Scheduletron

December 19, 2013

Strength of schedule for next year

Colts will play easiest schedule; Raiders get the hardest

Who's in for taking a sneak peek at the 2014 schedule? Ian Allan breaks down which divisions will play the easiest and hardest schedules

It’s not too early to talk 2014 schedules, is it?

All but two of each team’s schedule has been set in stone all along, and now those final two games are looking pretty firm.

You plug in the current win-loss records for each team, and you get an early idea of what we’ll see next year.

The easiest schedules (knock on wood) should tend to go to the teams in the AFC South. For starters, that division is terrible – with the Colts and three lesser franchises. And the matchups look favorable. Teams in that division will play half of their games against the AFC North and the NFC East, which were also below-average this year. So this looks like good news for Andrew Luck – maybe he pops up a couple of spot on draft boards next summer.

The hardest schedules project to be played by the two divisions in the west – AFC West and NFC West. Those are tough divisions, and they’ll be playing each other next year. The inside-conference partners for those divisions are the east (AFC West with AFC East, and NFC West with NFC East). Oakland is your grand loser for scheduling, since unlike the other seven teams in the two West Divisions, it doesn’t get the benefitting of playing against itself.

On this project, I had to make some assumptions/predictions about how teams will place. I moved ahead, for example, as if Carolina will beat New Orleans and win the NFC South. If the Saints win that division, then they’d be the No. 1 slot, picking up Seattle and the NFC East winner (Philly or Dallas) on those two asterisks. But we’ve got a general idea of where things are headed.

STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE -- 2014
Team	W	L	T	Pct
Indianapolis	93	131	0	.415
Houston	95	129	0	.424
Jacksonville	95	129	0	.424
Tennessee	99	125	0	.442
Cleveland	103	121	0	.460
Pittsburgh	103	121	0	.460
NY Giants	104	120	0	.464
Baltimore	105	119	0	.469
Cincinnati	105	119	0	.469
Philadelphia	105	119	0	.469
Washington	105	118	1	.471
Dallas	106	117	1	.475
New Orleans	106	116	2	.478
Carolina	109	113	2	.491
Atlanta	110	112	2	.496
Minnesota	110	112	2	.496
Detroit	109	111	4	.496
Green Bay	112	110	2	.504
Buffalo	113	109	2	.509
Miami	114	108	2	.513
Chicago	113	107	4	.513
New England	115	107	2	.518
NY Jets	115	107	2	.518
Tampa Bay	115	107	2	.518
Arizona	123	101	0	.549
Kansas City	123	101	0	.549
Seattle	124	100	0	.554
St. Louis	126	97	1	.565
Denver	128	96	0	.571
San Diego	128	96	0	.571
San Francisco	127	96	1	.569
Oakland	130	94	0	.580

OUT-OF-DIVISION OPPONENTS FOR 2014
(Some opponents tagged with asterisks will change)
Arizona
(tentative)-Tampa Bay
(tentative)-Detroit
Atlanta
(tentative)-Washington
(tentative)-St. Louis
Baltimore
(tentative)-Miami
(tentative)-Kansas City
Buffalo
(tentative)-Houston
(tentative)-Cleveland
Carolina
(tentative)-Philadelphia
(tentative)-Seattle
Chicago
(tentative)-Philadelphia
(tentative)-Seattle
Cincinnati
(tentative)-New England
(tentative)-Denver
Cleveland
(tentative)-Oakland
(tentative)-Buffalo
Dallas
(tentative)-Green Bay
(tentative)-New Orleans
Denver
(tentative)-Cincinnati
(tentative)-Indianapolis
Detroit
(tentative)-NY Giants
(tentative)-Arizona
Green Bay
(tentative)-Dallas
(tentative)-San Francisco
Houston
(tentative)-Oakland
(tentative)-Buffalo
Indianapolis
(tentative)-Denver
(tentative)-New England
Jacksonville
(tentative)-NY Jets
(tentative)-San Diego
Kansas City
(tentative)-Tennessee
(tentative)-Baltimore
Miami
(tentative)-Tennessee
(tentative)-Baltimore
Minnesota
(tentative)-Washington
(tentative)-St. Louis
New England
(tentative)-Cincinnati
(tentative)-Indianapolis
New Orleans
(tentative)-Dallas
(tentative)-San Francisco
NY Giants
(tentative)-Tampa Bay
(tentative)-Detroit
NY Jets
(tentative)-Jacksonville
(tentative)-Pittsburgh
Oakland
(tentative)-Houston
(tentative)-Cleveland
Philadelphia
(tentative)-Chicago
(tentative)-Carolina
Pittsburgh
(tentative)-NY Jets
(tentative)-San Diego
San Diego
(tentative)-Jacksonville
(tentative)-Pittsburgh
San Francisco
(tentative)-Green Bay
(tentative)-New Orleans
Seattle
(tentative)-Chicago
(tentative)-Carolina
St. Louis
(tentative)-Atlanta
(tentative)-Minnesota
Tampa Bay
(tentative)-NY Giants
(tentative)-Arizona
Tennessee
(tentative)-Miami
(tentative)-Kansas City
Washington
(tentative)-Atlanta
(tentative)-Minnesota
Dallas
NY Giants
Philadelphia
Washington
Denver
Kansas City
Oakland
San Diego

