Early Returns On 2013 Schedule Favors Raiders

Talking strength of schedule before free agency, the draft or even the start of training camp is foolish. We have no idea what kinds of moves a team will make to either improve or hurt its chances of competing next season. So take the following with a grain of salt.

Based on the combined records of Oakland’s 2013 opponents the Raiders have the fourth “easiest” schedule for the upcoming season.

Losing a lot has its benefits, I suppose. Based on the Raiders 4-12 finish good for third in the AFC West they’ll play teams that had a combined winning percentage of .469 last season. Ahead of Oakland in the strength – or lack thereof – schedule department are the Indianapolis Colts (.461) and rivals San Diego (.457) and Denver (.430).

So feel free to muse on this during a time when NFL news is slow. In a few months this won’t matter at all. No matter the schedule you’ve got to do one thing when it comes to Sundays starting in September: Just win, baby!