks, and then you have your offensive line having to communicate and communicate clearly in the middle of a loud, ruckus stadium. Having to go against the defensive line in a pass rush that is going to

Starting point is 00:04:27 come at you in waves. It's a great test. It's a great test. If you want to look at this optimistically, this is a fantastic test for the Patriots. They get to stack themselves up against the defending champions, the team that I won't say whooped because, you know, well, we could say that pretty much whooped the Patriots in the Super Bowl, right? And now you get that your first test. We always talk about litmus tests and trying to see if you measure up, Patriots going to get that opportunity week one. They're going to get the opportunity to prove that they measure up to the Seahawks better than they did back in February, that their offseason was not a lost cause, that their offseason figured out some of the weaknesses that they had, the self-scouting,

Starting point is 00:05:14 the reevaluations, all that stuff worked. Imagine if Will Campbell plays well. Wouldn't that be a statement? There's so much concern about Will Campbell. There's so much worry about Will Campbell. The last time we saw him, he was playing some putrid football. The Patriots, Campbell, they will tell you it's because of the injury. It's because of the MCL. And before the injury, Campbell was a different guy. Post injury, man, oh man, it wasn't good.

Starting point is 00:05:41 It was a rough postseason. It was a brutal Super Bowl. But if you want to look at this, glass half full, imagine what a good game by Will Campbell would do in week one for his confidence. the team's confidence, everybody's confidence. What if Will Campbell goes out there and pitches a shutout week one? What if Campbell looks like a completely different guy against this Seattle defense? Would that not make you feel better? Against this scheme, would that not make you feel better?

Starting point is 00:06:11 I would feel so much better. And I believe in Will Campbell. I think Campbell's going to be fine. But it would make even myself feel so much better if week one in Seattle, given the elements, Will Campbell goes out there and plays a good football game. And then we compare the Super Bowl to week one and say, he got better. It was the MCL. It would be a significant first step of Will Campbell's sophomore season if he goes out there and he plays well week one.

Starting point is 00:06:43 Now, of course, if you want to go glass half empty, if Campbell doesn't play well, it could quickly become an avalanche. If Campbell is overwhelmed, the offensive line is overwhelmed, Drake May looks a little bit rattled again, then that might be a very, very tough beginning to a season. And you don't want any doubt creeping into the mind of Campbell after how he finished last year. So hopefully he plays good football.

Starting point is 00:07:13 This is also the perfect opportunity for Mike Vrable to do what he loves doing, and that is play the underdog. he can say to his team, right? As the Patriots gear up during camp, as they go through the preseason, as they go through the joint practices with Philly, Vrable can say, hey, everybody thinks we got our butts whooped in the Super Bowl. And you know what, guys? We pretty much did get our butts whoop.

Starting point is 00:07:37 But now we can prove the world wrong. We're an underdog. We're going on the road. We're playing at Seattle. They're celebrating their Super Bowl victory over us. Everybody's talking about how we can't do this and can't do that. Everybody expects us to lose this football game. So in that aspect, this is almost perfect for Vrable in this coaching staff.

Starting point is 00:08:01 If you were concerned about this team thinking too highly of itself after getting to the Super Bowl last year, well, week one is a brutal reminder of how the season ended. And I can guarantee you Vrable is going to use that. He's going to use that ammunition as motivation. I would anticipate, I would expect the Patriot, to come out flying week one. Not only is it week one, but you have a chance to try to punch Seattle back,

Starting point is 00:08:28 and no, that's not going to get you the Super Bowl victory. That's not going to get you the championship you lost last year. But to get the chance to walk into Seattle and punch them in the face and possibly win week one of the season against the Seahawks, the defending champions, man, that would say so much. It's almost perfectly built for Vrable to come out

Starting point is 00:08:50 and get his guys ready to play. I mean, I'm not even sure the Patriots have to win to set the tone. If the Patriots go out to Seattle in week one, and they do punch, and they punch often, and this is more of a back and forth, right, if each team is throwing haymakers, even if the Patriots lose a close game in Seattle, I think that would be, you know, a moral victory, as they might say. That could set the tone. We went into Seattle.

Starting point is 00:09:20 We played them hard. We played them tough. Everybody thought we were going to just get rolled over, but we didn't. And one more thing about the week one game. It's on Wednesday night. Wednesday night, NBC. And there is a benefit to that. The benefit to that is you're going to get the mini by.

Starting point is 00:09:39 So you play on Wednesday night, and then you don't have to play until that next Sunday. So that's actually a good thing. You play Wednesday night and then you don't have to play until the next Sunday at home against the Steelers week two, one o'clock kickoff. So you get that mini by after week one. It helps the travel from the West Coast back to the East Coast. And it will certainly help you prep for week two against the Steelers. But man, what a challenge and what a start to this 2026 season. The Patriots, Seahawks in Seattle, Wednesday night.

