2012 Schedules

So at midnight last night UK the 2012 schedules were released and here is what Week 1 is going to look like!

Full schedule can be seen @ http://www.nfl.com/schedules

If your unsure about how the schedules are decided please look at back at my previous blog http://nflthreenout.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/nfl-today.html

So although we have to wait until September for the season to start I have decided to look at how the schedules will affect the team you support. Strength of schedule is taking a look at the average win percentage of the 16 teams you will face in the upcoming season, from this we can determine who statistically has the hardest and easiest schedules for 2012.

The image on the left is the schedule strengths for the 2012 upcoming season, and as you can see it hasn't been king to the current Super Bowl champs the New York Giants, as they have been given the toughest schedule.
Peyton Manning isn't going to be happy in his new role as the new Broncos QB, they have the second toughest schedule so John Elway is going to be praying that Manning is all healed up and is worth all the money they have thrown his way.

The team with the easiest 2012 schedule is the New England Patriots, with the Pats only missing the Play off's once in the last 10 years you would expect them to be there again at the end of 2012.
The second easiest goes to the Green Bay Packers, one of the top teams in the NFC with Aaron Rodgers at QB they should also ease in to the Play off's come the end of the season.




Looking at schedule strengths and the how teams are shaping up for the 2012 season I am going to stick my neck on the line and predict who I believe will make the Play off's by the end of the season.

AFC                                       NFC
1. Texans                               1. Packers
2. Patriots                             2. 49ers
3. Ravens                               3. Eagles
4. Broncos                            4. Falcons
5. Bengals                              5. Saints
6. Steelers                             6. Giants



If that was the play off picture come the end of the season i'll see the play off's being:

Texans vs Patriots AFC championship game
Eagles vs Packers NFC championship game

Super Bowl 2013

Houston Texans vs Philadelphia Eagles

Let me know what you think of the schedules and my very quick predictions for the 2012 season.... there is still a lot of things that will change between now and Week 1 with the upcoming draft and possible trades, also the possibility of injuries to big named players. My mind will probably change on a regular basis about next seasons Play off picture so let me know what your predictions are in the comments below!