Raiders to have fourth 'easiest' schedule in 2013

[Raiders420]

A 4-12 season has its, um, rewards, no?

The chance to coach in the Senior Bowl. The No. 3 overall draft pick. And, as it turns out, the fourth "easiest" schedule in the NFL for 2013.

At least, that's what the .469 combined winning percentage of the Raiders' opponents next season, as compiled by NFL.com, tells us. Really, though, it has less to do with rewarding Oakland than it does with how weak the AFC West was last season and how, for example, the 13-3 Denver Broncos have the league's easiest schedule next year, by virtue of their opponents' combined .430 winning percentage in 2012.

Six games come against the AFC West. Because while Denver won 13 games, the San Diego Chargers, Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs combined to go just 13-35.

And while the exact schedule will not be released until April, the Raiders already know they will travel to Houston (12-4), Indianapolis (11-5), the New York Giants (9-7), Dallas (8-8), and the New York Jets (6-10), as well as Denver (13-3), San Diego (7-9) and Kansas City (2-14), and play host to Washington (10-6), Pittsburgh (8-8), Tennessee (6-10), Philadelphia (4-12) and Jacksonville (2-14), plus the Broncos, Chargers and Chiefs.

Following, then, per NFL.com, is every team's strength of schedule for 2013, based on their opponents' combined record and winning percentage from 2012:

Carolina Panthers 138-116-2 (.543)
Detroit Lions 138-118-0 (.539)
New Orleans Saints 137-117-2 (.539)
St. Louis Rams 137-117-2 (.539)
Baltimore Ravens 137-119 (.535)
Green Bay Packers 136-119-1 (.533)
Arizona Cardinals 131-121-4 (.520)
Miami Dolphins 133-123-0 (.520)
49ers 132-122-2 (.520)
Minnesota Vikings 132-124-0 (.516)
Seattle Seahawks 130-122-4 (.516)
Cincinnati Bengals 130-126-0 (.508)
Jacksonville Jaguars 129-125-2 (.508)
New England Patriots 130-126-0 (.508)
Atlanta Falcons 128-126-2 (.504)
Chicago Bears 128-127-1 (.502)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 127-127-2 (.500)
Washington 127-128-1 (.498)
New York Jets 127-129-0 (.496)
Philadelphia Eagles 127-129-0 (.496)
Cleveland Browns 126-130-0 (.492)
Pittsburgh Steelers 126-130-0 (.492)
Tennessee Titans 124-130-2 (.488)
New York Giants 123-133-0 (.480)
Dallas Cowboys 121-134-1 (.475)
Buffalo Bills 121-135-0 (.473)
Houston Texans 120-134-2 (.473)
Kansas City Chiefs 121-135-0 (.473)
Raiders 120-136-0 (.469)
Indianapolis Colts 117-137-2 (.461)
San Diego Chargers 117-139-0 (.457)
Denver Broncos 110-146-0 (.430)



Sweet, maybe we can win 5 games next year.

[bigjunior559]

Nice! Lets keep the good news flowin'

[NYRaiderLove]

Lets hope this good news only gets better. Ultimately ending with the Oakland raiders parting ways with the goat under center

[raiderdave]

thats why I have us going somewhee between 10-6 to 13-3....

[rubiconraider]

thats why I have us going somewhee between 10-6 to 13-3....

Dave your joking with that talk, right? 5-11 to 7-9 is reasonable at this time.

[NavajoRaiderfan]

Good to hear. I have high hopes for our offense.

[RAIDERLIFE]

To bad Denver and SD have easier schedules. How does Denver get the easiest schedule???

[dbacknick]

To bad Denver and SD have easier schedules. How does Denver get the easiest schedule???

Because they play 6 games in the AFC west, one of the worst divisions.

[dbacknick]

thats why I have us going somewhee between 10-6 to 13-3....

I'll take 10-6 right now!

[raider77]

You guys do realize that this really means nothing this early right? We have no idea how any of these teams will loook or what will happen by the time next season starts. We dont know how hard our schedule will look because these teams arent complete yet. teams get better before the season starts so this really means nothing.

[Da Swami]

You guys do realize that this really means nothing this early right? We have no idea how any of these teams will loook or what will happen by the time next season starts. We dont know how hard our schedule will look because these teams arent complete yet. teams get better before the season starts so this really means nothing.

You beat me to it.

I was going to say some of these teams will be better and some will regress.

This is based on how teams looked last year and assumes nothing will change when a lot will change.

[raiderdave]

Dave your joking with that talk, right? 5-11 to 7-9 is reasonable at this time.

actually no...the only out of division teams I have us losing to are..houston,indy,and nyg...figure lose 2 games in division, between denver and maybe san diego, if we lose 2 to denver and 1 to sd, thats still 10-6...and who knows,we could sweep the west like we did a few years ago. btw..I know some of you are wondering about pittsburgh, but we play them in oakland, and have done well vs them in recent years.

[Raidaz4Life]

actually no...the only out of division teams I have us losing to are..houston,indy,and nyg...figure lose 2 games in division, between denver and maybe san diego, if we lose 2 to denver and 1 to sd, thats still 10-6...and who knows,we could sweep the west like we did a few years ago. btw..I know some of you are wondering about pittsburgh, but we play them in oakland, and have done well vs them in recent years.

Not to mention Carson is the Steeler Killer!

[Maxfly]

It won't matter because we'll still have Palmer under center which means we will lose every game,Allen and McKennzie will be fired ,Gruden will come back as Coach AND GM he will get Gannon out of retirement ,bring back Brown and Rice and we will go 11-5 the next year with an average age of 44 on the team!

[raider77]

You beat me to it.

I was going to say some of these teams will be better and some will regress.

This is based on how teams looked last year and assumes nothing will change when a lot will change.

Right ? i find this really to early to be showing any kind of excitment. We havent even hit FAs yet.