2012 schedule close to finalized

[Seanzayyy]

Most of the tougher games appear to be at home. You never know of course.

HOME
Arizona
Buffalo
Houston
Indianapolis
Miami
New York
San Francisco
AFC West Winner: Oakland or Denver

AWAY
Buffalo
Jacksonville
Miami
New York
Seattle
St. Louis
Tennessee
AFC North winner: Baltimore or Pittsburgh

I bolded the games that looked like a pretty good challenge. Nothing's ever certain in this league. I see 13-3 or 14-2.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

Peyton will be back next year so the Indy home game will be tough. Jets won't be a cake walk either.

Indy home games are never as tough and depending on when they visit it can be tougher on Indy. Not to mention we don't know how Manning will rebound if in fact he does and if they draft the QB of the future they won't be as likely to improve in 2012 via the draft. They have a number of UFA and RFA and are lacking talent even before those losses are factored in. And Polian has an aversion to FA so it's harder for him to plug holes. He has to count on coaching up late rounders and UDFA's. And with Caldwell likely gone, who knows what the coaching staff in Indy will look like come 2012.

JETS will still have Sanchize and likely he'll be on his second OC. Leonard is a UFA and Rex got some work to do on defense let alone what the offense needs... Plax will be a UFA and LaClassian won't be back and they got OL issues even with 2 pro bowlers. And the pressure will be ramped up to defcon 7 as Rex and the Sanchize enter year 4 of their broken promises tour. And the cap will factor in as it did this season and they will be victimized once again by whatever Tannenbaum ends up doing to save his job. This year he clearly set them up to fail on a lot of levels, not that they wouldn't have on their own...

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

Well, we were a dumb Mccourty tackle, a ref screwing up a Gronk TD call, and a defensive choke from being 16-0 this season with the worst defense of the BB era.

The offense will be intact next year with Brady/Gronk/Ahern/Welker. If BB can make this defense average in the off season, who knows.

Your point makes the point that sh!te happens. Random events inject "noise" into any game. There are games we won (see Gost's ankle tackle last week) where unusual events happened. We could be 10-6 had similar negative events occurred.

There really was football before 2007. Looking at history most of which was BEFORE engineered parity, there was only one other undefeated team.

 

[brdmaverick]

In any 16 game schedule is there is always going to be a few tough games, but in comparison to other team's schedules, I bet ours is a cake walk.

Next year analysts will be saying about the Pats what we have been saying about the Steelers this year...."sure, they have a good record, but they haven't beat anybody."

 

[jah]

In any 16 game schedule is there is always going to be a few tough games, but in comparison to other team's schedules, I bet ours is a cake walk.

Next year analysts will be saying about the Pats what we have been saying about the Steelers this year...."sure, they have a good record, but they haven't beat anybody."

If I'm not mistaken, the best record a team the Patriots have beaten this year has is 8-7 and they've lost to 11-4, 8-7, and 6-9 teams. I'm pretty worried about what will happen when they play an elite team.

 

[Seanzayyy]

If I'm not mistaken, the best record a team the Patriots have beaten this year has is 8-7 and they've lost to 11-4, 8-7, and 6-9 teams. I'm pretty worried about what will happen when they play an elite team.

You're right. It's weird in the AFC this year. No one real dominant team, and a handful of 8-11 win teams. But I imagine the "elite" teams you're talking about are the Ravens, Steelers, Saints, and Packers. All of which are definitely beatable. I feel like the Saints would be the hardest matchup for our Pats to face.

 

[RodThePat]

If I'm not mistaken, the best record a team the Patriots have beaten this year has is 8-7 and they've lost to 11-4, 8-7, and 6-9 teams. I'm pretty worried about what will happen when they play an elite team.

Take solace in the fact that when that 11-4 team beat the Patriots, they played like absolute dog****, were thoroughly dominated, and still were a missed call on a Rob Gronkowski TD away from having the ball with 3 minutes left, needing a TD to win it.

 

[jmt57]

The NFL slightly altered the schedule rotation a few years back in regards to both the AFCW and NFCW. The reason for that was that prior to that two teams from a division would have much shorter trips (at KC and at Denver) while two teams would have longer trips (at Oakland and at San Diego); there was a similar situation with the NFCW - at SF and Seattle as opposed to at Arizona and St. Louis.

If you look at teams from the AFC playing NFCW teams you will see that the pairings are now Arizona and San Francisco, or Seattle and St. Louis. For example this year the Ravens and Bengals were both home versus SF and Arizona and at Seattle and St. Louis; the Steelers and Browns were at SF and Arizona and home versus Seattle and St. Louis.

