The NFL has turned the pomp and circumstance surrounding the schedule release into a week of content, and, with an ever-expanding slate of international games and new television packages, many team executives believe the quest for subplots has become too much a part of the actual schedules themselves.

There is always a feeling among team execs that the league office is too removed from the needs and desires of the member clubs, and not enough former team employees carry positions of power on Park Ave (that could better inform leaguewide initiatives like the schedule). That’s never going to change, and the disconnect will likely always grow.

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And several general managers and team officials and coaches were doing plenty of mumbling about areas of their schedule that seem overly daunting or not sufficiently even-handed in their eyes. The gauntlet of extreme travel the Rams face in the first six weeks of the season, some clusters of road games the Bills will endure as they christen a new stadium, and the opening run of games for a Patriots team that already had the look of regression were some of the quirks getting attention as clubs digested what’s ahead in 2026.

“It’s all about TV and the drama,” said one general manager, who, frankly, liked the set-up of his schedule more than I thought he should. “They want the drama and they want the content. They build that up with the prime-time games and then work around that.”

Another general manager, who was less rosy about what the NFL’s computers spit out about his schedule, said: “They don’t get it over there (league office). TV rules the day. They care more about them and the ratings than the fairness of the schedules.

The Rams’ travel schedule is a gauntlet

The Rams’ opening stretch looked, frankly, stunning to those who paused long enough to consider it outside of Los Angeles. And within the Rams’ headquarters, team sources indicated the head coach Sean McVay immediately started sending signals to all corridors that it would be an organizational goal to rise above the ridiculous travel and air miles in a quest to get to a Super Bowl they nearly reached a year ago.

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No one, from a competitive balance standpoint, loved opening up in Australia with the 49ers in a heated rivalry game and then hosting the Giants on Monday Night Football and then going to Denver in altitude for a prime-time game and then playing at the Eagles on what is a 10 a.m. local kick for the Rams on a short week after the Sunday night road game. Oh, then it’s back to LA to host Buffalo on a Monday night.

“Shoot, man, just have to adapt,” is how one member of the organization put it.

Mind over matter, perhaps.

The Rams will travel more before Halloween than most teams will all season.

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The Bills have four road trips in a five-game stretch, twice

The Bills have two sequences in their schedule where they play four road games within a five-game stretch. With the team moving into a new stadium, sometimes there are quirky construction considerations. Or perhaps parts of a stadium might be ready for Week 1, but others need more time. I had to probe around a little. Did Bills ownership make any special requests or accommodations for stretches of games later in the season where they preferred to be on the road?

“Nobody here asked for this,” is how one source with knowledge of the situation put it. “Not gonna be easy.”

No, it will not.

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Within a five-game stretch beginning in December – and coming off a huge game with Kansas City – the Bills go to the Patriots (AFC champs) and Packers (contenders) and Broncos (hosted the AFC title game) and Dolphins (okay), and they host a Bears team pushing for the playoffs as well. They have another stretch in October before their bye where they have consecutive West Coast games (at Rams and Raiders) before a Week 7 bye.

Patriots will be tested early

And as for the Patriots, well, after facing one of the easiest schedules of any team to reach a Super Bowl last year, they were invariably going to be tested early. Opening at Seattle, in a title game rematch, then hosting the Steelers before going to Jacksonville and Buffalo, is going to tell us an awful lot right away about their ability to make a repeat Super Bowl appearance.

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This article was originally published on www.fansided.com as Ratings over fairness? NFL execs vent about the league’s scheduling process.