Detroit
Minnesota
Chicago
Green Bay
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Pittsburgh

Atlanta
New Orleans
Carolina
Tampa Bay
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Tennessee

Detroit
Minnesota
Chicago
Green Bay
Denver
Kansas City
Oakland
San Diego

Detroit
Minnesota
Chicago
Green Bay
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Pittsburgh

Atlanta
New Orleans
Carolina
Tampa Bay
Buffalo
New England
Miami
NY Jets

Atlanta
New Orleans
Carolina
Tampa Bay
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Tennessee

Atlanta
New Orleans
Carolina
Tampa Bay
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Tennessee

Arizona
St. Louis
San Francisco
Seattle
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Tennessee

Arizona
St. Louis
San Francisco
Seattle
Buffalo
New England
Miami
NY Jets

Atlanta
New Orleans
Carolina
Tampa Bay
Buffalo
New England
Miami
NY Jets

Atlanta
New Orleans
Carolina
Tampa Bay
Buffalo
New England
Miami
NY Jets

Dallas
NY Giants
Philadelphia
Washington
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Pittsburgh

Dallas
NY Giants
Philadelphia
Washington
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Pittsburgh

Dallas
NY Giants
Philadelphia
Washington
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Pittsburgh

Arizona
St. Louis
San Francisco
Seattle
Buffalo
New England
Miami
NY Jets

Detroit
Minnesota
Chicago
Green Bay
Denver
Kansas City
Oakland
San Diego

Atlanta
New Orleans
Carolina
Tampa Bay
Buffalo
New England
Miami
NY Jets

Detroit
Minnesota
Chicago
Green Bay
Denver
Kansas City
Oakland
San Diego

Detroit
Minnesota
Chicago
Green Bay
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Pittsburgh

Arizona
St. Louis
San Francisco
Seattle
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Tennessee

Detroit
Minnesota
Chicago
Green Bay
Denver
Kansas City
Oakland
San Diego

Arizona
St. Louis
San Francisco
Seattle
Buffalo
New England
Miami
NY Jets

Arizona
St. Louis
San Francisco
Seattle
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Tennessee

Atlanta
New Orleans
Carolina
Tampa Bay
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Tennessee

Arizona
St. Louis
San Francisco
Seattle
Buffalo
New England
Miami
NY Jets

Dallas
NY Giants
Philadelphia
Washington
Denver
Kansas City
Oakland
San Diego

Dallas
NY Giants
Philadelphia
Washington
Denver
Kansas City
Oakland
San Diego

Dallas
NY Giants
Philadelphia
Washington
Denver
Kansas City
Oakland
San Diego

Detroit
Minnesota
Chicago
Green Bay
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Pittsburgh

Dallas
NY Giants
Philadelphia
Washington
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Cleveland
Pittsburgh

Arizona
St. Louis
San Francisco
Seattle
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Tennessee

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