NFL Schedule Preview: Denver Broncos
By Chris Smith
It’s 59 days until the new NFL season begins but for a football mad guy like me that’s just too long so I’ve taken it upon myself to go over each NFL schedule and try and predict for all of you what may happen once the season rolls around.
In the second of today’s double-header looking at the schedules of the AFC West we complete the division with the Denver Broncos who went 8-8 in 2011. Here’s how I think their season will go:
- Week 1 vs Pittsburgh Steelers – Loss
- Week 2 at Atlanta Falcons – Loss
- Week 3 vs Houston Texans – Loss
- Week 4 vs Oakland Raiders – Win
- Week 5 at New England Patriots – Loss
- Week 6 at San Diego Chargers – Win
- Week 7 BYE
- Week 8 vs New Orleans Saints – Win
- Week 9 at Cincinnati Bengals – Loss
- Week 10 at Carolina Panthers – Win
- Week 11 vs San Diego Chargers – Win
- Week 12 at Kansas City Chiefs – Win
- Week 13 vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Win
- Week 14 at Oakland Raiders – Win
- Week 15 at Baltimore Ravens – Win
- Week 16 vs Cleveland Browns – Win
- Week 17 vs Kansas City Chiefs – Win
Overall Record for the Denver Broncos in 2012: 11-5
When you look at this schedule it is really a tale of two halves. In their first eight games the Broncos have one of the toughest schedules in the league similar to that of the Raiders. This will really test the chemistry Peyton Manning has with his new receivers and with the strength of competition in the first half that progress will appear painfully slow. By contrast the final eight games of the season are much much easier by comparison and by this time Manning will have had time to get to know his receivers and can fully take advantage of the large number of weak defenses.
All in all this schedule is middle of the road in terms of how tough it is compared to the rest of the league although this schedule is a perfect example of how results at different points of the season can be deceptive. I fully expect there to be a lot of media coverage of the issues with the Broncos in the early part of the season and I also expect Peyton Manning to come out of the season as something of a savior of a Denver team that many in the media will write off due to their bad start. If Denver can get out of the first half 4-4 then they should make the playoffs comfortably.
That’s it for the AFC West. Next week we end our look at the AFC schedules by focusing on the AFC East beginning with the Buffalo Bills.
To stay up to date on the latest from NFL Spin Zone, become a fan on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.