BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills have officially added another home game to their 2021 regular season schedule, hosting the Washington Football team, as the NFL bumped up its regular season schedule to 17 games and will reduce the preseason to three games.
This is the first time teams will each play 17 games in the regular season, due to the March 2020 NFL-NFLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement allowing the chance.
Team owners confirmed the decision to approve an extra game on Tuesday, marking the first change to the league's regular season's structure in 43 years.
The Washington Football Team will come to the newly-minted Highmark Stadium after the league decided to make the extra games inter-conference play between teams that finished in the same place in their division in 2020. The Bills won the AFC East, and Washington won the NFC East last season.
The Bills finished at 13-3 last season, while Washington got into the playoffs in a weak NFC East division, finishing at 7-9.
In the AFC East, the move will match up the Miami Dolphins with the New York Giants, the New England Patriots with the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Jets with the Philadelphia Eagles for the 17th games.
Outside of their division with the Dolphins, Patriots and Jets, the Bills will also host the Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers and face the New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Tennessee Titans and Kansas City Chiefs in the 2021 regular season.
The Bills' official 2021 schedule has yet to be announced.
