Atlanta Falcons 2012 Regular Season Schedule is Finally Announced!
By Greg Huseth
The Atlanta Falcons 2012 regular season schedule has finally been announced! The opponents have been known for months, but now we finally know exactly what order we will face those teams. Here is the schedule:
Week 1 @ Kansas City Chiefs
Week 2 Monday Night Football in the Georgia Dome vs. Denver Broncos
Week 3 @ San Diego Chargers
Week 4 Home vs. Carolina Panthers
Week 5 @ Washington Redskins
Week 6 Home vs. Oakland Raiders
Week 7 BYE
Week 8 @ Philadelphia Eagles
Week 9 Home vs. Dallas Cowboys on Sunday Night Football
Week 10 @ New Orleans Saints
Week 11 Home vs. Arizona Cardinals
Week 12 @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Week 13 Home vs. New Orleans Saints on NFL Network’s Thursday Night Football
Week 14 @ Carolina Panthers
Week 15 Home vs. New York Giants
Week 16 @ Detroit Lions
Week 17 Home vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The first thing that comes to mind when I see this schedule is that the Falcons don’t have back to back games all season long. That is going to hurt. One road game that looks easy right now but could end up being extremely difficult is the game in Washington. It could be a cake walk if the Falcons are opportunistic against a young Robert Griffin III, but it could be a disaster if we underestimate him.
The other thing that really bothers me is that we have to go up to Detroit one more time. We’ve already known we were going up to Detroit for a couple months, but it really bugs me. We were lucky to get out of there with a win last season, and things will not get any easier. Ford Field is not a fun place to play or to watch your team try to march into. Add to the fact that the game will be on a Saturday night in primetime, this game is already looking like a toss-up.
We did get off easy with some of the home games. Having Dallas and the reigning champion New York Giants come into the Georgia Dome certainly makes things easier for the Falcons. Having opponents in your home dome is worth at least three points in the NFL. It also gives me great pleasure that we will get to host the Saints on Thursday Night Football, hopefully when their defense is still weakened and in their precarious position, and hand them a loss. I relish every opportunity to hand the Saints their butts on a platter on a national stage.
What do you think? I’m sure there are some things I’m missing, but please let us know your thoughts on the schedule!