*The Washington Football Team play two games (home and away) against NFC East opponents Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles every season.
The scheduling formula implemented in 2002 with realignment guarantees that all teams play each other on a regular, rotating basis.
Under the formula, every team plays 16 games as follows:
- Home and away against its three division opponents (six games).
- The four teams from another division within its conference on a rotating three-year cycle (four games).
- The four teams from a division in the other conference on a rotating four-year cycle (four games).
- Two intraconference games based on the prior year's standings (2 games). These games match a first-place team against the first-place teams in the two same-conference divisions the team is not scheduled to play that season. The second-place, third-place, and fourth-place teams in a conference are matched in the same way each year.
Beginning in 2010, a change was made to how teams are paired in the schedule rotation to ensure that teams playing the AFC and NFC West divisions would not be required to make two west coast trips (e.g. at San Francisco and at Seattle), while other teams in their division had none (e.g. at St. Louis and at Arizona).
The complete 2021 NFL schedule, with playing dates and times, will be announced in mid-to-late April.
The 2021 NFL season kicks off on Thursday night, Sept. 9.
Super Bowl LVI will be played Feb. 6, 2022, at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA.