We already saw a one-time blip with the schedule being tweaked for the AFC West. In 2005 the Pats were home vs Oakland and San Diego and at at KC and Denver, and in 2008 it was the reverse. This year however the new format was in place, and the Pats were at Oakland and Denver, and home vs KC and San Diego. That resulted in a one-time situation where the Pats were at Oakland in 2008 and 2011, and home versus the Chiefs in both those years.

Same thing will happen with the NFCW schedule for next year. Even though Arizona was at New England in 2008 they'll play in Foxboro again in 2012, and the Pats will be in Seattle again even though they were there in 2008.



The bottom line is that in 2012 the Pats are at home versus San Francisco, Arizona, and the first place team from the AFC West; they'll be on the road at Seattle, St. Louis, and the first place team from the AFC North.



For those questioning why the Pats are at Pittsburgh two years in a row, that too is just part of the NFL schedule rotation. We play the AFCN team that finishes in the same place as the Pats did in their house two years in a row, then they play in Foxboro two years in a row. We constantly saw the same thing happen playing the Colts, where it would be three years here then three years then when you also factor in the AFCE versus the AFCS.

 

[brdmaverick]

If I'm not mistaken, the best record a team the Patriots have beaten this year has is 8-7 and they've lost to 11-4, 8-7, and 6-9 teams. I'm pretty worried about what will happen when they play an elite team.

Definitely a quirky year. By your count, we've only played against one team this year with a better record than 8-7 (and was a loss to the 11-4 Steelers).

You make a fair point that we should be considered relatively untested.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

That looks to be about the pansiest schedule for us in a long time

If Bill can somehow form a complete secondary that is NFL caliber and the team doesn't lose anyone major,the team should win at least 12 games with that lineup of teams.

 

[jmt57]

If I'm not mistaken, the best record a team the Patriots have beaten this year has is 8-7 and they've lost to 11-4, 8-7, and 6-9 teams. I'm pretty worried about what will happen when they play an elite team.

You'll probably find similar stats on most 'elite' teams in any given year. I know this sounds overly simplistic, but part of the reason those opponents do not have as good a record in comparison is because they lost to that team with the better record.

Let's take a look at Pittsburgh, for example. They are 1-4 against 'elite' teams, losing to Baltimore twice, Houston and San Francisco. After that it's two wins against Cincinnati, a win over Tennessee, and all their other wins are against teams eliminated from the playoffs. Should they not be considered to be a Super Bowl contender based on that 1-4 record versus quality opponents? Of course not.

If you consider Cincinnati to be a worthy opponent, look at their schedule. Their only win against a team still in the playoff hunt was against Tennessee; they are a combined 0-6 against Denver, San Francisco, Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

It is rare for a team to have a lot of wins against playoff teams in any given year simply because there aren't all that many games on a schedule, and if that other team lost more than a couple of those games then they're probably out of the playoff hunt - and no longer considered to be a quality team.

 

[ALP]

very tough schedule next year

Patriots' 2012 opponents finalized - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

we only have the teams right now, not the times, but:

Home: 49ers, Bills, Cardinals, Colts, Dolphins, Jets, Texans, Broncos

Away: Bills, Dolphins, Jaguars, Jets, Rams, Seahawks, Titans, Ravens

 

[RodThePat]

Re: very tough schedule next year

Very tough? Looking at this schedule I see absolutely no reason as to why this team won't win at least 12 games again.

 

[patsinthesnow]

Re: very tough schedule next year

/Sarcasm...

 

[Keyser Söze]

Re: very tough schedule next year

I know sarcasm can sometimes be hard to detect online...but come on.

 

[RodThePat]

Re: very tough schedule next year

I know sarcasm can sometimes be hard to detect online...but come on.

Actually, it's impossible to detect if the person doesn't post anything else other than the title of the thread and it's especially hard to sense if you've been on Patsfans long enough to know that people here can say the most absurd things like they are common sense.

 

[Uncle Rico]

Re: very tough schedule next year

Well the season opener will obviously be the Niners coming to town on a Thursday night, hoping to avenge an embarrassing Super Bowl shutout loss.

 

[RobertWeathers]

Re: very tough schedule next year

Patriots' 2012 opponents finalized - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

we only have the teams right now, not the times, but:

Home: 49ers, Bills, Cardinals, Colts, Dolphins, Jets, Texans, Broncos

Away: Bills, Dolphins, Jaguars, Jets, Rams, Seahawks, Titans, Ravens

...and the 49ers, Cards, Colts, Tex and Broncos fans are saying, "Pats @ Foxboro? WE'RE DOOMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

[DarrylS]

Re: very tough schedule next year

...and the 49ers, Cards, Colts, Tex and Broncos fans are saying, "Pats @ Foxboro? WE'RE DOOMED!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Either that or BB cheated.. again!!!!!

 

[PatriotFan77]

Re: very tough schedule next year

Of COURSE they would draw the Arizona Cardinals at HOME:enranged::nooo: