The NFL Schedule is less than a week away from being released, and the Washington Commanders are in the process of figuring out how much they will be traveling this season.
Carson Wentz
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Terry McLaurin
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Antonio Gibson
How does the scheduling format work?
Six games are made up from their NFC East opponents (home and away with the usual NFC East suspects). Four are against teams from another division within the conference (these games are on a rotating three-year cycle), with four being played against teams from the AFC (on a rotating four-year cycle). Two games are played within NFC, based on the standings of the prior year. And finally one game will be played against an AFC team, also based on the prior year.
Good news: the Commanders have nine home games in 2022 because in the first season of the 17-game format it had nine on the road.
The 2022 opponents:
Home: Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns, Atlanta Falcons, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, and New York Giants.
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Road: Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, and New York Giants.
Since Washington finished third in the NFC East, that means it will play the third-place schedule.
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Chase Young
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Jonathan Allen
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William Jackson III
The team will take their annual trips to Dallas, Philadelphia and East Rutherford, but also have a couple trips to the midwest, and even one trip to visit the 49ers on the west coast.
According to ESPN, the Commanders will be traveling 13,670 miles, ranking 25th amongst NFL teams.
Teams at the top include the Seattle Seahawks, who have to travel at least 800 miles for every road game, and the Denver Broncos, who are also far from most of their opponents and play a game in London this season.
With the Commanders’ travel significantly reduced compared to most teams, will that prove to be an advantage for them? Time will tell soon.