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After much anticipation, the NFL officially released the 2022 schedule for every team last night.
We've known every team's home and away opponents for some time, but on Thursday, the dates and primetime games were officially released.
While some teams have favorable schedules, others have much more demanding schedules. There are a staggering 12 teams that have five primetime games. The Detroit Lions are the only team without a single primetime game.
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Here are the winners and losers of the 2022 NFL schedule
Winners
#1 - New England Patriots
For a straightforward reason, the New England Patriots are winners of the 2022 schedule. New England will have four weeks of four straight primetime games from Weeks 12-15.
They will host the Minnesota Vikings in Week 12 on Thanksgiving and then host their division rivals, the Buffalo Bills, in Week 13. In Week 14, they will be on the road at Arizona against the Cardinals. In Week 15, they'll be on the road against the Raiders.
While having four primetime games in a row can cause pressure for the Patriots, they won't complain about being in the spotlight for four weeks straight.
#2 - Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are one of the winners of the 2022 NFL schedule because of the strength of their schedule. Dallas, by the numbers, have the most manageable schedule of all 32 teams in the NFL this season. The combined win percentage of Dallas' opponents in 2022 is .462. It also helps when you play in one of the weaker football divisions, the NFC East.
Speaking of the NFC East, the four teams with the most manageable schedule this season are the four teams in the NFC East (Dallas Cowboys, Washington Commanders, Philadelphia Eagles, and New York Giants.)
#3 - Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers have one advantage over every single NFL team this season. The Steelers will travel the least miles for their away games this season, and that's a huge deal.
The Steelers will only travel 6,442 miles this season on road games and will switch zero time zones. Compare that to the Seattle Seahawks, who will travel 29,446 miles and cross a league-high 34 time zones during the 2022 season.
Losers:
#1 - New York Jets
While the New York Jets are a team to make a big leap from last season, their schedule doesn't help them out. The beginning of the Jets' season is rough, to say the least.
Through the first four weeks, they play the entire AFC North, which is one of the most challenging and most competitive divisions in the NFL. Then, over the course of the next five games, they'll face the Denver Broncos, the Buffalo Bills, the New England Patriots, and the Green Bay Packers. That's five playoff teams to start the first nine games of the season and some other very tough teams that could be playoff teams this season. The Jets are one of the losers due to the brutal beginning of their season.
#2 - Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are losers because they travel the most miles and go through the most time zones this season. The Seahawks are set to travel 29,446 miles and cross a league-high 34 time zones during the 2022 season. That's a lot of traveling. The Steelers, on the contrary, only travel a little over 6,000 miles and don't pass through any time zones. One of the Seahawks' away games will be held in Germany (NFL's first game in the European country) against the Patriots.
#3 - Atlanta Falcons (ninth-toughest schedule)
The Atlanta Falcons are one of the losers of the NFL schedule because they have one of the toughest schedules in the league. According to the strength of their schedule by win percentage, they have the ninth-toughest schedule. Seven of the eight teams they will face were playoff teams last season, so that doesn't really go in their favor.
However, the Atlantan Falcons are a team that could be picking in the top-five next season and seem to be a team rebuilding. They'll have to play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers twice, along with the Arizona Cardinals, the Baltimore Ravens, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Los Angeles Chargers, the Cincinnati Bengals, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Los Angeles Rams this season.
