Patriots know their foes for 2019 preseason

The Patriots will play at Detroit and Tennessee, then return home to host Carolina and the New York Giants this summer.

The reigning Super Bowl champions will be a road show the first two weeks of the upcoming preseason.

The NFL announced its 2019 preseason schedule on Tuesday, and it will send the Patriots to Detroit and Tennessee for the first two weeks of the preseason before they return home to play host to the Carolina Panthers and the New York Giants the final two weeks of the preseason.

The dates and times of the four games will be announced later this spring.

The games with the Lions and Titans will provide another reunion between Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and his former defensive coordinator, Matt Patricia, and linebacker Mike Vrabel, respectively.

The Patriots played both those teams on the road during the 2018 regular season, losing to the Patricia-coached Lions, 26-10, on Sept. 23 and to the Vrabel-coached Titans, 34-10, on Nov. 11.

Given the familiarity between the organizations, there is certainly the possibility that the Patriots will practice with those teams for a period of time in the weeks leading up to those preseason games, which would take them from their Foxboro training camp for spells.

Speaking of familiarity, the Patriots are no preseason strangers to either the Panthers or the Giants.

The 2019 preseason will be the fifth time in six seasons that the Patriots and Panthers have met in the third game of the preseason, with the Pats playing the part of hosts in 2014 and traveling to Carolina for games in 2015, 2016 and 2018.

The Patriots and Giants will meet in the preseason finale for the 15th straight season and 29th time overall, with the two teams alternating sites since 2005. The Patriots will also entertain the Giants during the 2019 regular season.