In the NFL, some teams will have easier schedules, others will have more difficult ones. It is the nature of the beast, and no schedule is the same as another team’s. With the schedules for each team being available for about a month now, there has been ample time to digest what each team’s upcoming season will look like.
Who has a gauntlet of a schedule? In the AFC East, it is not the new division-winning New England Patriots, as one may expect. However, they have a hard stretch in the schedule.
There will be a build to that stretch, though. Let's start at the easiest segment and work toward the most difficult one.
Power-ranking the toughest stretches for each AFC East team ahead of 2026
4. New York Jets Weeks 10-14
The 4-game stretch of home for Buffalo, going to the Los Angeles Chargers, heading to Miami and hosting the Denver Broncos is a tough task for the Jets. Yes, New York added plenty of playmakers this offseason, but three of these teams made the playoffs in 2025, and two of them won at least one game in the tournament.
One saving grace the Jets have after the cross-country road games with Los Angeles and the division rival Dolphins is that they have a bye week. After the off week is a date with Denver, which figures to be the hardest game of this stretch, but at least it is a home game.
The best shot at a win comes in that matchup in Miami. Having the Dolphins in a rebuilding year does not make the game an easy win by any means, but it would be the game the Jets are most likely to win if they took down any team in this segment of its schedule. Honestly, it could be any even game with New York going across the country in the prior game.
Although the Dolphins are a division rival, their inclusion in this stretch means the Jets have the easiest, hardest 4-game stretch for the entire AFC East division.
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