01-07-2019, 04:15 PM
OK, I'll take the other side of the coin....
The Bengals play 4 current playoff teams next season in 5 games (twice vs the Ravens, of course). The Ravens also have 5 games vs current playoff teams. The Browns get 6 games vs current playoff teams (albeit 4 of those at home).
Then there is the dreaded 2nd place schedule. The Steelers have 7 of those games next year - the 2 against the winner of their own division, 2 against the 2 divisions each AFC North play fully (AFC East & NFC West), and 3 wild card teams.
So, unfortunately, the Bengals aren't really getting too much of a break with that schedule. That said, I've never been a big fan of using the previous season to measure strength of schedule anyway. By that measure, those schedules this year with some combination of Jacksonville, Minnesota, Buffalo, and Carolina would have been look at as rather imposing. Nonetheless, those 2017 playoff teams had a combined record of 26-37-1. Furthermore, some teams had the 0-16 Browns on their schedule twice. That didn't really work out too well for one of them in particular.
The Bengals play 4 current playoff teams next season in 5 games (twice vs the Ravens, of course). The Ravens also have 5 games vs current playoff teams. The Browns get 6 games vs current playoff teams (albeit 4 of those at home).
Then there is the dreaded 2nd place schedule. The Steelers have 7 of those games next year - the 2 against the winner of their own division, 2 against the 2 divisions each AFC North play fully (AFC East & NFC West), and 3 wild card teams.
So, unfortunately, the Bengals aren't really getting too much of a break with that schedule. That said, I've never been a big fan of using the previous season to measure strength of schedule anyway. By that measure, those schedules this year with some combination of Jacksonville, Minnesota, Buffalo, and Carolina would have been look at as rather imposing. Nonetheless, those 2017 playoff teams had a combined record of 26-37-1. Furthermore, some teams had the 0-16 Browns on their schedule twice. That didn't really work out too well for one of them in particular.