Starting point is 00:10:18 Prime time. All right, coming up, three things I hate about this schedule. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. Now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. The 2026 NFL schedule release is here. And now you can trade every game on Kalshi. Schedule release always sparks debates. Who's overrated? Who got a brutal stretch in which teams are actually playoff contenders?

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Starting point is 00:11:40 it makes it that much tougher. And this 2026 schedule when it comes to airline miles could not be any more different than its 2025 predecessor. Thank you for making us your first listen for being an everydayer. Don't forget to check out the Everydayer Club for ad-free episodes and access to a group chat with other listeners of this show. Tap the link in the show notes to find out more or go to lockdown patriots.com. You're watching us on YouTube right now, live reacting to this schedule, 2026 Patriots schedule. It is official. It is out there.

Starting point is 00:12:11 We're breaking it down. Don't forget as you watch us on YouTube to click that thumbs up. Give us a like. Don't forget to throw a comment in as well. Your thoughts on this schedule. I want your thoughts on the Patriots opening the season in Seattle against the Seahawks in a Super Bowl rematch. Don't forget to like. Don't forget to comment.

Starting point is 00:12:29 And please, my friends, do not forget to subscribe as we continue to build this community, getting you ready for the preseason, getting you ready for joint practices, camp, all of it. Don't forget to subscribe. Next goal is 10,000 subscribers. All right, before I get some more thoughts and some negatives about this schedule. And this schedule, let's not sugarcoat this. This is a brutal schedule. This is an absolutely brutal schedule.

Starting point is 00:12:58 We heard it all last year about, oh, the schedule is easy. The schedule is easy. It's the only reason why the Patriots won so much. We are not going to hear about the easy schedule this year. This is an absolute gauntlet. So before we get to the airline miles, before we get to some of the negatives, I want to get to some of your comments. Patriots.

Starting point is 00:13:17 Empire 10, what's happening? What's happening? How are you doing? Husky to Wolf, 187. 10-7. So he's got the Husky to Wolf already has the record. 10-7, Husky to Wolf says. Let's go to Todd Pagram, 6584.

Starting point is 00:13:36 He's more optimistic. 13 and 4 as the record. Newbie boy monk, 11 and 6. So we've got a 10 and 7, we've got a 13 and 4, and we have an 11 and 6. crypto jumps in, Crypto Canadian, 63 says 9 and 8 just above. And CNC says commenting for the algorithm because Nick asked. Well, thank you.

Starting point is 00:14:03 I appreciate you. All right. I don't care about the strength of schedule metrics after looking at this schedule. I don't care. I talked about it earlier in the week, right? That if you looked at the Vegas over unders, the Patriots had now the 12th hardest schedule. when you looked back at the end of 2025,

Starting point is 00:14:20 they had the sixth toughest schedule because that first scheduling that came out in late 2025 was based on the win percentages of the teams that you were going to play. And then you moved forward to this week when we all looked at the strength of schedule and it dropped from 6th to 12th because we're looking at the Vegas overrunners now. I don't care what metric you use.

Starting point is 00:14:43 And I said this earlier in the week. You know who you're going to play. play. We're not surprised by who the Patriots are playing. We've known who they were going to play since the end of last year. But the context matters. Where you play, when you play, what time of day you play or time of night you play. All of that stuff matters. Tougher stretches. And I'm telling you, this schedule is excruciating. This is one of, if not the toughest schedules that I can remember the Patriots having to play. Let's look at the start of the season. okay, because we'll get to the travel challenges in a minute.

Starting point is 00:15:21 But I want to start with the first month of the year. The start of the season, the Patriots will play four games, four straight games against teams that were playoff teams a year ago. The first month of the year, playoff team, playoff team, playoff team, playoff team. You start in Seattle, we talked all about that last segment. Then you come back home to host Pittsburgh. Looks like Aaron Rogers is likely going to be with the state. Then you have to travel down to Jacksonville, good young football team, and then you have to travel to Buffalo.

Starting point is 00:15:54 Think about that first month. Would you not feel great if the Patriots finished two and two after the first month of the season with that schedule? At Seattle, home Pittsburgh, at Jacksonville, at Buffalo, three of your first four games are on the road. And there's not a single cupcake among those four teams, not one. I mean, it just feels like, you know, the mission for the first month of this season is to try to keep your head above water. I mean, that is a very, very tough start. Three of those four games on the road, four playoff teams. Then you get to the travel.

