Broncos have a "brutal" schedule?

[PATRlOT]

It's from 5 days ago but...This has to be an absolute joke. Brutal schedule? LOL

Denver Broncos brutal schedule doesnt let up with Washington Redskins on tap - NFL News | FOX Sports on MSN

 

[dannydyn]

32nd ranked schedule in toughness.....

Donkeys can go fck themselves.

 

[mgteich]

The patriots cannot complain with regard to schedule. We have the easiest road to winning the division than any team.

The broncos have an easy schedule. However, they also play have an undefeated team in their division.

 

[chasa]

the broncos have the NFL's most commericial player Payme manning, Everyone loves him, I think if payme and Tebow had lunch together ESPN would implode.

 

[50-yard-line]

That was snark, right? RIGHT?

I love this gem: "The NFL is a business, so you can’t really blame it for pushing its most attractive product. But you’ll understand why the Broncos are starting to feel more exploited than Honey Boo Boo."

Schedules are not thrown together in the NFL. Divisions rotate against other divisions systematically, and teams play the teams that finished in the same place in those conference divisions they don't play.

Even casual football fans can grasp that. The Donkeys played the Raven and play the Patriots because those teams won the North and the East, the two AFC divisions the Donkeys don't play this year.

The AFC South is mediocre - the Titans are meh, the Texans and the Jaguars are awful. And the NFC East is the least of all.

The only thing that looks to be making the Donkeys' schedule tougher is the emergence of the Chiefs and the Chargers - but part of the reason those two teams are looking so good is that, ta da, they also play the AFC South and the NFC East.

The teams the Donkeys have played so far are a combined 22 - 38. BRUTAL, I tells ya! Factor out the Donkey games and those teams are 21-31 - 10 games under .500.

By contrast, the Pats have played teams with a combined 28-32 record. Factor out the Pats games and they are a combined 26-26.

 

[Uncle Rico]

Oh my head. My edits in bold.

It started with the Thursday night opener against the badly depleted Super Bowl champ Ravens who were forced to open on the road. Then Manning Bowl III against the pushover Giants. Then the Eagles when everybody still thought Chip Kelly might be a genius, though it turns out even the Giants can beat them, they're that bad.

There was the epic shootout in Dallas and Romo.

Even the Jacksonville game became prime water-cooler talk around the nation as millions debated whether Denver could cover the 28-point spread.(I have no edit for this, it's absurd enough on its own.)

A schedule is supposed to let you come up for air every now and then. The NFL decided to mine every storyline ball wash Peyton whenever possible out of the Broncos this season, so there hasn’t been a lot of routine breathing by the people doing the washing.

Oddly, no mention of the Broncos playing both the Colts and Pats on a Sunday after which both those teams play Monday Night road games. Weird.

 

[Uncle Rico]

...
I love this gem: "The NFL is a business, so you can’t really blame it for pushing its most attractive product. But you’ll understand why the Broncos are starting to feel more exploited than Honey Boo Boo."

Yeah, it's called a first place schedule. See Patriots 2001-2013 and counting.

 

[Deus Irae]

You can't build up the drama, and you can't prepare a case for the Canonization of Peyton Manning

If you say he's playing a collection of stiffs.

 

[mgcolby]

The patriots cannot complain with regard to schedule. We have the easiest road to winning the division than any team.

The broncos have an easy schedule. However, they also play have an undefeated team in their division.

How does the NFC East factor into this statement? Which is completely false by the way.

The NFC East, NFC South and AFC South have a combined non-division record of 21-43. 5-14, 8-12, 8-17 respectively.

AFC West is 19-5 playing against the sisters of the poor AKA the AFC South and NFC East.

The NFC West is 14-6 playing the NFC and AFC south which both suck except for the division leaders.

Then you have the AFC East and the NFC North at 10-9 and the AFC North at 10-12. The AFC East is playing the AFC North and NFC South.

And the AFC North is playing the AFC East and NFC North, not exactly an easy schedule.

So in terms of Winning % the divisions shape up like this:

AFC West: .791
NFC West: .700
NFC North: .526
AFC East: .526
AFC North: .454
NFC South: .400
AFC South: .320
NFC East: .263

So I ask how does playing in the division with the 3rd highest winning percentage of games played outside the division, constitute the easiest path to a division win?

 

[Rob0729]

The patriots cannot complain with regard to schedule. We have the easiest road to winning the division than any team.

The broncos have an easy schedule. However, they also play have an undefeated team in their division.

Only because they aren't in the NFC East. The NFC East is easily the worst division in the league. The thing is that it is going to be a bit of a dog fight because no one in that division is likely to have double digit wins. If the Pats were in that division, they would have the division locked up by mid to late November. Hell, I would give the Jets a decent shot at winning that division if they swapped places with the Cowboys.

I think the Pats have a much tougher schedule than the Broncos (not saying much). They have to face the Chiefs twice. But other than that, they don't have many tough games on their schedule.

