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Last week, the NFL announced the preseason schedules for all 32 teams. This week, the league will announce the regular season schedules on Thursday.
That’s according to Detroit Lions president Rod Wood, who last week let it slip that the schedule would be released this Thursday, April 20. So while there’s no confirmation yet from the league, Wood is certainly someone in the know and therefore he’s probably right about this information.
Here’s what we know about the NFL schedule so far: there will be four games in London next season, with the Ravens vs. Jaguars, Saints vs. Dolphins, Vikings vs. Browns, and Cardinals vs. Rams being those matchups. There will also be another game in Mexico City, and that will feature the Raiders vs. Patriots. Finally, the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin reported over the weekend that the NFL season-opening Thursday night game will “almost certainly” be the Chiefs traveling to face the defending champion Patriots.
More specifically regarding the Colts, all we know so far are the opponents they’ll face. The Colts will host the Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers, Arizona Cardinals, San Francisco 49ers, and Denver Broncos in 2017. The Colts will also travel to face the Houston Texans, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals, Los Angeles Rams, Seattle Seahawks, and Buffalo Bills next season.
Broken down, the Colts will face the other three AFC South teams twice next season, like they always do. The Colts will also play the teams from the AFC North and the NFC West. So between those six division games and the eight games against other divisions next year, that adds up to 14 of the 16 games. The other two opponents come from the Colts playing the team that finished in the same place in the standings as them in the other two AFC divisions - which this year, since the Colts are playing the AFC North already, means the AFC West and the AFC East. The Broncos and the Bills finished in third in those divisions, so since the Colts finished in third in their division those will be their other two opponents next season.
Overall, it’s a very favorable schedule for the Colts on paper, but of course we’ll have to see how the specific dates and travel schedules work out with the actual schedule. We should have it soon, as it should be released this week.