I dunno.
I like the timing of the Bye, the lack of trips past Houston to the West and the fact that we get the Saints, Broncos and Steelers at Home. I like all of that.
Otherwise, I see a 16 game schedule with six Division games that are always unpredictable and ten remaining games against teams that include five Playoff Teams and have a cumulative record of 92--68 (if you take out the 5--11 Browns, those ten teams are 87--57 or .604).
So, I'm not as happy as some other posters seem to be about the schedule. Throw in how some of the "weaker" teams might improve in the off-season along with the lack of any universally acclaimed improvement so far this off-season by the Patriots and I think this is as tough a schedule as the Pats have faced in years.
What am I missing here? Don't try to tell me we went 6--0 in the Division this year and we're a slam dunk to do it again in 2013...every Division game is a war and two consecutive 6--0's is will be tough to pull off.
And, before anyone engages their flame thrower, you can go back to last season's Prediction thread and see that I called it on the nose at 12--4.