How is the NFL schedule determined?

Answer 1

They play each team in their divison/confrence 2 times...the rest is just random.

Answer 2

Of the 16 games every year, 14 are pre-determined. The NFL did this to avoid having teams not playing certain teams for years on end, or for teams never playing at certain sites (for example, Dallas went a good 20 years without ever playing in Cincinnati). So, in 2002, once the league was realigned with Seattle moving to the NFC and each conference going to four divisions, the schedule for the next eight years was set up.

Basically, it breaks down into four parts for each team:
6 games in your division - home and home vs. all other teams in your division
4 games in conference vs. every team from one other division in your conference (rotates every year, so you are guaranteed of playing every team in your conference at least once every three years; the sites will also alternate, so you're guaranteed of visiting every stadium in your conference every six years)
4 games out of conference vs. every team from one division in the other conference (rotates every year as well, so you are guaranteed of playing every team in the league every 4 years; sites also alternate, so you are guaranteed in every stadium in the league once every 8 years)
2 games vs. teams in your conference (not in your division or in the other division in the conference where you're playing every team) that finished in the same place in their division as you did in yours the previous season

Here's the rotation for 2002-2009:

Intraconference
2002, 2005, 2008
AFC East vs. AFC West
AFC North vs. AFC South
NFC East vs. NFC West
NFC North vs. NFC South
2003, 2006, 2009
AFC East vs. AFC South
AFC North vs. AFC West
NFC East vs. NFC South
NFC North vs. NFC West
2004, 2007
AFC East vs. AFC North
AFC South vs. AFC West
NFC East vs. NFC North
NFC South vs. NFC West

Interconference
2002, 2006
AFC East vs. NFC North
AFC North vs. NFC South
AFC South vs. NFC East
AFC West vs. NFC West
2003, 2007
AFC East vs. NFC East
AFC North vs. NFC West
AFC South vs. NFC South
AFC West vs. NFC North
2004, 2008
AFC East vs. NFC West
AFC North vs. NFC East
AFC South vs. NFC North
AFC West vs. NFC South
2005, 2009
AFC East vs. NFC South
AFC North vs. NFC North
AFC South vs. NFC West
AFC West vs. NFC East

So, let's take for instance Buffalo, and let's presume they finish 4th in the AFC East this year. By above, in 2007, they would play Miami, New England, and the NY Jets twice (home and home), they would play everyone in the AFC North (turns out they host Baltimore and Cincinnati and visit Cleveland and Pittsburgh), play everyone in the NFC East (they host Dallas and the Giants and visit Philadelphia and Washington), and then play the two other 4th place teams in the conference, one from the AFC South on the road and one from the AFC West at home.

Answer 3

depends on how good they played the year b4