The Ravens are going to London to face the Jaguars in Week Three and they recently asked the NFL to hold off on giving them a bye week upon their return to the United States.
The league granted that request by scheduling the Ravens for a home game with the Steelers and they went a little bit further. They didn’t give the Jaguars a bye either and the schedule makers eliminated byes in Week Four altogether after years of starting to dole out idle Sundays at that point in the season.
The first byes fall the next week and at least two teams will be off each week through Week 11 this year. Weeks Eight, Nine and 11 will all see six teams taking a breather.
That will make for some light schedules in those weeks, but it seems unlikely that there will be too many complaints about getting rid of the Week Four bye. Most teams would likely opt for a bye in the middle of the season in order to balance out their schedule and get a break at a point when bodies have undergone more wear and tear than they have in the first three weeks of the year.