After about three weeks of practicing against teammates, the Buffalo Bills will kick off their three-game preseason schedule on August 13th when they play the Indianapolis Colts. They will have one more home preseason game against the Denver Broncos before traveling on the road to play the Carolina Panthers in the preseason finale.
Week 1: Indianapolis Colts vs. Buffalo Bills
Location: Highmark Stadium
Time: August 13th, 4:00 PM
TV: NFL Network, WIVB, WROC
The Buffalo Bills will open the preseason playing the Indianapolis Colts and the two teams have split their last two meetings. The Bills won the matchup in 2020 when they faced the Colts at Highmark Stadium in the AFC Wild Card Round. It was their first playoff win in 25 years.
Then last year, it was the Colts who would hand Buffalo their biggest loss of the season behind Jonathan Taylor’s four rushing touchdowns by a final of 41-16. This was really the only game that the Bills didn’t really have a chance to win late at the end of the game.
Week 2: Denver Broncos vs. Buffalo Bills
Location: Highmark Stadium
Date/Time: August 20th, 1:00 PM
TV: NFL Network, WIVB, WROC
The Buffalo Bills second preseason game is going to be ‘Kids Day’ at Highmark Stadium and also is probably the most exciting preseason game on the schedule. The second preseason game could be treated as the dress rehearsal for the season for Buffalo and the starters could play the most of any preseason game.
The Bills will be playing the Denver Broncos who made a number of notable changes as they traded for Russell Wilson as well as hired Nathaniel Hackett to be their head coach. Hackett had two stops in Buffalo as he was offensive quality control in 2008 and 2009 and then offensive coordinator for two seasons under Doug Marrone in 2013 and 2014.
This will be the first time, regular season or preseason, that Miller will play against the Denver Broncos. He spent the first 10.5 years of his career with the Broncos after they drafted him second overall in 2011 but was traded during the season to the Los Angeles Rams this past season.
Week 3: Buffalo Bills vs. Carolina Panthers
Location: Bank of America Stadium
Date/Time: August 26th, 7:00 PM
TV: WIVB, WROC
The connection between the Buffalo Bills and Carolina Panthers is well-documented with Sean McDermott and Brandon Beane leaving Carolina and joining Buffalo to become head coach and general manager respectively.
However, this Panthers team has had plenty of turnover since then and there aren’t many connections left to when McDermott and Beane were with Carolina.
The Panthers are entering this season as a team seemingly looking for answers, most notably at quarterback with Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield competing for the job. Both quarterbacks were selected prior to Josh Allen but are now playing for their second team.
Matt Rhule said he is not rushing to decide who will be the starting quarterback but it would be surprising if they hadn’t before the Buffalo Bills play the Panthers.