Quote:It does lean towards an easier schedule. I don't see the Tampa bay game as a real away game.


Look at our last 5-6 games. All doable/winnable. Combine that with our first 2 games being away, no far trips except London, there's really not much to hate about the schedule IMO.

 

Away game isn't about distance or fans or whatever. Its about taking your team out of the "comfort" of your home routine. That's why the Bucs game is still "away" even though its only 4 hours from Jacksonville. And that's why the London game is also an away game. You're not sleeping on your own beds in your own home. You're not practicing on your own fields.

 

The strength of schedule isn't that bad, actually. I've never debated this, at least not on paper. I had an earlier post here and I said optimistically an 8-8 record is possible. My gripe has always been how it was scheduled, even though part of it is self inflicted. Having a 3-game road trip is tough enough. Having two due to London makes it even tougher.

 

That said, I do agree that the last 5-6 games are winnable. But I'm not penciling them in as "W". Its easy to come out and say "Oh we should be 5-1" against this division. That's nonsense. It's a division game. We've beaten much better Indy and Houston teams in the past when "on paper" they should have killed us. And Houston/Tenn have beaten us in the past when "on paper" we should have destroyed them. They are division games for a reason. Unless there is a significant gap in talent (like the Colts past couple of years, mainly thanks to their QB), its generally pretty difficult to go 5-1 or higher on your own division.

 

Houston on the road is always tough. Until last season, NO was nearly perfect at the Super Dome. Its possible they take a dip this season given their salary problems, but anytime you're going against Brees, it's not an easy out. Same with Atlanta. I mean, that team put up 30+ points 4 times last season, and 50+ once. They're certainly capable of explosive games.

 

The key to this season is how Blake progresses. If he takes that next step, then we have the edge at QB against TB, NYJ, Hou x2, Tenn x2, and Buffalo. If that is the case, then it certainly makes those match-ups more appealing to us. So even if we say a split with Hou/Tenn just due to how rivalry games are, that still gives us five wins. You get an upset vs. either Miami or Carolina, you catch NO in a down year, and maybe upset SD who is making a cross country trip.

 

That's 8 wins.

 

I think that's an acceptable result this season.

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