The Buffalo Bills 2023 schedule was announced last week and this upcoming season the Bills will certainly be challenged as they have the fourth toughest schedule, according to Pro Football Focus.
While it is a tough schedule, the league certainly did the Bills a number of favors as they don't have to play road games in consecutive weeks, don't travel to Miami early in the season, and have extended rest before their games against the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs. Those two games are arguably their most important games of the season and will have extra time to prepare.
One other reason the schedule worked out great for the Buffalo Bills is when they have their bye week.
Buffalo Bills' bye week in the 2023 season will be in Week 13
The Buffalo Bills' bye week comes in the second last possible week that the NFL schedules bye weeks. The Week 13 bye week is the latest the team has ever had their bye week under Sean McDermott.
The fact that the Bills play the Kansas City Chiefs after their bye week is good news as well based on recent history as the Bills are undefeated after their bye week with Sean McDermott as their head coach.
The Buffalo Bills also benefit from a recent rule change by the NFL that even made this an option for the team. In the past, the NFL has scheduled the bye week the week after international games and the Bills will be playing in London Week 5 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
As Sal Capaccio with WGR550 tweeted, the NFL now asks teams if they want to have the bye week the week after. This has certainly worked out in the Bills' favor this season.
A late bye week doesn't necessarily guarantee a Super Bowl win but teams have seemed to benefit from it. According to Joe Marino, since 2017 every Super Bowl champion has had a bye week later than Week 10 except for this past year when the Chiefs had their bye week in Week 8.
The fact that the bye week is late in the season and splits arguably the toughest stretch of games with the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles before the bye and Kansas City Chiefs and Dallas Cowboys after the bye, the Buffalo Bills couldn't have asked for anything more this season.