The Tailgate Knight’s Mock NFL Road Trip 2015
Fancy hitting all 32 NFL teams, the game in London, and a few more in the 2015 schedule? Here’s a good road trip route.
Ever since my epic 37 NFL game road trip back in 2008 I have made a mock NFL road trip. When I did my trip, other than opening week, Thursday night games did not start until week 11, now they are played in 16 weeks. This makes things a lot easier for the NFL road tripper.
Coming up with the route
While there are probably lots of routes I always try to hit the Thursday nights. Although they often do not have the best atmosphere, you can get to see so many more games that week because of the time surrounding the mid week slot. I look through who plays Monday and Thursday nights and then I put in the Sunday games with teams that have neither of those days. It is tricky because some teams are on Thursday and Monday twice.
I try not to go back on myself. It’s difficult, but you want to group the West coast games together as much as possible.
The Broncos and the Seahawks are by far the hardest places to get to because there are so few teams near them. It would be wonderful if both these teams played on Thursdays, but neither do this season, which is a tad annoying. I have suggested to Roger Goodell for the sake of the NFL road tripper, that he has to put Seattle and Denver on Thursday nights…He clearly did not read my email!
While you want to look at the mouth watering matchups, it is important to do most of your driving in the first half of the season, when the weather is pretty good and hit the West Coast later on. Once the snow comes down, your driving patience will wilt pretty considerably. Plus once we get into week 11, the Sunday Night Flex schedule comes into play. This could be a huge problem if your 1pm Sunday game is say 700 miles from the Monday night game, and then that game gets bumped up to the night spot.
The good thing about the games on Thursday is that it gives you flexibility down the stretch. Plus with my schedule below you are free to pick any game in week 17, not only that, there are several Sundays where you can hit two games in one day! The perfect Sunday. This route takes in all 32 NFL teams, one London game and a few more games thrown in for good measure.
Adam’s 2015 Mock Road Trip
Week 1:
Thur: Packers at Patriots. You have to start with the champs. Drive 455 miles
Sun: Colts at Bills. Drive 679 miles
Mon: Eagles at Falcons. Drive 800 miles
Week 2:
Thur: Broncos at Chiefs. Drive 1087 miles
Sun: Cardinals at Bears. Drive 208 miles
Sun night: Seahawks at Packers. You will miss the Tailgate, but you see 2 games in 1 day! Drive 393 miles
Mon: Jets at Colts. Drive 715 miles
Week 3:
Thur: Washington at Giants. Drive 1211 miles
Sun: Chargers at Vikings. Drive 280 miles
Mon: Chiefs at Packers. Drive 670 miles
Week 4:
Thur: Ravens at Steelers. Drive 1019 miles
Sun: Panthers at Buccaneers. Drive 945 miles
Week 5:
Thur: Colts at Texans. Drive 860 miles
Sun: Bills at Titans. Drive 534 miles
Week 6:
Thur: Falcons at Saints. Drive 2300 miles . There are no NFL games en route, so pick up a college game.
Week 7:
Thur: Seahawks at 49ers. Drive 508 miles
Sun: Raiders at Chargers. Drive 358
Mon: Ravens at Cardinals. Drive 1876
Week 8:
Leave the car at Cincinnati airport and fly to London
Sun: Lions at Chiefs (London). Fly to Cincinnati
Week 9:
Thur: Browns at Bengals. Drive 476 miles
Sun: Packers at Panthers. Drive 630 miles
Week 10:
Thur: Bills at Jets. Drive 192 miles
Sun: Jaguars at Ravens. Drive 1080
Week 11:
Thur: Titans at Jaguars. Drive 345 miles
Sun: Cowboys at Dolphins. Drive 1367
Week 12:
Thur: Panthers at Cowboys. Thanksgiving. Drive 887 miles
Sun: Patriots at Broncos. Currently scheduled for Sunday night. Drive 1284 miles
Week 13:
Thur: Packers t Lions. Drive 171 miles
Sun: Bengals at Browns. Drive 136 miles
Sun night: Colts at Steelers. Drive 240 miles
Mon: Cowboys at Washington. Drive 140 miles
Week 14:
Sun: Bills at Eagles. Drive 104 miles
Sun night: Seahawks at Ravens. Drive 841 miles
Week 15:
Thur: Buccaneers at Rams. Drive 635 miles
Sat night: Jets at Cowboys. Drive 1725 miles
Week 16:
Thur: Chargers at Raiders. Drive 804 miles
Sun: Rams at Seahawks.
Week 17:
Take your pick of games in Chicago, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Cleveland, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, New York (Giants), Green Bay, Carolina, Houston, San Francisco, Denver and Arizona.
Double Header Sundays
There are wonderfully five Sundays where you could potentially see two games in one day. Though for some games you may miss the all important tailgate:
Week 2:
1pm: Cardinals at Bears. Drive 208 miles
8:30pm: Seahawks at Packers
Week 3:
1pm: Raiders at Browns. Drive 171 miles
8:30 pm: Broncos at Lions.
Week 5:
1pm: Saints at Eagles. Drive 91 miles
Or
1pm: Browns at Ravens. Drive 104 miles
8:30pm: 49ers at Giants
Week 13: (Note, Sunday night Flex schedule is in place from week 11)
1pm: Bengals at Browns. Drive 138 miles
8:30pm: Colts at Steelers.
Week 14:
1pm: at Bills at Eagles. Drive 104 miles
Or
1pm: at Titans at Jets. Drive 192 miles
8:30pm: Seahawks at Ravens
Adam has travelled to see a live game at every NFL stadium. He is the author of Tailgate To Heaven and The Tailgate Knight Rises.
If any one is going on any NFL road trips this season give Adam a shout and he will be able to find you plenty of tailgaters. @TailgateKnight