You have to hand it to the NFL, they are the only pro sports league in America that can make something as mundane as schedule unveilings into a must-see event every year. Tonight on the NFL Network, every team found out what their 2014 regular season will look like (granted they already knew the opponents just not the particulars). Of course with the 2014 NFL Draft two weeks from tomorrow not to mention months and months of training camp, preseason, injuries and transactions to take place, it is pointless to project wins and losses. Still, you know that the Pats are good for at least 10 wins every season in the sad sack AFC East.
New England opens up in Miami on Sunday, September 7 (1, CBS) and they close Sunday, December 28 vs. Buffalo (1, CBS). In between that, they have five primetime games (3 Sunday, 1 Monday and 1 Thursday) plus keep in mind that flex scheduling starts as early as Week 5 this season so they could possibly be in more than we know at the moment.
The Pats play two shitbag teams in a row early on: at Minnesota in Week 2 and vs. Oakland in Week 3 which are basically automatic wins. Things start to get interesting again in Week 4 as they travel to Kansas City for Monday Night Football. Can't wait to hear Gruden compare Tom Brady and Alex Smith, that should be neat. That's followed by another national game as they host Cincinnati on Sunday Night Football.
They won't have to deal with the terrible winter weather in Buffalo (we hope) as they get that out of the way in Week 6. Then it's a short week as they host the Jets on Thursday Night Football. Week 8 finds Jay Cutler and the Bears in Foxborough then Week 9 is the game of the year in the AFC and one of the marquee matchups in the NFL as Peyton Manning and the Broncos visit (surprisingly a 4:25 start but I bet that changes).
Week 10 is New England's bye and they are challenged coming out of that as they travel to Indianapolis in Week 11 for a Sunday Night contest. The following Sunday they host the Lions (before Thanksgiving) then in Week 13 they travel to Green Bay-a pretty cool road trip that they rarely make. Week 14 is their last primetime game as they go to San Diego.
The regular season concludes with three straight games against their AFC East foes: vs. Miami, at New York and vs. Buffalo. There are plenty of other things to distract us (NHL and NBA playoffs, MLB to a lesser extent) but it's nice to at least have this to daydream about when the summer drags along. The draft is always a great event that any true football fan looks forward to every spring.
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