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2015 Schedule: 5 Guaranteed Wins For The Patriots

BOSTON (CBS) - The NFL never ceases to control our brains, conversations, and sleepless nights with nonstop football, and this week's dose of gridiron food for thought came Tuesday night when the 2015 schedules were released.

The 2014 Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots kick off the 2015 regular season with a Thursday night showdown against Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers on September 10. The schedule also includes a bye in Week 4, five primetime games and two road contests to finish the season because of the NHL Winter Classic at Gillette.

VIEW: New England Patriots' 2015 Schedule

While parity has taken over the NFL, the Patriots remain a perennial force to be reckoned with, and a few games on the upcoming schedule shouldn't give the Brady-Hoodie combo too much trouble.

So empty your savings and take it to Vegas, because here are 5 guaranteed wins for the Patriots this upcoming season:

Sunday September 27 vs. Jacksonville

Come on. If you think Blake Bortles is going to lead his Jaguars into Foxboro and come away with a win, you are either crazy or Ron Jaworski. Picking third overall in next week's draft will certainly help this sorry team, but Jacksonville is far from contending against a powerhouse team like New England. Surely anything can happen in one game in today's NFL, but coming off a 3-13 season it's tough to see the Jags bouncing back and giving New England much of a fight three weeks into the season.

Sunday October 18 at Indianapolis

One word: DeflateGate.

Bill Belichick has certainly not forgotten the weeks of headaches, press conferences, investigations, and Bill Nye air pressure opinions that came after the Patriots-Colts AFC Championship Game. This is the first chance for the whole organization to show Indianapolis that the two teams could've been playing with a Nerf football and New England still would've won 41-7. Andrew Luck is also 0-4 against the Patriots with six touchdowns and 10 interceptions in his career.

The Patriots are going to play angry. Look for the them to win and win big, and looking something like this:

gronkfatality.0

Sunday November 8 vs. Washington

This Redskins team was an absolute train wreck last year, going 4-12 behind a sloppy, injury-filled season by quarterback Robert Griffin III. The athletic play-caller has been a failure since his breakout rookie year, and under new GM Scott McCloughan lots of changes will be made for this franchise. Winning might not be one of them, especially at Gillette Stadium in early November when the well-oiled machine should be in midseason form.

Monday November 23 vs. Buffalo

Buffalo Bills Introduce Rex Ryan
(Photo by Brett Carlsen/Getty Images)

Surely Rex Ryan has given the Patriots some close games, but he remains just 3-8 against them since becoming a head coach in 2009. Combine that with a 17-23 record all-time on Monday night, and you have a Buffalo team (with no quarterback, mind you) going up against a Patriots team that takes advantage of every opportunity to put a beat down on Rex. I expect the Patriots to put their best foot forward and show no mercy. Tom Brady is also 23-3 in his career against Buffalo. Patriots win easy at home.

Sunday December 20 vs. Tennessee

With the second pick in the 2015 Draft, the Titans have an opportunity to make Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota the face of the franchise behind center. With either player there will inevitably be growing pains, especially on a team that was 2-14 last year. The Titans simply don't have enough firepower on offense to hang with New England -- even if they somehow pull a trade to land Philip Rivers.


It's only April, but as it stands right now 98.5 The Sports Hub's Marc Bertrand thinks the Patriots have a favorable schedule.

Do you agree?

Listen below to the full conversation on Zolak & Bertrand:


98.5 The Sports Hub is your flagship radio station of the New England Patriots!

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