Disco Volante

First off, anyone drooling at the mouth with their fingers furiously hovering over their keyboard wating to type 'FOCUS ON THIS YEAR' feel free to leave now.

Every thread I see referring to the Pats future has some type of reply like this, and it’s really unnecessary. Of course we’re all absolutely loving this season but when you have a 24/7 Patriots talk outlet all subjects will come up.

Anywho, just a little look into the crystal ball for next season. The math may not be perfect (but is very close), and knowing how quickly the NFL changes from year to year, take these with a grain of salt.

AFC EAST

Buffalo: 115-141 (.449)
Miami: 119-137 (.465)
New England: 99-157 (.387)
New York Jets: 117-139 (.457)

AFC NORTH

Baltimore: 141-115 (.551)
Cincinnati: 140-116 (.547)
Cleveland: 140-116 (.547)
Pittsburgh: 153-103 (.598) (Strongest SOS in the NFL)

AFC SOUTH

Houston: 143-113 (.559)
Indianapolis: 152-104 (.594)
Jacksonville: 143-113 (.559)
Tennessee: 139-117 (.543)

AFC WEST

Denver: 114-142 (.445)
Kansas City: 112-144 (.438)
Oakland: 116-140 (.453)
San Diego: 108-148 (.422)

NFC EAST

Dallas: 134-122 (.523)
New York Giants: 133-123 (.520)
Philadelphia: 133-123 (.520)
Washington: 134-122 (.523)

NFC NORTH

Chicago: 136-120 (.531)
Detroit: 139-117 (.543)
Green Bay: 136-120 (.531)
Minnesota: 141-115 (.551)

NFC SOUTH

Atlanta: 118-138 (.461)
Carolina: 119-137 (.465)
New Orleans: 115-141 (.449)
Tampa Bay: 120-136 (.469)

NFC WEST

Arizona: 119-137 (.465)
St. Louis: 125-131 (.488)
San Fransisco: 124-132 (.484)
Seattle: 122-134 (.477)

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RhodyPatriot

But it's completely ridiculous how HALF their road games are on the West coast.
Any East coast team forced to make FOUR trips to the West coast is ridiculous and very unfair. I'm hoping maybe a couple of them will be back to back and the team can just stay out there for the week.
Unfair scheduling and puts the Patriots at a big disadvantage when they need to take an entire day traveling out and an entire day traveling back and they've got to do it 4 times. And we don't know yet if any of these West coast games are Sunday or Monday night games.
Ridiculous!!
No doubt this will piss the team off and we all know what happens when you piss off the New England Patriots

SunnyDenmark

Glad to just focus on JUST next year - no problemo for me......but I have to take serious issues with anyone looking at our schedule (strength of) and saying it will be be the easiest. The math may say 'Yes' but the truth (next year) is far different....consider:
1) Much of the SOS calculation is biased toward the division opponents as we play them 6 games. Does anyone think the Fins will be as bad as they were this year? We historically split games with them. Also will the Jests be as bad as well. Furthermore, the Bills seem to be heading in the right direction and if they dont suffer all the injuries - I could even see a split with them...No way we go 6-0 against our division opponents next year.

2) Our schedule calls for LONG road trips this year. We play the following opponents ON THE WEST COAST : Seattle, 49'ers, Oakland and San Diego. All of those are away games and the 3 hours plus flights and resulting jetlag are not to be taken lightly.

Cheers and Happy New Year.

borg

Only 3 hour flights?
I guess Kraft bought an SST.

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FibSeq13478

3. Don't forget, we need to add something like 0.2 to the strength of schedule since every one of the 16 teams will be upping their game against the Patriots since they will be trying to knock off the benchmark team or trying to payback for perceived running up the score.

chrisfx811

The West coast road trips will be very taxing, playing in Seattle & SD, especially.
This year, the Pats SOS was supposed to be much tougher than it actually turned out. Remember all the media pundits proclaiming how tough their road was, and with injuries, the Pats would be lucky to get through the 1st part of the schedule above .500?

No one thought the Ravens would go from 13-3 to crap. Same with the Jets, Bengals, and Eagles.

I agree, that our division will be tougher next year. If the Pats complete the perfect season, next year will be even tougher than what they saw this year.

Patjew

Right, it's closer to 5 hrs.

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patsox23

And I suspect both Miami and the jets will be better next season, by a lot. These records and stats are "fun," but they're rarely very accurate.

Patriot_in_NY

Add another .2 - .3 for the escalating pressure that will be building through the season as we move towards 32-0

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Patsfanin Philly

It happens once every 12 years. They rotate the NFL so the Pats play a division every 4 years and in the AFC other than the team finishing in the same position, (first vs first in other divisions, second versus second ) they play each division every three years. By quirk, this is the year they play both west coast teams. If they keep the format the same, it won't happen again until 2020.
I noticed that the toughest SOS belongs to the steelers and teams in that division, I guess they have to face the NFC East next year as the Pats did this year. Dallas, Wash, NYG and Philly and 3 playoff teams is he toughest interconference schedule......Oh well, I guess it's less likely that the wild card teams come from that division.