Patriots Schedule Release Thoughts

            We all already knew the 2014 opponents for the Patriots and it was looking like this upcoming regular season would be one of the more difficult ones in recent years. The Patriots play the AFC West and NFC North this season along with division winners Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Here’s a look at the full schedule with some thoughts on it:

Sunday, Sept. 7	at Miami Dolphins	1:00 PM ET
Sunday, Sept. 14	at Minnesota Vikings	1:00 PM ET
Sunday, Sept. 21	Oakland Raiders	1:00 PM ET
Monday, Sept. 29	at Kansas City Chiefs	8:30 PM ET
Sunday, Oct. 5	Cincinnati Bengals	8:30 PM ET
Sunday, Oct. 12	at Buffalo Bills	1:00 PM ET
Thursday, Oct. 16	New York Jets	8:25 PM ET
Sunday, Oct. 26	Chicago Bears	1:00 PM ET
Sunday, Nov. 2	Denver Broncos	4:25 PM ET
Sunday, Nov. 9	BYE WEEK
Sunday, Nov. 16	at Indianapolis Colts	8:30 PM ET
Sunday, Nov. 23	Detroit Lions	1:00 PM ET
Sunday, Nov. 30	at Green Bay Packers	4:25 PM ET
Sunday, Dec. 7	at San Diego Chargers	8:30 PM ET
Sunday, Dec. 14	Miami Dolphins	1:00 PM ET
Sunday, Dec. 21	at New York Jets	1:00 PM ET
Sunday, Dec. 28	Buffalo Bills	1:00 PM ET

·         Looking at this schedule the Patriots open up yet another season on the road. This time it’s the division foe Miami. Speaking of division foes, the Patriots travel into Buffalo Week 6 to play loud mouth and "slave" Brandon Spikes and his Bills, then turnaround on a quick week and play Revis' old team the Jets in Gillette on a Thursday night.

·         Weeks 4-5 and 8-14 will be huge challenges each week, especially for Revis matchup wise. (Bowe, Green, Marshall, Thomas, Nicks, Megatron, Nelson, Allen)

·         There are 5 primetime games (KC, Cincy, Jets, Indy, San Diego), which I love, and only two 4:25 starts (Denver, Green Bay)

·         Season ends with 3 straight division games which could be blood baths or cakewalks depending upon what the Patriots record is and what the other teams' records are.

·         Biggest Games: 1. Denver 2. Green Bay 3. Indy 4. Cincinnati 5. Jets (Revis factor) 6. Bills (Spikes factor)

 

Some Fun Predictions:

Key Wins: Denver, Cincinnati

Key Losses: Indianapolis, Green Bay

Sleeper Games: Chicago, Detroit, Jets (Revis factor)

Record: 11-13 wins sounds about right when you have Brady at QB and BB at HC. This is one of the tougher schedules the Patriots have seen in a while but I see this as a good thing to test them for playoffs. The additions in the secondary (Revis/Browner) will be huge this year with the amount of high powered offenses on the schedule. Obviously a big factor in predicting the W/L is Gronk's health. If he can play 16 games, look out NFL. If he can’t play much (which I expect), the Patriots will still be fine. Can’t wait until the Draft!!!