Patriots 2011 Opponents set

[ahmed]

How can you not like playing the Colts every year? Always makes for one of the best games every year.

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

Ohhhh yeah, We're playin the Cowboys at home! (I'm excited cuz I've been wantin to go down and see a game and my bro is a Cowboys fan so we could go together)

I hope it's early in the season so I don't have to worry about snow (I love the Pats in snow, but when you're travelling from Nova Scotia you don't wanna have to drive through it)

 

[goheels22002]

Colts, Steelers, Eagles, Chiefs, Broncos, Raiders, Chargers, Redskins, Cowboys and Giants. Loads of Patriots story lines right there. 4 playoff teams and 6 also rans in 2010. Not bad.

The Bills will suck next year as will the Fins without some major infusion of talented youth. The Jets will have to wait and see. They could be out on their feet next year if they lose in Indy or they could get be a shoe-in for the playoffs with a nice run.

The Patriots will be very young and fast with seven more rookies coming in the first 4 rounds under a rookie cap plus the young'ns BB coached up this year. I like that schedule. Pats 11-5 or better on first glance without knowing the personnel changes.

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

The Jets will have to wait and see. They could be out on their feet next year if they lose in Indy or they could get be a shoe-in for the playoffs with a nice run.

Did you choose those words because of Rexy's fetish or was it just a coincidence?

 

[Prefect]

Who would have thought when the Colts left the division the Pats would play them every year still? This has to be the longest streak of playing a non division opponent ever. Or at least since the advent of divisions.

It probably doesn't beat out the Pats' streak of playing the Broncos seemingly every year up until recently.

 

[420jim]

We didn't play them in 2002... >hic<

Actually, in the old NFL, prior to 1960, everybody played everybody due to their being relatively few teams. So you'd have to qualify post-merger or post-AFL-start-up.

Ok, I didn't check. But including next season its still 9 years running, plus I think scheduling has the AFC East plays the AFC South in 2012, which makes it 10 years. That should surpass any Broncos run (I don't know, not gonna check) or any match up since the merger of any non division teams. If I'm wrong, so be it. still not going to research all teams for the last 40 years or so.

 

[Patstopia]

I hope we dump 75 on Oakland!

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

I wonder how they are going to add the extra two games (if they go to the 18 game schedule). The most probable scenarios are either:

A) Adding two additional conference games (based on previous season's results): for example for next year the Pats would also have to play the second place teams in the AFC North and South (Baltimore and Jacksonville) so they would have an identical schedule as the Jets and the teams that finished 3rd and 4th would also have identical schedules (in this case the Bills/Phins would have to play the Bengals & Browns, Texans & Titans).

or

B) Adding two additional non-conference games (based on the previous season's results): again using next year as an example the AFC East plays the NFC East so they could add two additional games by making a rotation AFC East 1 plays NFC North 1 (Bears), NFC South 1 (Atlanta), and the NY Footsies would have to play (Green Bay and New Orleans).

These are the only two scenarios that would make sense for the league. I think that option B will be the one that they go with, because it is closer to the parity that the NFL seems to like, as it once again, makes it tougher for teams to keep winning.

 

[Fahrenhype]

Hopefully both of the NFC to Foxboro games end up on Sunday night and Monday night and I'll never have to listen to the windbags on FOX all season! SNF has gotten a lot more tolerable since Olberdouche was punted.

Now if they could just replace Collinsworthless...

 

[VJCPatriot]

Patriots’ Home Schedule: Chiefs, Chargers, Cowboys, Giants, Colts OR Jaguars, Dolphins, Bills, Jets

There's no way the league will schedule the Jags vs the Pats over the Colts vs Pats. The NFL would lose revenue. Lots of people will tune in to watch Pats vs Colts, whether or not they hate the Pats. In fact the haters will probably tune in just in hopes of seeing the Colts defeat the Pats. In addition Manning + Brady is a marquee superstar QB matchup. Anyways it seems the Pats play the Colts every year now. The rivalry is just too good not to have on the schedule.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

It's due to the schedule formula, based on the prior season's results.

Look at it this way: next season, within the AFC East, the Jets, Fins & Bills will all play a division champion twice (the Pats). But the Pats will play no division champions (can't play yourself). So the formula makes up for this by having them play the division champs from the other two divisions that they don't play round-robin with.

Ditto for all the other positions. As a result, next season, every team will play four games against 1st place teams, four games against 2nd place teams, four games against 3rd place teams and four games against 4th place teams.

An 18-game schedule would screw this all up.

My guess is that the extra pair of games would be either 1-4 or 2-3 (i.e., a first-place team would play a fifth first-place team but also a fifth fourth-place team).

 

[ctpatsfan77]

It probably doesn't beat out the Pats' streak of playing the Broncos seemingly every year up until recently.

OTOH, one of the most disgusting facts I ever saw: back in the three-division era, when the schedule was essentially partly random, the Patriots played the Steelers in Pittsburgh nine times in a row.

 

[sbpatfan]

OTOH, one of the most disgusting facts I ever saw: back in the three-division era, when the schedule was essentially partly random, the Patriots played the Steelers in Pittsburgh nine times in a row.

It must be even more disgusting for Pittsburgh fans then considering all the times we beat them and ended their seasons there.

 

[jmt57]

Watch, the Steelers, even after winning their division will once again somehow end up with the easiest schedule in the NFL, happens every year.