Starting point is 00:16:34 Did you know the Patriots will travel the fifth most air miles this season? The Patriots will travel a total of 27,590 miles this season. If you're wondering, if you're wondering what it looked like last year, how many miles that the Patriots travel last season? A heck of a lot less. Again, this year, they will travel 27,590 miles. Last year, they only traveled 12,547 miles. The Patriots are going to travel more than 15,000 miles this year than they traveled last year.

Starting point is 00:17:15 This year, again, it's the fifth most air miles. Last year, the 27th. They were in the bottom five or six as far as how much they had to travel last year. They're in the top five this season. I think I mentioned this earlier in the week, but the hope was that the Patriots, they've got to go to the West Coast twice. the hope was that the Patriots would go back to back out on the West Coast. That way you stay out on the West Coast.

Starting point is 00:17:42 You don't have to worry about flying back and forth. That's not happening. Their West Coast trips split up. You start in Seattle, week one, and then you have to go back out to the West Coast and play the Los Angeles Chargers week 12. So no back-to-back West Coast, which would have helped this travel.

Starting point is 00:18:03 that they've got to travel to Seattle, come back, do what they got to do, and then travel out to L.A. to play the Chargers week 12. Now, there is one fortunate part of this. There is one fortunate part of this. Their trip to Germany, which is going to be week 10 at Detroit, quote unquote, that trip to Germany, 9.30 a.m. kick. That trip to Germany happens after a home game against the Packers. So a little bit of a silver lining to that Germany trip,

Starting point is 00:18:37 they're going to be at home before they have to travel to Germany. So that's one good thing out of the travel schedule. Something else about this schedule that is just crazy. The amount of primetime games, which we could expect, right, every time a team makes a deep run in the playoffs, you get to the Super Bowl, you're going to get a lot of primetime games. But the combination of the primetime games and where these primetime games are and the international trip, there's no flow to this season.

Starting point is 00:19:06 There is absolutely no flow to it. It is choppy all over the place. You start with week one on Wednesday night at Seattle. And then you look at week 12 through week 15. This is a ridiculous stretch of football. Three of the four games, weeks 12 through week 15, three of those four games are in prime time. Week 12, Sunday night football at LA against the Chargers.

Starting point is 00:19:32 Then you come back home, week 13, you play Buffalo at Gillette, 425 kickoff. And then you have back-to-back primetime games. You play Minnesota at Gillette, Thursday night football, and then you go to Kansas City, week 15 for Monday night football. I mean, my goodness, you go to Germany week 10, you get your bi-week, week 11, and then you come back in weeks 12 through 15. You've got three of those four games in prime time. That is insane.

Starting point is 00:20:02 That's insane. Three of those four games in prime time. And all of those teams could be playoff teams, the chargers, the bills, the Vikings, the chiefs. That's an insane stretch. The Patriots play two Thursday night games, week seven at Chicago, week 14 against the Vikings. And we all know Thursday night football is incredibly unpredictable. Some teams who are really good teams play bad football on Thursday nights. The Patriots have two Thursday night games.

Starting point is 00:20:31 and an extra kick in the junk is that the only non-prime time game out of that stretch of four is the Buffalo game at Gillette Stadium, and that's a 425 kickoff. So, I mean, even if you could kick off at 1 o'clock, at least you'd be off the field by like 4. It gives you a few extra hours. But now you're going to play Buffalo at 425, get done with that game, get home probably at 10, 30, 11 o'clock, and then all of a sudden you've got to be back in the building early Tuesday morning to get ready for a Thursday night football game against the Vikings. And then week 15 at the Chiefs, Monday night football, that's late in the season, dealing with weather, dealing with a hyped crowd in Kansas City. This schedule is tough.

Starting point is 00:21:19 I'm not telling you the Patriots are going to stank or their record's going to be bad. I'm just telling you the reality of this. This schedule is brutal. But I'm going to be positive here. I got to get to the optimistic part of this because coming up, I will give you three things that we actually love about this year's slate. This is Lockdown Patriots, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. The NBA playoffs, they're happening right now, and every possession matters.

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Starting point is 00:23:45 Again, not going to sugarcoat this. It's pretty tough to find a lot of positives within this 2026 schedule, but we will do our best to give you three things we at least like about this gauntlet. Thanks for checking out the lockdown podcast network. Now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe. we appreciate every single one of you. Every single one of you.

Starting point is 00:24:11 We appreciate you and your support. Eastie Rick jumps in and says 7 and 10. No cupcakes. I'm going home. CNC's back says long time. Watcher first time commenting. Well, thank you. I appreciate you.

