Schedule

[iknowftbll]

Is it just me or does it take the NFL a little longer with every passing year to get the schedule published?

 

[Broncosr0k]

I would not be surprised if they are not revising it more and more to try to get the best games in the best time slots. Also would not be surprised if the stretch things out more during the offseason so we don't go quite so long without any worthwhile news.

 

[iknowftbll]

Schedule's out:

Denver Broncos | 2013 Regular Season Schedule | DenverBroncos.com

 

[iknowftbll]

Thoughts:

It's a tough one based on the 2013 records. We knew it would be though.

I'm not a fan of the bye week so early, but the Broncos were due for an early bye, so I guess this year is as good as any.

A stretch of 3 consecutive road games in November looks to be a challenge. Thankfully the Raiders are one of them!

As of right now there are 5 prime time games scheduled.

The Broncos play the 49ers on SNF, then play the Chargers on TNF the same week. That sucks. But the extra time after that TNF game (Chargers) will help them get set for the Patriots, the first of the afore mentioned three game road trip.

What are your thoughts on the schedule?

 

[MileHigh64]

One of the toughest schedules that I can remember for the Broncos upcoming season but actually I love it! If we are going to take a stab at being the league's best team, we'll need to beat the best. This will be a very battle tested team heading into the playoffs.

I hate the bye week in week 4 and the majority of our games are road games in the 2nd half of the season. The bye week also comes after our game at Seattle, so the Broncos might have to sit on a loss for two weeks.

I'm really glad we open with the Colts at home. I think the Broncos will be pretty jacked up for this game and that may get them past a very tough opponent on opening weekend. I see our team finishing the season with an 11-5 record. Not a 13 win season but good enough to take the AFC West and get us back into the playoffs.

I have us splitting games with the Chiefs & Chargers and splitting our games with the NFC West. I think our 5th loss will be at the hands of the Patriots, unfortunately.

Obviously, we still have the draft, training camps and pre-season. My early schedule prediction could change dramatically depending on the outcomes of the rest of the off season. At least now we know what the Broncos season looks like and it finally gives us a little Broncos news to talk about in this boring time of the year.

Go Broncos!!

MH64

 

[iknowftbll]

I'm with you at 11-5 as of now. I think the Chargers are capable of going 11-5 as well, so winning the AFC West may not be as easy this year as it was last year or the year before. With that said, this team looks to be much better on defense (assuming we have healthy players) and does not appear to have made a major drop off on offense. I think they are going to be a good team, and let's face it. 11-5 against this schedule would be a hell of an accomplishment.

8 of the Broncos opponents won 10 games last year in the regular season. That total increases to 10 if you count playoff wins. This is a tough slate. We already knew the slate, though. Now we know the order. It's exciting and it is going to be a lot of fun building up to the season. We've got the draft coming in a couple more weeks and once we see our new picks it'll fuel the discussion and speculation all summer long.

 

[DownSetHutch]

A few things stand out to me from this schedule. The first is Week 3 @ the Seahawks. God I hope we get revenge. That will be the biggest game of the regular season IMO, and it will be a huge test for the team in terms of repairing their psyche and developing their confidence as a team. Can't wait for this game. I just want to see us whoop the Seahawks' ass.

The second thing I noticed is our bye is in Week 4. That sucks, but we have been pretty lucky in getting our bye in the middle of the season almost every year. So we can't really complain.

Once again, we play the Patriots. Good. Let's kick Tom Brady's ass again. He deserves it, and so do his adoring fans.

Overall, the schedule is pretty tough, and we play the toughest division in the league in the NFC West. All four of those teams are very physical, and those are the types of teams that we need to be able to beat if we are going to win it all.

Can't wait for Week 1.

 

[iknowftbll]

On the Seahawks, I don't think they will be able to get revenge. It's just another regular season game. I don't care if the Broncos go in and beat them 55-0, it will not give full revenge. The only way that is going to happen is if they both play in the SB again and the Broncos can win that game. That's a very low probability in my opinion. So revenge is in my mind, out of the question in week 3. A win can go a long way toward fully moving on, though. Hopefully they will have already moved on by then. It'll be a new season and they will need to be focussed on what's ahead, not what's behind.

