For the Buffalo Bills, waiting for the schedule to drop is like waiting for Christmas to come. The schedule release really sets the tone for how the rest of the offseason will go.
This year,the Buffalo Bills don’t have an away game further west than Kansas City. Lucking into the AFC and NFC South this year helps keep Buffalo from multiple cross-country flights.
The effects of flying and adjusting to new time zones have been well documented. For such a critical season during the life of their championship window, this is invaluable for Buffalo.
The longest road trip is Miami, at 1,185 miles. The shortest is New York/New Jersey at 282 miles. In fact, if we add all of the distances round-trip (assuming the team returns home after every away game) the Bills are only set to accumulate 12,780 miles in the air.
All of these flights are under three hours. It can’t get much better than that. The only way this schedule can completely flip and become a nightmare is the following:
Buffalo Bills
- Play Miami on the road, then have to return for a home game
- Play Tampa Bay on the road, and then either following up with a home game OR playing New Orleans on the road next week
- Any other combination above, just different order
Of course teams have stayed on the road when there are consecutive road games, but that doesn’t happen too much unless that team is on the opposite side of the country.
With the 17 game season becoming a thing for the first time this year, the impact of shorter/lesser air travel will only benefit the recovery of Buffalo headed into the season. Maybe it can help Buffalo earn the number one seed this season if they can win the proper teams.
Usually everyone wants to rack up those frequent flyer miles, but here’s one instance the team won’t mind that at all.