FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The National Football League announced the 2014 regular season schedule tonight and the New England Patriots and their fans learned that the team will host the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Nov. 2 at 4:25 p.m. and is scheduled to play in five nationally-televised games during the regular season, including two at Gillette Stadium. The first prime time home game will be October 5 vs. the Cincinnati Bengals on NBC (8:30 p.m.) followed by a Thursday night game 11 days later on October 16 against the New York Jets on NFL Network/CBS (8:25 p.m.).

The 2014 season will mark the third straight year that the Patriots will play against the Jets on Thursday Night Football. Last season, the Patriots beat the Jets, 13-10, in a Week 2 matchup on NFL Network. In 2012, the Patriots traveled to face the Jets in a Thursday game on Thanksgiving night at MetLife Stadium and earned a 49-19 victory. Including this year's game, four of the last five Thursday games for the Patriots have been against the New York Jets.

The Patriots are scheduled to be featured in four other prime time games, including three NBC Sunday Night Football contests and one ESPN Monday Night Football game. On Sept. 29, the Patriots will make their only appearance on ESPN's Monday Night Football when they travel to face the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. It will be New England's first trip to Kansas City since 2005. The two teams last met in a Monday night matchup on Nov. 21, 2011 at Gillette Stadium with the Patriots claiming a 34-3 victory.

The Patriots will play in back-to-back primetime games when they follow the Kansas City game by hosting the AFC North Champion Cincinnati Bengals on NBC's Sunday Night Football on Oct. 5. The Patriots traveled to Cincinnati last season with a 4-0 record before suffering their first loss of the year in a 13-6 decision at Paul Brown Stadium.

The Patriots will travel to face the AFC South Champion Indianapolis Colts in a rematch of the AFC Divisional Playoff game in a Sunday night contest on Nov. 16 at 8:30 p.m. The Patriots rolled to a 43-22 victory over the Colts in the postseason last year to advance to their third-straight AFC Championship Game. The Patriots and Colts will face off for the 12th consecutive year. The two teams have met at least once in the regular season or postseason since 2003, playing 14 games (10 regular season game and four postseason games) over that span. It is the longest active streak for two non-division opponents and tied for the second-longest of all-time with Cincinnati-Seattle (12) from 1984-1995. The AFC East and AFC South are scheduled to play again in 2015 and the streak will tie Minnesota-San Francisco (1983-1995) as the longest ever. The Patriots will also travel to San Diego to face the Chargers on Sunday Night on Dec. 7.

In addition to the five scheduled nationally-televised games, the Patriots will be the featured game of the week twice. New England will host the Denver Broncos in a rematch of the 2013 AFC Championship Game on Nov. 2 at 4:25 p.m. on CBS and play at Green Bay on Nov. 30 on CBS at 4:25 p.m.

The Patriots will play each of the other AFC East rivals twice and will play one game against each of the AFC West and NFC North teams. As the AFC East Champions, the Patriots will play the 2013 division winners of the AFC North (Cincinnati) and the AFC South (Indianapolis).

PATRIOTS 2014 SCHEDULE WEEK-BY-WEEK

The New England Patriots will open the 2014 season with four of their first six games on the road, including the first two games away from Gillette Stadium for the first time since 2003. The Patriots will be looking for their 11th straight opening day win to tie the Miami Dolphins for second-longest streak behind Dallas with 17 from 1965-81. The Patriots kick off the regular season when they travel to Miami to face the Dolphins on Sept. 7 at 1:00 p.m. The Patriots open the season against Miami for the eighth time in team history and first time since a 38-24 win at Miami in 2011. New England starts the season on the road for the fourth consecutive year, the longest such stretch since starting the season away from home six straight years from 1964-69.

New England stays on the road for a Week 2 clash at Minnesota against the Vikings on Sept. 14 at 1:00 p.m. (EST). The Patriots will face the Vikings at TCF Bank Stadium, the home of the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers, while the Vikings new stadium is being constructed. New England last played in a college stadium in 2003, a 33-30 win over the Chicago Bears at the University of Illinois while Soldier Field was under construction.

