The NFL has already made a major mistake with the Bills’ 2026 schedule release and it’s painfully clear why
The NFL confirmed one of the Bills’ games as schedule release week marches on and it’s the inaugural matchup at Highmark Stadium. The opponent is an exciting one, as well, but there’s one detail that sticks out like a sore thumb.
The Buffalo Bills received some exciting news overnight, as the NFL continues to release certain 2026 matchups ahead of Thursday’s schedule release.
Josh Allen and Co. will play the first-ever game in the brand new Highmark Stadium in Week 2 against the Detroit Lions. As we know, the Lions are considered as one of the NFC’s better teams, despite missing the playoffs in 2025. The star power of Jared Goff, Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon Ra St-Brown, and Aidan Hutchinson, among others, will be a fun draw for Bills fans.
There’s one detail that takes a bit of the shine off the announcement, however, and it’s the fact the game will be played on Thursday Night Football.
Bills were passed up in favor of Cowboys-Giants on Sunday Night Football in Week 1
Not only is TNF a bad night to debut a brand new stadium for one of the NFL’s more high-profile teams – the league also decided it was a good idea to feature the Cowboys and Giants on Sunday Night Football in Week 1.
Seriously? The Cowboys and Giants? Sure, they’re two of the league’s top markets, but the Bills and Lions are no slouches, themselves. Plus, this is the debut of a brad new stadium we’re talking about, here. Placing this game on SNF in Week 1 makes so much more sense than the Cowboys and Giants, who are merely trying to get back to respectable levels of play.
They aren’t playoff contenders like the Bills and Lions and hell, it’s not a stretch to call Buffalo and Detroit Super Bowl contenders, either. Instead, fans will have to watch two teams that haven’t made the playoffs since 2023 battle it out in primetime on Sunday night. And, neither team has won more than seven games in a single season since 2023, either.
It’s just a bad call, plain and simple. I don’t care what the logistics of creating the schedule entail. People are tired of being forced to watch the Cowboys on a year-in and year-out basis.
The Bills will be coming off a road game, as well, based on current schedule release details
While it’s early in the season, Thursday night games are still a pain in the butt, outside of opening week, of course.
There’s also the fact the Bills will be coming off a road game, which is never fun when the next game is a TNF matchup. Especially against a physical team like the Lions.
It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together, here. If this is the inaugural game at Highmark, and it’s in Week 2, well, that means the Bills have to be on the road in Week 1. Or else, you know, it wouldn’t be the inaugural game.
The logistics aren’t ideal, at all. That’s the name of the game, however. As long as the Bills go out and win, this will become moot. Until then, though, we are more than free to throw our hands up in the air and complain in favor of what’s best for the team.