Next Year's Schedule

by shonuff on Dec 18, 2007 11:41 AM EST Comment 19 comments

From indystar.com:

Patriots visit in 2008
Sunday's games determined the Colts' final two opponents for the 2008 season, when they move into brand new Lucas Oil Stadium: AFC East champion New England and AFC West winner San Diego.
The Colts also will play division rivals Jacksonville, Tennessee and Houston home and away, the AFC North and the NFC North.
That means home games with Jacksonville, Tennessee, Houston, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Chicago, Detroit and New England. The Colts will visit their division brethren, as well as Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Green Bay, Minnesota and San Diego.
That's seven games against the 10 other teams currently among those with records of 9-5 or better: New England (14-0), Green Bay (12-2), Jacksonville (10-4) twice, Pittsburgh (9-5), Cleveland (9-5) and San Diego (9-5).

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of Stampede Blue's writers or editors.

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Listing It Out

Home:
Jacksonville
Houston
Tennessee
Baltimore
Cincinnati
Chicago
Detroit
New England

Away:
Jacksonville
Houston
Tennessee
Cleveland
Pittsburgh
Green Bay
Minnesota
San Diego

So we'd be playing the AFC #1, NFC #2, AFC #3, AFC #4, AFC #5, AFC #6, and NFC #6.

On the upside, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Chicago, and Detroit should be complete cakewalks. The only away games that scare me are Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Green Bay. I don't relish the idea of the Colts going to any of those places in December.

Assuming the Colts win XLII, if I'm the NFL I'm scheduling Colts/Pats as the first game of the year. It's the only decent non-divisional one on the schedule.

"Hey, if you want me to come here, I want to come here. But if you don't, I'm going to beat your butt for 15 years playing in the AFC." -Peyton Manning-

by MonkeyBusiness on Dec 18, 2007 12:16 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Random scheduling

My ass! For the fifth straight year the Colts face New England in the regular season.

Please make an account and post a diary, add some comments, and make some noise. Accounts are free, and only require an email address.

by BigBlueShoe on Dec 18, 2007 2:19 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Colts and New England

The reason that the Colts play New England for the 5th straight year is New England is the division winner in the AFC East. The schedule is such that each team plays their 6 division games, 4 teams from a division in the AFC and NFC, and 2 teams from the other two divisions in their conference that matches where they placed in their division. In other words, the Colts play the AFC North next year, and since they won their division, they play the AFC East (New England) and the AFC West (San Diego) champs.

As it stands now, the Colts road schedule next year is with teams that are all above .500 now, with the exception of Houston. Ouch!!

by Blueisgood on Dec 18, 2007 3:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Houston

Even at .500, don't you think the Texans are the most improved team in the division? I'd rather play another NFC team over .500--like the Giants or Seahawks--than play the Texans next year. Choosing Mario Williams--and getting DeMeco Ryan--was prescient.

The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars, but in ourselves.

by Coltsfan58 on Dec 18, 2007 4:11 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

yeahhhh

I normally love your work, but the NFL schedule ISN'T random and isn't meant to be. Since the Colts and Patriots have been consistent division winners for so long, they are always going to end up playing each other until they stop matching up at the top (or matching up at other positions) in their respective divisions.

Charlie Weis Ate My Baby

by jdb on Dec 18, 2007 4:25 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Cliche alert: it is what it is

The NFL's scheduling guidelines make only a few games truly variable for any team, i.e., those depending on finishing position. In addition to the 6 division games, the Colts already knew they would play the NFC North and the AFC North. So really, looking at the '08 sked is about two things: timing and home/away splits.

The timing of swapping the NFC South for the NFC North isn't exactly good. The Packers are better than the Bucs, plus the Colts will have the weather to deal with (for the novelty factor the league will probably want the game in the second half of the year; it has the look of a Sunday night game). Playing the Vikings in Minneapolis is worse than the playing the Saints at home, especially because the Colts caught the Saints at the right time. The Panthers and Falcons are basically a push with the Bears and Lions.

Playing the Pats and Chargers--again--is the price of success. It's better to be playing other worthy opponents due to be a division champion.

I agree with MB above--there are some walkovers at home, with some potentially tough road games. In this league, though, virtually all road games are tough. And aren't the Colts like 30-10 in the last 5 years on the road?

If this team is healthy, none of the 2008 opponents, regardless of location, are scary. In what remains of '07, my feeling is the Colts are about to demonstrate that even banged up they are the team everyone else in is league is worried about.

The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars, but in ourselves.

by Coltsfan58 on Dec 18, 2007 4:09 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

2008 Pro Bowl snubs

5 Colts, Manning, Wayne, Sanders, Saturday and Addai were selected for the AFC. However, Clark Brackett and Mathis were left off. This is grossly unfair--Brackett left off for the corpse of Ray Lewis?!! Lewis and Jonathan Ogden--once great, now aging and overrated--continue to be picked. And, how to justify Jason Taylor, off a truly pathetic team, over Mathis or Mario Williams? Arggh!!!

