The New England Patriots will play a nationally televised preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Gillette Stadium on Aug. 16 at 8 p.m.

The NFL released its 2013 preseason schedule on Thursday and the Patriots will face some familiar opponents.

New England will play at Philadelphia in Week 1, at Detroit in Week 3 and home to the New York Giants in Week 4. Specific dates and times for those games will be announced later.

The game against Tampa Bay will be on FOX. The other three will be televised on the Patriots Preseason Network.

The Patriots and Eagles have played 20 times in the preseason, including last year when Philadelphia visited Gillette Stadium.

The Patriots and Buccaneers, who also play at Gillette in the regular season, will play in the preseason for the third consecutive year. New England and Detroit have played each other in the preseason in two of the last three years.

The Patriots close their preseason against the Giants, who are New England’s most frequent preseason opponent. The teams have played each other the last eight preseasons. This will be the 23rd preseason game between the two.


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