New England Patriots Links 4/18/12 - Breaking Down Pats' 2012 NFL Schedule

Manish Mehta (NY Daily News) Gang Green will take on New England Patriots on Thanksgiving Day.

"That one’s going to be a beauty, there’s no doubt," said Rex Ryan — whose team was swept by hated New England last season — after the league released the schedule on Tuesday night. "Our fans will be ready to roll. . . . It’s going to be a great challenge for us. Last time we played on Thanksgiving, we had success. . . . Hopefully history will repeat itself. And I hope my wife has the green bean casserole ready for after the game."

Christopher Price shares some initial thoughts on the release of the Patriots' regular-season schedule.

The Patriots start their season with three road games in their first four contests, including a rematch of the AFC championship game on Sunday, Sept. 23 against the Ravens in Baltimore and road games at Tennessee (to open the year on Sept. 9) and at Buffalo (to open the divisional schedule on Sept. 30). Including the preseason (where New England closes with a pair of road games), that’ll make five out of six games away from Gillette Stadium, with the most difficult game coming against Baltimore. The flip side to that is that the Patriots will finish the regular-season with three of their final four games at home, including a pair of what shape up to be toughies: against Houston and against San Francisco. (There’s also a road game against Jacksonville and a home game to close out the season against Miami.)

The toughest overall stretch might be the four-game series that start on Oct. 7 with a home date against Peyton Manning and the Broncos. The Patriots will follow that up with am Oct. 14 game at Seattle (never an easy road trip, regardless of what sort of talent the Seahawks might have), home the next week against the Jets, and then to London to meet the Rams. On paper, it doesn’t look that daunting, but that’s a lot of miles to cover in 21 days. The second-toughest test for the Patriots is likely the back-to-back games they have against Houston (Monday, Dec. 10) and San Francisco (Dec. 16). Playing a pair of quality opponents on back-to-back on a short week is tough, even if you have to do it at home.

TEAM TALK

• Patriots 2012 Schedule announced.
• Erik Scalavino breaks down the 2012 NFL schedule for the Patriots.
• Patriots Today - Sorting through the schedule. (2.32 min. video)
• Erik Scalavino has the Jets on his radar.
• Staff Report (TheHallatPatriotPlace.com) Wilfork engages fans at The Hall.
• Patriots Today - Wilfork entertains at the Hall. (3.14 min. video)
• Patriots Today - Meet safety Steve Gregory. (3.15 min. video)
• Patriots Today - Mayo chats about offseason. (7.17 min. video)
• PFW in Progress - Jerod Mayo joins the PFW crew. (11.09 min.)
• Player Interview: Jerod Mayo. (6.53 min.)

LOCAL LINKS

• Karen Guregian looks at the schedule and notes that for the 2nd straight year, the Pats will play 3 of their first 4 games on the road, and have four prime time games.
• Greg A. Bedard analyzes the Patriots' schedule.
• Shalise Manza Young offers her own analysis and thoughts on the Pats' schedule.
• Tom E. Curran & Phil Perry take a closer look at the Pats 2012 schedule and note that theirs is the easiest in the NFL, plus more observations.
• Mike Reiss takes an early crack at game-by-game picks for the 2012 Patriots' season. 13-3 seems doable, right?
• Mike Reiss & Mike Rodak give us their initial reactions to the Patriots schedule, and note the return of the 1:00 p.m. games.
• Mike Reiss follows up with a few leftover thoughts from the Patriots' 2012 schedule that were easy to overlook at first glance.
• Christopher Price resets the Patriots schedule through early September.
• Christopher Price highlights Jerod Mayo's Q&A yesterday on returning to work, getting over the Super Bowl loss and acting for the Farrelly brothers.
• Jeff Howe picks up on 10 quirks you may not have noticed when initially glancing at New England's schedule.
• Jeff Howe thinks Patrick Chung and Sebastian Vollmer deserve contract extensions and 19 other NFL thoughts.
• Shalise Manza Young reports Jerod Mayo has already been hard at work at Gillette but enjoys seeing his teammates and meeting the newcomers.
• Mike Rodak reports Jerod Mayo and Troy Brown were cast as "gang bangers" in the Farrelly Brothers' latest film, The Three Stooges.
• Mike Reiss profiles possible Patriots in this year's draft: S Mark Barron (Alabama).
• Jeff Howe says Harrison Smith might be the Patriots' backup plan if they miss Mark Barron in the Draft.
• Tom E. Curran breaks down the Running Back position in this year's draft, and looks at who would be the best fit for the Patriots.
• Christopher Price thumbnails four more names that popped up on the pre-Draft radar for the Patriots.
• ESPNBoston posts a video of the Bruschi's, after finishing the Boston Marathon. (2.40 min. video)
• Karen Guregian Patriots Notebook: There are elements to like about the 2012 Patriots schedule; Jerod Mayo has been working out in Foxboro by himself since the SB loss and likes having his teammates around again; Mayo wishes his close friend Gary Guyton well, except when playing the Patriots; Guton spoke with the Miami media and had no answer for his diminished role in NE.
• Nick O'Malley posts a Mock Draft roundup: Experts say Patriots will likely get defensive.

2012 NFL SCHEDULE

• James Walker (ESPN) New England Patriots schedule analysis.
• Jason La Canfora (NFL.com) Packers, Patriots looking Super after NFL schedule released.
• Elliot Harrison (NFL.com) The top 12 matchups that jump off the page for 2012. Patriots against Texans, Broncos and Ravens are 3 of them.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Giving thanks for a trio of great Thanksgiving games.
• Gregg Rosenthal (NFL.com) What are the best playoff race matchups?
• Chris Burke (SI) The best games on the 2012 NFL schedule.
• Michael David Smith (ProFootballTalk) Peyton vs. Brady in Week 5 a highlight in Broncos' schedule.
• Steve Wyche (NFL.com) Denver Broncos among eight teams with five prime-time games.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Sunday night continues to be football night.
• Slide Show (NFL.com) Celebrities reveal which 2012 NFL game they are most excited about and why.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) All 32 teams will have one short-week game.
• Mike Chappell (Indy Star) The Colts and Patriots meet for the 13th time since 2003 and the third straight season in Foxborough, Mass.
• Chris Chase (Yahoo! Sports) 2012 NFL schedule highlights.

NATIONAL NEWS

• Peter King (SI) MMQB Tuesday Edition: Referee Corrente thrilled by great news in cancer fight; mail.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Teams should be careful about recruiting undrafted free agents.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) NFLPA sues NFLCA, in apparent effort to take control of coaches' organization.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Sean Payton is cut off from the Saints and the league, in theory.
• Mike Florio (ProFootballTalk) Payton is banned from all NFL games, too.