The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars, but in ourselves.

by Coltsfan58 on Dec 18, 2007 4:33 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Umm..

Not Taylor's fault the team blows. He's doing well. Last time I checked the pro bowl isn't a game simply for good players on good teams but is for good players in the NFL.

Brackett should have been put on the team but no way Mathis should have. Yes, Mathis has had a good year but again, there are other players in the league and they have done better.

by Rob L on Dec 19, 2007 9:05 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

popularity contest

Whenever the cowboy's are good, "america's team" will have the most pro bowlers because of their big nation wide fan base. The fact that Marion Barber got more votes than Bryan Westbrook should tell you something. No disrespect to the Barbarian's outstanding season, I mean he punches defenders in the face regularly, but Westbrook has certainly had a better one. And Mathis will continue to be an underrated DE. Such is the result of being in a small media market.

by Ed OG on Dec 18, 2007 4:50 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

well ,since the fans vote

is only 1/3 of all pro bowl voting )coaches and players constitute 2/3), your theory isn't valid.

by Terry on Dec 18, 2007 10:00 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

who cares

The Pro Bowl is such a waste of time.

Go Colts!

by KingRichard on Dec 18, 2007 6:49 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

That doesn't look good.

That means, as it stands now, the Colts would have a strength of schedule of .710. That will be tough, even for the back-to-back world champions :-).

by Bullard47 on Dec 19, 2007 1:09 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Assumptions

Everyone is assuming that all the teams that are good this year will be good next year. It's entirely possible Favre retires, and Rogers stinks up the joint. The AFC South could take a huge step backwards. Baltimore could continue to fall off a cliff, or Troy Smith could prove he can be an NFL QB. Cincy could make a miraculous turnaround. Chicago could find a QB, or just start direct snapping to Devin Hester. Detroit was, up until recently, 6-2. If they can find a running game, and could stop falling completely apart, they'd be okay. New England could be a shell of it's old self. That defense could keep edging toward retirement. Belichick could leave. Brady could retire to be a stay at home dad. Cleveland could go back to sucking, or suffer a full blown QB controversy since they've still got Brady Quinn on the bench. Pittsburgh could continue to be overrated. Minnesota could try to pass. And Norv Turner could still be coaching San Diego.

All of these are not entirely out of the realm of possibility.

"Hey, if you want me to come here, I want to come here. But if you don't, I'm going to beat your butt for 15 years playing in the AFC." -Peyton Manning-

by MonkeyBusiness on Dec 19, 2007 2:13 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Exactly

Yep, exactly and this is what bugs me when people try and talk about schedule strength base don the past record. We CLEARLY see year in, year out that it means jack all since at least half the league changes from season to season. I mean sheesh, look at Colts this year- it looked like it'd be tough with Denver, Baltimore, Saints, Chargers etc and 3 of those teams blow ass this season and the Chargers are not much better.

The Pats had a high opponent % coming into the year and as we see most of those teams have sucked it this year so their schedule was pretty easy.

People need to really stop making assumptions about how tough a future season will be simply because of the current season. You'd think history has shown this is retarded to do (especially in the nfl, the land of free agency) but fans/media will continue to do it and NEVER learn. Annoys me....

by Rob L on Dec 19, 2007 9:10 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

For Instance

New Orleans had a really good year in 2006, and they were a few turnovers away from being the NFC representative in the Super Bowl last year. Fast forward 8 months, and they stink up the dome. What changed? I don't know. Certainly not their roster (at least not much...same RB's, same QB, same WR's, etc etc).

Check it to pancakes! Pancakes!

by Picky on Dec 19, 2007 6:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

same players?

Deuce McCallister is hurt. Reggie Bush is good but not an every down back. Plus he's hurt too. and they lost Joe Horn.

by Ed OG on Dec 19, 2007 9:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Deuce

Wow! Deuce was hurt, and he still had 10 carries for 38 yards, and 2 catches for 7 yards. That's amazing. And he still played for 2 more games!

Wait, maybe when I said, "stink up the dome" you thought I meant the Superdome. I meant the RCA Dome, on the season opener. Reggie, Deuce, and all their roster was fine, and they were a shadow of last year.

Check it to pancakes! Pancakes!

by Picky on Dec 20, 2007 7:48 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

ohh

gotcha

by Ed OG on Dec 21, 2007 1:44 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Next Year

Because of free agency, the turnover on most of these teams is somewhere around 20%. For an example, the Colts have a lot of free agents, including both starting guards, the starting right tackle, a tight end, and an All-Pro safety. Can they keep all of them? Maybe, but unlikely.

In New Orleans' case, I'd just blame it on Jason David. Coming in to the league, everyone knew Reggie Bush wasn't going to be an every down back. He's much better in space than he is in traffic. He just can't pick up tough yards between the tackles.

"Hey, if you want me to come here, I want to come here. But if you don't, I'm going to beat your butt for 15 years playing in the AFC." -Peyton Manning-

by MonkeyBusiness on Dec 23, 2007 4:34 PM EST reply actions 0 recs