Starting point is 00:24:27 David Berry jumps in. It says 12 and 5. That's what he's got as a record. 12 and 5. Caveman Slayer. The crazy part is that I don't care where we get the 11 wins. Just get them. Amen. Doesn't matter, right? Doesn't matter where you get these wins. Just find a way to tuck them in. All right. I wanted to end this episode. I wanted to end this live stream on some positives because again, this schedule is tough. But the league must really think highly of Drake May. The league must think really highly of Mike Vrable because this schedule is loaded with prime time games, big time moments. Kansas City Monday night football kicking the season off again on Wednesday night the very first game of the season that people are going to watch is the rematch of the Super Bowl.

Starting point is 00:25:22 And so you get these marquee matchups, you get these primetime games, you get flown out to Germany, you get your international game. It's all good stuff because now the Patriots are once again a player. When you're winning four games, nobody cares. We care. Nobody else. cares. When the Patriots win four games in 2020, the 2024 schedule, you know, not many primetime games. Was there even two? And then last year, not a ton of prime time games, some prime time games, but not a ton, a two or three. Well, now you're back. Five prime time games and an international game. So the Patriots, they're back to being in the conversation because of that run last year. Let's get to some more positives. The week 11 by.

Starting point is 00:26:13 The week 11 by, not as late as the last two years. The last two years, back-to-back seasons, I thought it was crazy. Week 14 by, that's really tough. You're playing, you know, 13 straight weeks of football. That's a lot of football. That's a lot of physicality. That's a lot of wear and tear. I like the buy closer to the middle of the year.

Starting point is 00:26:32 So we're a little bit closer to the middle of the year. You get that week 11 by. It is the perfect time to self-scout. You get about halfway through. What are you doing well? What are you not doing well? dig in, check it out, figure it out. I also like the fact that the biweek sits between the Germany trip and the trip out to L.A.

Starting point is 00:26:50 That is much needed. Could you imagine the Patriots going out to play out in Germany and then have to come back the very next week and play out in L.A.? That would be madness. So it is the perfect buy week to sit between the Germany trip and the Chargers trip that you got to take. And also you have that by week, week 11, it gets you ready for the tough stretch we talked about last segment, week 12 through week 15 at Chargers versus Buffalo versus Minnesota at Kansas City. Three of those four games are primetime games. At least you have your by week before that stretch.

Starting point is 00:27:29 You kind of get your wits about you. Hopefully you get a little bit healthier so you can get ready for that just brutal, brutal. four-game stretch. Logistics surrounding Monday night football at Kansas City. This is another part of the schedule that I like. Because before you go out to play at Kansas City, and it's going to be a really tough game, obviously. Mahomes versus May, I mean, that's just awesome, right?

Starting point is 00:27:53 But you have two home games, two home games before you go to Kansas City. So two home games, and then you have the Jets in New Jersey afterwards. So, you know, during that four-week stretch, you're not traveling a ton. You got two home games and you travel to Kansas City, then you're right back home. You take a bus trip down to New Jersey. They won't take a bus, but you get my point.

Starting point is 00:28:16 Not a lot of travel. And by the way, Minnesota is a Thursday night football game, so that gives you extra time to prepare for the Chiefs, which I also like. So the logistics around that Chief's game is going to be a really tough game, but the logistics around that game make you feel like you got a better shot. And another thing I would say is, because of all the prime time games,

Starting point is 00:28:37 and I think it's crazy to have a team play two Thursday night games, by the way. That should never happen. But because of the prime time games you've got, the five primetime games, you have three mini-bys, really, with so many primetime games. Week one, you go from Wednesday night to the next Sunday. So you've got that extra time. Week eight after Thursday night football in Chicago, you've got some extra time.

Starting point is 00:29:02 So three mini-by weeks with this coaching staff, That is a very good thing. That will give the Patriots extra time to figure out what's going right, what's not going right. But overall, I would say this schedule, again, it is difficult. It is going to be a tremendous challenge from Mike Vrable and his football team. A tremendous challenge. That wraps up this edition of Lockdown Patriots. Thank you for making us your first listen for being an everydayer.

Starting point is 00:29:31 Reach out to me on Twitter at Nick C Radio. and don't forget to throw a comment in on the YouTube channel, click that thumbs up and subscribe. And if you never miss an episode, the Everydayer Club is built for you. Get Lockdown Patriots, ad-free, plus members-only, discord, access, and more. Head to LockdownPatriots.com or check the link in the show notes to learn more.

Starting point is 00:29:52 Thanks to all of you. Thanks to all of you for joining us live tonight to react to the schedule. We'll continue to do this. As you know it every day. Have a great day. Have a great weekend. Talk to you next time.

Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Breaking: New England Patriots’ Daunting 2026 Schedule Released

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