Four games (25% of the schedule) against the Browns and Bengals every year usually goes a long ways to making that happen.

 

[jmt57]

I'm getting tired of playing Indy every year--it would be nice to see some new blood. The AFC South is such a joke...it's not as bad as the NFC West, but man...the division gets a free pass every year. I wish they would just contract the AFC South and add Indy to the AFC north and contract Cleveland. Then you'd have one heck of a league

Actually the AFC South has been the best division overall since the NFL went to eight divisions, though they were down this year. On the other hand the NFC West has been the league's worst division for seven straight years now.

Here are the year-by-year won-loss records of each division since the NFL went to an eight division format:


2010
36-28 -- AFC East
36-28 -- NFC South
33-31 -- NFC North
33-31 -- AFC North
32-32 -- NFC East
31-33 -- AFC West
30-34 -- AFC South
25-39 -- NFC West

2009
38-26 -- AFC South
34-30 -- NFC East
33-31 -- NFC South
33-31 -- AFC North
32-32 -- AFC East
32-32 -- NFC North
30-34 -- AFC West
24-40 -- NFC West

2008
40-24 -- NFC South
38-25-1 -- NFC East
38-26 -- AFC East
38-26 -- AFC South
31-32-1 -- AFC North
25-39 -- NFC North
23-41 -- AFC West
22-42 -- NFC West

2007
42-22 -- AFC South
40-24 -- NFC East
35-29 -- NFC North
32-32 -- AFC North
28-36 -- AFC East
27-37 -- NFC South
26-38 -- AFC West
26-38 -- NFC West

2006
35-29 -- AFC East
34-30 -- AFC South
34-30 -- AFC West
33-31 -- AFC North
32-32 -- NFC East
30-34 -- NFC North
29-35 -- NFC South
29-35 -- NFC West

2005
36-28 -- AFC West
36-28 -- NFC East
33-31 -- AFC North
33-31 -- NFC South
32-32 -- AFC South
29-35 -- NFC North
28-36 -- AFC East
28-36 -- NFC West

2004
37-27 -- AFC East
36-28 -- AFC North
34-30 -- AFC West
33-31 -- AFC South
31-33 -- NFC East
31-33 -- NFC South
29-35 -- NFC North
25-39 -- NFC West

2003
36-28 -- AFC East
34-30 -- AFC South
33-31 -- NFC West
31-33 -- NFC East
31-33 -- NFC North
31-33 -- NFC South
31-33 -- AFC West
29-35 -- AFC North

2002
37-26-1 -- NFC South
36-28 -- AFC West
35-29 -- AFC East
34-30 -- NFC East
31-33 -- AFC South
29-35 -- NFC West
28-35-1 -- AFC North
25-39 -- NFC North


2002-2010 Division Records
312-264-0 -- AFC South (best two times) -- 6-2-1
308-267-1 -- NFC East (best one time) -- 5-2-2
305-271-0 -- AFC East (best four times; worst once) -- 6-2-1
297-278-1 -- NFC South (best three times; worst once) -- 5-4-0
288-286-2 -- AFC North (worst once) -- 5-3-1
281-295-0 -- AFC West (best once; worst once) -- 4-5-0
269-307-0 -- NFC North (worst once) -- 2-6-1
241-335-0 -- NFC West (worst seven times) -- 1-8-0

Last set of numbers above is number of winning seasons - number of losing seasons - .500 seasons

 

[Dufflebagz]

There's no way the league will schedule the Jags vs the Pats over the Colts vs Pats. The NFL would lose revenue. Lots of people will tune in to watch Pats vs Colts, whether or not they hate the Pats. In fact the haters will probably tune in just in hopes of seeing the Colts defeat the Pats. In addition Manning + Brady is a marquee superstar QB matchup. Anyways it seems the Pats play the Colts every year now. The rivalry is just too good not to have on the schedule.

Its not the NFL choice, we play who ever finished in the same position as us in the AFC South...so, the Colts.

 

[jsull87]

Schedule for Next Year - Looks pretty tough again

New England Patriots

Home: Buffalo, Miami, N.Y. Jets, Kansas City, San Diego, Indianapolis, Dallas, N.Y. Giants

Away: Buffalo, Miami, N.Y. Jets, Denver, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington


Anyone else think that's another pretty tough Schedule?

 

[TheGodInAGreyHoodie]

Re: Schedule for Next Year - Looks pretty tough again

New England Patriots

Home: Buffalo, Miami, N.Y. Jets, Kansas City, San Diego, Indianapolis, Dallas, N.Y. Giants

Away: Buffalo, Miami, N.Y. Jets, Denver, Oakland, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Washington


Anyone else think that's another pretty tough Schedule?

Not one team looks unbeatable. @ Philly is the toughest game on the schedule. I predict 15-1, lose one of the Pennsylvania games, win the rest.

 

[jsull87]

Re: Schedule for Next Year - Looks pretty tough again

Not one team looks unbeatable. @ Philly is the toughest game on the schedule. I predict 15-1, lose one of the Pennsylvania games, win the rest.

not saying they are unbeatable just that we are once again playing some tough teams. Also denver away has always seemed to be a trouble game

 

[Kontradiction]

Re: Schedule for Next Year - Looks pretty tough again

I can't wait to get at the Giants again for 4 quarters of regular season football.