The home/away isn't set up by some guy in an office at the end of the year. It was already in place years ago. There's no great conspiracy. Not unless you think the NFL has special predictive powers about who's going to be good when.

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My single greatest contribution to the board: "42-13" (formerly 24-14)

That's what they want you to think.

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I'm less worried about who we play than when we play them.

In 2012, we had a favorable schedule in that we had more home games in the second half (5) than in the first half (3). I think that helped with momentum for us. We'll probably have that switched this year, where we play more road games in the second half of the season. It'll be interesting come April when they release the final skeds.

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Talent can get you to the playoffs.
It takes character to win when you get there.

Great news- we get to play twice at the New Meadowlands!

Its all relative. Last years SOS at the beginning of the season was completely different then how it ended. Teams change all the time. There is only a few teams you can count on to be tough every year for the last 4 years.

Green Bay
New England

We dont have them this year, we beat them last year. I feel good. But dont be surprised if all of a sudden, a few of those other teams become crazy power houses kinda like we did this year.

I thought the schedule was based upon who won the division and so forth. I thought it was set up so that the teams that won the division had harder schedules than the second who had it harder than 3rd place and so on.

That's part of the whole parity thing. The only part that's set up years ago is what divisions we go up against. So the Niners have to play the top teams that won their divisions and the Cards play the bottom teams of that division. Also a part of parity is who is home and who is away. At least, it's SUPPOSED to work that way I've always believed. Evidently, it doesn't anymore.

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Richard Sherman doesn't just wanna get in your head, he wants to build a vacation home there.

There is a forumla, and it does do somewhat of what you said. Im trying to locate this cool grid chart that shows future schedules, but I cant find it.

Nothing I've seen or heard yet indicates the Rams won't be a tough match up next year. I respect them more than the Niners.

I think you misunderstand how it works.

We are scheduled, on a rotating basis, to play one NFC and one AFC division each year, all four teams. Home and away were at one time on a rotation, too, but I think they've messed with that on occasion.

Our "strength of schedule" games number 2, actually. We will play the 2nd place teams from the two divisions we are not scheduled to play this year.

The parity comes from the fact that each of our division rivals will play 12 games against the same opponents that we do (four common division opponents and 8 from the two divisions we play). So the games against common opponents tie-breaker has more games to base on for in-division rivals.

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Talent can get you to the playoffs.
It takes character to win when you get there.

I agree with this. I don't see why people are overlooking the away schedule. The absence of New England and Green Bay from the schedule makes the overall schedule look decent, but I'm not looking forward to NY on the road, Atlanta on the road, Houston on the road (unless it was the playoffs when they choke!), or even Indianapolis on the road. While I think all of those games are winnable, I also think they are losable. Given this teams ability to lose on the road, I would suspect a split under .500 for those games.

Now, if some of those get the Sunday night (I'm thinking the NY game here), Monday night or just the 4 pm EST time slot treatment, then the odds of victory improve. We'll have to see when the schedule comes out.

All of that I understood. However, I also thought the home/away was decided upon by final placement in the previous season (draft order). So, with San Fran having gone further in the playoffs than Atlanta and both being division winners, San Fran plays at Atlanta.
At least, at one time that's how it used to work. Not sure when they dropped that part, but I bet Goodel had something to do with it.

Also, not sure why people think this is an easier schedule, it's not. Rams on the road are a probably loss. So is San Fran. Atlanta on the road is losable, as is NYG and Houston. The Colts will just be better and no playoff team can be counted as a win on the road the next year. That's 6 losses right there and we finish 10-6. I thought going into this season (check the archives) that we'd be 11-5. We were, though losing and winning differently than I expected. Looking at that schedule 10-6 is probably what I'll project.

Not sure how people think that schedule looks easy. For the Niners it looks much easier. They'll lose road games to the Rams, Seahawks and Skins. At home, only the Packers look formidable, but I'd expect them to lose one of those home games. I could see them going 13-3 or 12-4 with that cake walk.

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Richard Sherman doesn't just wanna get in your head, he wants to build a vacation home there.

Same here. And more than the Cards.

Looks like 16 wins to me.

Whats to worry about.......we sweep the home games and sweep our division, that is 11 wins right there. Win a couple of those away non division games and we are in business.

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Strong safety Kam Chancellor, a 6-foot-3, 232-pound rhinoceros in cleats.....REED ALBERGOTTI
Put them together, and this long-limbed, fleet-a-foot foursome forms a formidable force. ....Clare Farnsworth referencing the best NFL secondary also known as the "Legion of Boom"

Only two games a year are affected by where you finish. For example as the #2 team in the NFCW the Hawks play two other#2 teams.

The 49ers play two #1 teams, the Rams two #3's and the Cardinals two #4's.

Everything else is common opponents.

I am gonna go out on a limb and say we are going to win a lot of games next year...

If we can look at the schedule and worry about 4 away games, I'd say we're in good shape. Yeah its a bummer that SF got the harder ones at home, but we had some doozies at home this past year. We'll be fine if we are going to meet expectations. Great teams win tough games.

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Agreed. If Seattle is as good as we expect them to be, they're not going to have the road let downs of the past 3 years. We already know we can beat Atlanta at their house - and that game will probably be in primetime-, and I don't expect Houston to be as formidable next year. We'll drop a couple of course, but hey, no one wants to say we didn't earn our NFC West title and bye, right?

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My single greatest contribution to the board: "42-13" (formerly 24-14)

I don't know, obviously it is what it is within the division but the rest of the road schedule sure doesn't send a shiver up my spine...

We went into NY and kicked the Giants ass a couple of years ago when they won the SB and they look to me like they're heading in the opposite direction than we are right now;

We beat the Panthers pretty handley this year on their turf, no reason to think, that our one year more improved team can't do it again even if they take a step forward;

Houston Texans should be a good game, I'm really looking forward to that one... I believe we can win it;

Colts? I'm guessing their fans are looking at the Hawks on their home schedule and saying, or at least thinking, that's a game we may vary well lose...

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yep we have a few tough games on the road, and a few at home... but after this season i have way more confidence we get the job done... the beautiful thing about going into next season is, every single one of those teams on the schedule is looking at it and saying, uh oh we got seattle..... life is good...

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