The Broncos Have the Hardest Schedule in the League Next Year (On Paper)

[spikerman]

Pour one out for the AFC West: The four teams in what was, for a time, the best division in football have the four hardest schedules for 2017. Denver leads the way by facing opponents with a .578 winning percentage. Kansas City is second (.576), while San Diego (.568) and Oakland (.564) round out the top four.

http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/gallery/2017-nfl-schedule-release-strength-of-hardest-easiest-playoff-teams-opponents-times-010217

[Shazam!]

I hear this every year.

[spikerman]

I hear this every year.

Glad I could keep the tradition going. :)

[BroncoWave]

How is that even possible since we're playing a third place schedule?

[spikerman]

How is that even possible since we're playing a third place schedule?

The third place schedule only matters for one or two games per year. Guess which team has an easy schedule....again.

[Timmy!]

How is that even possible since we're playing a third place schedule?

4 games against the chiefs & raiders.

[OrangeHoof]

Another year that we have to play the m*****f****** c***s****** g**d***** f****** Patriots.

[spikerman]

Another year that we have to play the m*****f****** c***s****** g**d***** f****** Patriots.

There's a good chance the Broncos will lose too since it's not in the AFC Championship game. :D

[Joel]

We've also seen from year to year that whether a teams most recent record reflects its next one is very hit and miss. Just like 2014, I was stoked a third of the way through the season because we beat a lot of "good" teams; just like 2014, a lot of those "good" playoff teams from the previous year had LOSING seasons. A year ago, 15-1 NFC Champ Carolina looked like a monster and 8-8 Atlanta looked like a cream puff. So which did we beat?

The one that won >6 games, something the 12-4 2015 AFC Champ Bengals also couldn't manage.

So who really knows how "tough" our 2017 schedule is? Brady turns 40 a month before Opening Day, while Oakland shows no sign of developing a D and KC no sign of developing an O. Buffalo will probably continue sputtering as it has for 25 years; Miamis only strengths are its RB and D, and the guy who ran the latter is running our team now. I think Dak and Zeke were more than a rookie flash in the pan, but we'll see; who knows which Eli shows up for our game?

On paper, it looks bad. But on paper, this time last year we weren't scheduled to play SEVEN playoff teams, including BOTH Conference Champs: That's what we did though (OaklandX2, KCX2, Houston, Atlanta and NE*.) I still think 9-7 against that gauntlet with a Swiss cheese line, our starting RB out of half the year and our starting QB a sophomore 7th round first-time starter was a big accomplishment.

[Simple Jaded]

The third place schedule only matters for one or two games per year. Guess which team has an easy schedule....again.

The P*triots?

[Dapper Dan]

A wise man once said that paper is a terrible playing surface. Just kidding. I said that.

[Freyaka]

How is that even possible since we're playing a third place schedule?

If you read the article, it explains itself...

The Raiders and Chiefs can't play themselves twice, we can...They have better records than we do ergo, our schedule is tougher because we have to face both of them twice a year and they have better records.

[VonDoom]

Another year that we have to play the m*****f****** c***s****** g**d***** f****** Patriots.

In this case, only because we're playing the whole AFC East. Third straight year that game is in Denver as well. If this were any other year, we'd be playing the Bills and the Chiefs would get stuck with the Patriots. But whatever. Once we win the division again this year, we'll play them again next year :D


If you read the article, it explains itself...

The Raiders and Chiefs can't play themselves twice, we can...They have better records than we do ergo, our schedule is tougher because we have to face both of them twice a year and they have better records.

Exactly. This is all based on how the year ended, and obviously our division was the toughest in football by record. As I said, we're also playing the AFC East, where two of those teams made the playoffs, thus inflating the difficulty. But this will all change during the year as teams we expect to be good are worse and vice versa. I remember thinking this past year's schedule looked super easy between weeks 4 and 14 or so. That didn't exactly work out for us.

[sneakers]

Pour one out for the AFC West: The four teams in what was, for a time, the best division in football have the four hardest schedules for 2017. Denver leads the way by facing opponents with a .578 winning percentage. Kansas City is second (.576), while San Diego (.568) and Oakland (.564) round out the top four.

http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/gallery/2017-nfl-schedule-release-strength-of-hardest-easiest-playoff-teams-opponents-times-010217

yeah but when the season starts the teams you think will be good sometimes are turds and vice versa

[Cugel]

The P*triots?

As long as they stay in the AFC East with Buffalo and the Jets they are playing a patsy schedule. And as long as they have Tom Brady they are pretty much a lock to have home field advantage in the playoffs too.

God I hate the Pats! If Atlanta could have held on in the SB they would be suffering the SB loser's curse right now. No team in since the '73 Dolphins have gone back to the SB and won the year after losing, and no team since the 1993 Bills has gone back at all.

Usually a team that loses the SB tanks the next year like Carolina did, or loses in the first round like the Broncos did after losing to the Seahags.

[Cugel]

yeah but when the season starts the teams you think will be good sometimes are turds and vice versa

That's often true, but you have to realize that the AFC west has some really solid teams. Not fluky teams.

The Chiefs are probably the most talented team in the AFC - except they have Alex Smith. That's held them back, but Andy Reid has them going strong. I'd expect them to be good this year too, now that they have serious offensive threats like Tyreek Hill who shredded the Broncos D.

Raiders Derek Carr is now the best QB in the division and the Raiders are much improved. They should make a strong playoff push this year now that Carr is back to healthy. They were toast in the playoffs despite their 12-4 record because they lost Carr on the last regular season game.

San Diego still has Phillip Rivers but their Defense sucks a bit. They have some talented players like Joey Bosa who has 10.5 sacks his first season and is a real beast at DE. He eats Russell Okung's shorts. Well, not literally of course!

The Broncos will struggle to win this division, and will fail unless they get much better play out of their QBs!

[OrangeHoof]

The Broncos will struggle to win this division, and will fail unless they get much better play out of their QBs!

..and their OL and their RBs.

[Cugel]

..and their OL and their RBs.

True. True.

They are actually moving backward with regard to their OL since they went from mediocre LT to none at all. It's a terribly thin FA class at OL too. And the draft is worse than useless this year for starting quality OL. Anybody they draft is likely to be a 2 or 3 year project. And they already have several of those.

But, RB should be much improved. They get CJ Anderson back, and the draft is very deep at RB. RB is also a position where a good player can often step right in and make an immediate impact. So, I expect that area to be much improved.