Patriots Preseason Opponents Announced

The NFL has released the schedule for 2012 preseason. Among the four Patriots opponents, only the date of the second game is set, as it will be shown on ESPN. Here is the schedule. -

Week 1 (Aug. 9-13): New Orleans at New England

Week 2 (Aug. 20): Philadelphia at New England, 8 p.m. (ESPN)
*Only date set in preseason at this point.

Week 3 (Aug. 23-26): New England at Tampa Bay

Week 4 (Aug. 29-30): New England at N.Y. Giants

Thoughts:

- The first game could be interesting for a number of reasons. If Bill Parcells decides to take the Saints head coaching job while Sean Payton is suspended, we would see Parcells and Bill Belichick on opposite sidelines once again. Also, it would be the first time the Patriots would be in the field for 2012.

- The Eagles and New England met last year in the regular season, but these two dynamic offenses could add some excitment in the preseason.

- Greg Schiano, former Rutgers head coach and first-year Tampa Bay head coach, will face off with friend Bill Belichick. Every year Belichick seems to do joint practices with another team. It will be interesting to see if he partners up with Schiano this season.

- The final game of the preseason, is really no surprise. This is the eighth straight year the Patriots and Giants have met in the preseason.