In the NFL, it’s not only who you play, but when you play them. Some teams have easy schedules early in the season. Some teams tend to get their easy games late in the year. Here’s a quick look at both.
Starting with the first half of the season (games 1-8 for each team). The Bucs, Texans, Dolphins and Falcons project to play the easiest schedules, while Kansas City, Pittsburgh and San Francisco project to play the hardest.
On this chart below, if a team has one of the 10 easiest schedules in the second half of the season, I put the team name in bold. If the team has one of the 10 hardest schedules in the second half, they’ve got a black dot in front of their name.
So four teams have top-10 schedules (easy) in both the first and second halves of the season – Houston, Atlanta, Indianapolis and Tennessee.
Five teams have bottom-10 schedules in both the first and second halves of the season.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE (games 1-8) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Team | W | L | T | Pct |
Tampa Bay | 44 | 83 | 1 | .348 |
Houston | 48 | 79 | 1 | .379 |
• Miami | 52 | 76 | 0 | .406 |
Atlanta | 52 | 76 | 0 | .406 |
Indianapolis | 53 | 74 | 1 | .418 |
• Washington | 54 | 74 | 0 | .422 |
• Cleveland | 57 | 71 | 0 | .445 |
NY Jets | 58 | 70 | 0 | .453 |
Philadelphia | 58 | 69 | 1 | .457 |
Tennessee | 59 | 69 | 0 | .461 |
Buffalo | 60 | 67 | 1 | .473 |
New England | 62 | 66 | 0 | .484 |
Jacksonville | 62 | 65 | 1 | .488 |
• Arizona | 65 | 63 | 0 | .508 |
New Orleans | 65 | 62 | 1 | .512 |
Carolina | 66 | 62 | 0 | .516 |
NY Giants | 68 | 60 | 0 | .531 |
• Oakland | 68 | 59 | 1 | .535 |
Green Bay | 68 | 59 | 1 | .535 |
Dallas | 69 | 59 | 0 | .539 |
• Cincinnati | 70 | 58 | 0 | .547 |
• Denver | 70 | 58 | 0 | .547 |
Minnesota | 71 | 57 | 0 | .555 |
Baltimore | 71 | 56 | 1 | .559 |
San Diego | 71 | 56 | 1 | .559 |
• Seattle | 71 | 55 | 2 | .563 |
• St. Louis | 72 | 56 | 0 | .563 |
Detroit | 72 | 56 | 0 | .563 |
Chicago | 74 | 54 | 0 | .578 |
San Francisco | 75 | 53 | 0 | .586 |
• Pittsburgh | 75 | 52 | 1 | .590 |
Kansas City | 77 | 50 | 1 | .605 |
Turning our attention to the second half of the season, not that two teams that were in the top 10 in September/October have shifted down to the bottom 4 – Cleveland and Miami. Those are the two big movers.
As mentioned previously, we’ve got four teams that are in the top 10 in both halves, and five teams that are in the bottom 10 in both the first and second halves of the season.
The Saints, Panthers and Cowboys project to play the easiest schedules in November and December.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE (games 9-16) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Team | W | L | T | Pct |
New Orleans | 44 | 83 | 1 | .348 |
Carolina | 45 | 83 | 0 | .352 |
Dallas | 50 | 77 | 1 | .395 |
Tennessee | 52 | 75 | 1 | .410 |
Atlanta | 52 | 74 | 2 | .414 |
Indianapolis | 53 | 75 | 0 | .414 |
NY Giants | 54 | 73 | 1 | .426 |
Jacksonville | 56 | 72 | 0 | .438 |
Houston | 58 | 69 | 1 | .457 |
New England | 60 | 68 | 0 | .469 |
• San Diego | 61 | 67 | 0 | .477 |
• Chicago | 62 | 66 | 0 | .484 |
• Kansas City | 62 | 66 | 0 | .484 |
Philadelphia | 63 | 65 | 0 | .492 |
• Detroit | 63 | 65 | 0 | .492 |
Buffalo | 64 | 64 | 0 | .500 |
Tampa Bay | 64 | 63 | 1 | .504 |
• Baltimore | 66 | 61 | 1 | .520 |
NY Jets | 67 | 61 | 0 | .523 |
Green Bay | 67 | 61 | 0 | .523 |
• Minnesota | 67 | 61 | 0 | .523 |
Washington | 68 | 59 | 1 | .535 |
• Denver | 68 | 59 | 1 | .535 |
• San Francisco | 68 | 59 | 1 | .535 |
• St. Louis | 69 | 58 | 1 | .543 |
Oakland | 71 | 57 | 0 | .555 |
• Seattle | 71 | 57 | 0 | .555 |
• Pittsburgh | 72 | 55 | 1 | .566 |
Miami | 74 | 54 | 0 | .578 |
Cincinnati | 74 | 54 | 0 | .578 |
Arizona | 77 | 50 | 1 | .605 |
Cleveland | 81 | 45 | 2 | .641 |
—Ian Allan