But the way they are playing right now, I can easily see the Broncos being 3-3 over their next six games. Possibly 2-4 if things go against them. They could be 5-1 or 4-2 too. Their defense sucks and their offense has shown some serious deficiencies that both of their last two opponents have exploited. Their offense is too good for teams to shutdown all game, but as they showed last year that they can be shutdown in the first half and dug into a big enough hole that they can't dig out of.

 

[BradyManny]

They've played one team above .500 and lost.

The teams they have beaten have a combined 17-36 record.

 

[Efstratios]

Did Foxsports get Halloween and April Fool's mixed up by accident?

 

[Kontradiction]

Denver's schedule is brutal?

 

[mgteich]

If the patriots or denver were in the NFC East they would be even stronger favorites to make the playoffs. The patriots would be even greater division favorites.

However, the patriots play where we play. IMHO, the patriots have an easier road to a division win than any other team in the NFL. As far as the playoffs, Denver has almost as easy a road.

In a ny case, we are all nitpicking. Both Denver and the pats have easy schedules, and easy roads to the playoffs. IMHO, theirs is a bit harder since they have a contender for their division win.

Only because they aren't in the NFC East. The NFC East is easily the worst division in the league. The thing is that it is going to be a bit of a dog fight because no one in that division is likely to have double digit wins. If the Pats were in that division, they would have the division locked up by mid to late November. Hell, I would give the Jets a decent shot at winning that division if they swapped places with the Cowboys.

I think the Pats have a much tougher schedule than the Broncos (not saying much). They have to face the Chiefs twice. But other than that, they don't have many tough games on their schedule.

But the way they are playing right now, I can easily see the Broncos being 3-3 over their next six games. Possibly 2-4 if things go against them. They could be 5-1 or 4-2 too. Their defense sucks and their offense has shown some serious deficiencies that both of their last two opponents have exploited. Their offense is too good for teams to shutdown all game, but as they showed last year that they can be shutdown in the first half and dug into a big enough hole that they can't dig out of.

 

[Uncle Rico]

They've played one team above .500 and lost.

The teams they have beaten have a combined 17-36 record.

4-0 against the NFC East — a division of teams that can only beat each other — and 1 win vs the worst team ever. Baltimore had no chance all things considered. And the other win came at home against a Raiders team that has had some interesting moments but is a long way off.

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

Yeah Peyton always has to throw up hill into the wind to leagues worst receivers behind a line built from practice squad players and against the best defense in the NFL every week. Every pass he misses is "a rare miss" and every audible is brilliant- unless it doesn't work then it's the coaches fault.

 

[crew1954]

It's not the strength of the opposition that's wearing, it's having to endure the incessant chatter around water coolers:


A schedule is supposed to let you come up for air every now and then. The NFL decided to mine every storyline possible out of the Broncos this season, so there hasn’t been a lot of routine breathing."

And you though the pretty young woman your company just hired had it tough.

 

[convertedpatsfan]

If the patriots or denver were in the NFC East they would be even stronger favorites to make the playoffs. The patriots would be even greater division favorites.

However, the patriots play where we play. IMHO, the patriots have an easier road to a division win than any other team in the NFL. As far as the playoffs, Denver has almost as easy a road.

In a ny case, we are all nitpicking. Both Denver and the pats have easy schedules, and easy roads to the playoffs. IMHO, theirs is a bit harder since they have a contender for their division win.

Both of those statements are incorrect. Right now, the AFC North, AFC South, and NFC East are all worse than the AFC East. As an example, the NFC East has 11 total wins, 6 of them coming from their own division for a 5-14 mark outside of the division. The AFC East is 10-9, and even if you remove the Pats and their 3-1 mark outside the division, still a respectable 7-8.

This is not the easiest division in the league. The LOLphins are 3-2 outside of the division including a win over the Colts, and 0-2 within the division. Even the last-place team in the division has beaten the defending Super Bowl champs and the surprisingly relevant Carolina Panthers, while losing to the Bengals by 3.

To claim this is the easiest division to win is absolutely false based on everything that has happened so far.

It's also incorrect to say we have a similar schedule to the Broncos. First off, based on last season's records, Denver had the easiest schedule coming into 2013. What's even more interesting is that 4 of the 5 easiest schedules belonged to the AFC West:

2013 NFL strength of schedule - NFL Nation Blog - ESPN

Note the Patriots had the 14th-most difficult, while the Broncos had the easiest.

This link shows the current SOS based on record. Again, based on games played, the Patriots competition is at 50%, while the Broncos are at 41%. The Patriots are tied for 8th-toughest in the conference while the Broncos have the 3rd-easiest.

So no, they are not similar schedules. They weren't to begin the season, and they haven't been up to this point. Overall, it may even out but even that mark is inflated by two games against 8-0 KC and so I don't think it is fair or accurate to claim they are similar schedules.

 

[ThatllMoveTheChains!!!]

Even the Jacksonville game became prime water-cooler talk around the nation as millions debated whether Denver could cover the 28-point spread.

 

[YearbookCurfew]

Hmm, yes. Philadelphia, Jacksonville, and Oakland are such tough opponents. And I'm sure they'll just struggle against the mighty Titans. Minus Indy, they've beaten all of their opponents by double digits.

Do not feel sorry.