The Patriots welcome the Oakland Raiders for their 2014 home opener on Sept. 21 at 1:00 p.m. The Raiders have visited Gillette Stadium only once before, a 30-20 Patriots win in the 2005 season opener. New England will be looking to improve on its 11-1 record in home openers at Gillette Stadium.

The Patriots play their only Monday Night Football game of the season when they make their first trip to Arrowhead Stadium since 2005 to square off against the Chiefs on Sept. 29 at 8:30 p.m. (EST). New England has played in every other NFL city since then, with the exception of St. Louis. The Patriots return to prime time in Week 5 at Gillette Stadium for a matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 5 at 8:30 p.m. New England has not dropped a home contest to the Bengals since 1986.

New England hits the road again in Week 6 for its annual visit to AFC East foe Buffalo on Oct. 12 at 1 p.m. The Patriots then return to Foxborough for three straight home contests for the first time since 2007, starting with a Thursday night matchup against the New York Jets on Oct. 16 at 8:25 p.m., followed by a Week 8 visit from the Chicago Bears on Oct. 26 at 1:00 p.m. Chicago is winless in three trips to Foxborough. The Denver Broncos visit Foxborough on Nov. 2 at 4:25 p.m. in a game that features the 16th all-time matchup between Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. Brady owns a 10-5 edge over Manning in the regular season and playoffs. After the Bye Week, the Patriots return to prime time with a matchup at Indianapolis against the Colts on Nov. 16 at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday Night Football.

The Detroit Lions make just their second trip to Foxborough in 20-plus years on Nov. 23 at 1:00 p.m., before the Patriots hit the road for two straight away games. The Patriots first travel to Lambeau Field to face the Green Bay Packers on Nov. 30 at 4:25 p.m., followed by a Week 14 matchup at the San Diego Chargers on Sunday Night Football on Dec. 7 at 8:30 p.m. (EST). This will be the Patriots first West Coast trip since 2012.

New England closes out the regular season with three straight games against AFC East opponents. The Miami Dolphins visit Foxborough on Dec. 14 at 1:00 p.m., followed by the final regular-season road trip against the New York Jets on Dec. 21 at 1:00 p.m. The Patriots close out the regular season schedule for the fifth consecutive year at home when they host the Buffalo Bills in the regular-season finale for the second straight season on Dec. 28 at 1:00 p.m. It will be the fifth time in team history (1971, 1975, 1981 and 1987) that the Patriots will close out the season against three division opponents.

2014 PATRIOTS PRESEASON SCHEDULE

2014 PATRIOTS REGULAR SEASON

-Game time and network subject to possible flexible scheduling adjustment. *Bold indicates nationally televised games For the first time, flexible scheduling may be applied in Weeks 5-10. During that period, flexible scheduling can be used in no more than two weeks by shifting a Sunday afternoon game into primetime and moving the Sunday night game to an afternoon start time.

Also, for the first time, a select number of games are being "cross-flexed," moving between CBS and FOX to bring potentially under-distributed games to wider audiences.

"Flexible scheduling" will be used in Weeks 11-17 as it has been in recent years. In Weeks 11-16, the schedule lists the games tentatively set for Sunday Night Football on NBC. Only Sunday afternoon games are eligible to be moved to Sunday night, in which case the tentatively scheduled Sunday night game would be moved to an afternoon start time. Flexible scheduling will not be applied to games airing on Thursday, Saturday or Monday nights. A flexible scheduling move would be announced at least 12 days before the game. For Week 17, the Sunday night game will be announced no later than six days prior to December 28. The schedule does not list a Sunday night game in Week 17, but an afternoon game with playoff implications will be moved to that time slot. Flexible scheduling ensures quality matchups in all Sunday time slots in those weeks and gives "surprise" teams a chance to play their way into primetime.

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