 

[MrDoc420]

Colts, Chiefs and Seachickens right off the bat.

Damn.

 

[randymon]

As far as the bye wk goes, I`am not fond of how Denvers played after a bye wk over the yrs so I`am glad their getting it done early. At least its a home game. I love the competition. If Denver wants to get back to the SB, their going to have to go Mano a Mano vs the big boys of the NFC West because that`s whats going to be served up again come Feb. I`am very interested to see how new additions and a healthy Bronco team will stack up. Coundn`t ask for a better test IMO

 

[Manimal Sighting]

With how weak the AFC South is a lot of people (including myself) are thinking colts might be in play for the top seed...Just have a feeling that opening week game could go a long way in the standings come the end of the season

 

[WalkerBoh]

Wow. Someone in scheduling really doesn't want Denver to return to the playoffs..... That's a HORRIBLE schedule to put on a football team.

 

[randymon]

Wow. Someone in scheduling really doesn't want Denver to return to the playoffs..... That's a HORRIBLE schedule to put on a football team.

Your right Walker but it`s a rough schedule for a whole bunch of teams. There`s quite a few teams that have early bye wks and then a brutal 12-13 straight games and alot of road games to boot. Its going to come down to how many are left standing, how beat up they are and what they got left in the tank at end of this yr because there is going to be some major smash mouth football going on and I for one am excited to see how Denver weathers the storm and how competitive they will be vs the big boy teams. You just might see alot more 10-6 and 9-7 teams make playoffs this yr with 11-5 being possible best all around this yr I`am guessing. Can`t wait.

 

[crush7k]

You know Peyton's not a fan of the week 7 & 8 scheduling of playing the 49ers on a Sunday Night game, then playing on a short week vs the Chargers on Thursday Night Football. He had his issues with playing the Titans last year, then playing the Chargers on a Thursday Night game, which the team lost.

But at least the games will be at home, and it'll give the team a mini bye-week after the Thursday Night game with the Chargers.

 

[WalkerBoh]

Your right Walker but it`s a rough schedule for a whole bunch of teams. There`s quite a few teams that have early bye wks and then a brutal 12-13 straight games and alot of road games to boot. Its going to come down to how many are left standing, how beat up they are and what they got left in the tank at end of this yr because there is going to be some major smash mouth football going on and I for one am excited to see how Denver weathers the storm and how competitive they will be vs the big boy teams. You just might see alot more 10-6 and 9-7 teams make playoffs this yr with 11-5 being possible best all around this yr I`am guessing. Can`t wait.

6 or our last 9 games are on the road. That's a pretty rough call. In comparison, the Chiefs, who have nearly the same schedule, has their's a bit more evened out. Their final 5 look to be a bit easier than our final 5 are too. And I'm curious to see how many other teams have Thursday night games scheduled right after Sunday night games? Ony way that could be worse is if we played on Monday instead of Sunday (and I don't think that's even allowed).

I wouldn't be surprised if Denver's schedule is rated to be in the top 5 toughest. If we manage a bye week again come playoff time, it'll be an achievement. The good news is if Denver does handle this schedule well, they'll be tested for the playoffs.

 

[Broncosr0k]

I wouldn't be surprised if Denver's schedule is rated to be in the top 5 toughest.

#2 based on SoS of teams and 2013 schedule. I am not sure how much the home/away, bye, and sequencing matter.

 

[cdumler7]

Well we already knew going into this season that this schedule was going to be tough. Then again we had like the 3rd toughest schedule in the NFL Peyton's first year and then it ended up being a cake walk so you just never know. We just can't account for the injuries and bad bounces that happen every year. Some key player will go down from some major playoff team and next thing you know they go from tough game to easy one. I mean look at last year with Seattle in they were relatively healthy most of the year. At least compared to all other playoff teams. I could see that reverse this year and next thing you know they are down 2-3 All-Pro players just like we were last year.

I agree with most on here that 11-5 would be pretty darn good for this schedule though. Won't have a better guess until after the Draft but right now that is about where I would have us.

