Patriots' Weak Schedule
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I thought the defending super bowl champion was supposed to play the toughest schedule the next year. Not only do the Chiefs have to play at NE for the third consecutive year, but NE’s schedule is really weak: Week 1, Steelers(1-3), Dolphins(0-4), Jets(0-3), Bills(3-1) and today the Redskins(0-4). Looking ahead, NE gets the Dolphins and the Jets again, but also the Giants(2-2) and the Bengals(0-4). Good grief, NE has a cakewalk to the playoffs. I understand that some teams on paper should be better than their current records and injuries to key players is always a factor. But, NE’s schedule just seems too weak for a super bowl champion.
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@stoptheflop It is not as simple as that. This explanation is interesting:
https://operations.nfl.com/the-game/creating-the-nfl-schedule/
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@mayjay Thanks, MJ. I’m sure creating the schedules is difficult. Somewhere and some time ago, I heard or understood that the teams with the best records were assigned more difficult schedules the next year. Maybe that’s not the case. It certainly isn’t the case with NE’s schedule this year.
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Steven Sims JR got a TD on the Pats!! Holla at your boy!!
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@stoptheflop I think there is matching of the 1st and 2nd place teams in a division with their counterparts in other divisions within the conference. So, some power matching, but more of a 2 level bracketing rather than a pure system. And if a team falls apart the year after winning a division, their non-division opponents get an easier looking schedule.
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The AFC East is incredibly weak, so that helps NE because they get 4 games against the Jets and Dolphins. They also play the NFC East, home of the Giants and Redskins, two of the worst teams in the NFC and AFC North, home of the Bengals, Browns and Steelers (all either bad or banged up or both). Really, your previous year’s placing only affects two of your games - for NE, that’s the games against Houston and Kansas City. For KC, it’s the games against New England and Baltimore. The rest of the games are set by rotation.