 

[randymon]

Well we already knew going into this season that this schedule was going to be tough. Then again we had like the 3rd toughest schedule in the NFL Peyton's first year and then it ended up being a cake walk so you just never know. We just can't account for the injuries and bad bounces that happen every year. Some key player will go down from some major playoff team and next thing you know they go from tough game to easy one. I mean look at last year with Seattle in they were relatively healthy most of the year. At least compared to all other playoff teams. I could see that reverse this year and next thing you know they are down 2-3 All-Pro players just like we were last year.

I agree with most on here that 11-5 would be pretty darn good for this schedule though. Won't have a better guess until after the Draft but right now that is about where I would have us.

just to add to cds point...it shows how important it is to have quality depth players. Seattle is a perfect example. They have back ups that could start on many teams. Denver obviously needs to improve there. We saw the effects esp without Von, Harris, Clady,Vickerson,etc when playing vs playoff caliber teams. Seattle did escape the injury bug better than most but when they needed a guy to step up, they did very well. When a Denver starter goes down, at least right now, the talent level drops off pretty bad. Hopefully the additions and a great draft will lessen the gap. IMHO of course gents

 

[iknowftbll]

When I said the Chargers could go 11-5 I didn't really look at their schedule before I did. They can still go 11-5 but if they do it'll be impressive. The order of opponents, home and away games really makes their schedule look every bit as hard as the Broncos. The Chargers didn't really lose any big names this off season, but they don't appear to have made any major upgrades either. This is an interesting team to watch in the coming months.

I think the Chiefs caught a lot of opponents off guard last year. They also won a lot of close games against backup QBs, some of whom were not even on an active roster just prior to their team playing the Chiefs. They lost some players, too. I think we saw a solid team play some inspired football and come out ahead of where a lot of us thought they would be, but I also think we are going to see a slight drop off with the Chiefs this time around. I'm guessing they're an 8-8 team. Between the stout schedule, improvements of the Chargers and Raiders, and of course, a Broncos team that has gone 5-1 against them under Fox's leadership, the Chiefs are not going to sniff last year's surprising 11-5.

The Raiders are better with Schaub at QB, and they've made a few signings that are upgrades, though this team is still looking at a 5-11 finish. I think they are good enough to swipe one from the Chiefs, and maybe even their home game against the Chargers. This game comes after a bye for the Raiders so they'll have extra time. This is the third year for Allen and GM McKenzie's rebuild project. It is a shame for the Raiders they have the schedule they have this year, because it will appear the are not likely to be able to take their improvements and translate them to wins. Like I said, this is a 4-12 or 5-11 team once again.

I'll go into greater detail on the Broncos after the draft.

 

[cdumler7]

Randymon I think the depth should be a lot better this year. Last year we seriously were just completely destroyed by injuries and suspensions. Even the bets teams with depth wouldn't have been able to fully replace the talent that we lost considering 2 of them were All-Pros the year before while another was a pro bowler. The others I could understand being able to find adequate replacements for.


To me though this year looking at the team we have before the Draft I like where we are.


OL we already have 6 players who started most games last year or least were expected to. So that should give us decent depth after the draft for the OL. I could see us drafting 1-2 players for this position.


QB obviously we are pretty set. Could draft somebody but my guess is no.


RB could use better depth but have our starter secured in Ball


WR is set for starters. I'm guessing we will take a project player in the later rounds though especially if they have return skills


TE is probably the deepest position on the team


Defensively
DE we lost Phillips and Ayers while replacing them with Wolfe, Ware, and Smith. I know there are question marks for the position because of injuries but the position is looking very deep if everybody returns to health.


DT Vickerson is coming back so now have 3 starting caliber DT's plus Unrein who does well when filling in


LB is one of the tougher positions to figure out. We have 2 starters for sure figured out and another with about 4 players fighting for the final starting spot plus maybe even a rookie brought in. Should be good competition in the linebacker spot as the team does have 9 of them and at most 6 will make the team.


Safety should be looking good with Moore and Carter coming back from injury plus the addition of Ward.


CB is probably the thinnest position on the team with 3 good to decent corners then a bunch of guys you would rather have on the practice squad. I would not be surprised if the Broncos double dipped at this position in the draft.


So overall right now the team has some depth issues but then again that should be fixed by the draft. With all the injured players coming back this team should be loaded from top to bottom if they draft well.