The Fumblerooski Podcast - Saving The Dates -Ep 272 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: May 17, 2024

Analyzing the top-5 hardest strength of schedule teams for 2024 as well as the season holiday game schedule! Join Adam Wright for episode 272 of the Fumblerooski Podcast!

the NFL schedule for 2024 has just been released and we're going to go over the top five hardest schedules and the holiday schedule for this upcoming season I'm Adam Wright you're listening to the Fumbarooski podcast it may not have always showed it in the stat sheet but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome to the Fumble...

Welcome to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright, and it's just me today, but the NFL schedule was just released a couple of days ago, and we're just going to go over a little bit of that today. It's important to note that the schedule really really we find out which teams are playing which throughout um early in the season but we find out the order it's all the entire schedule schedule is finalized at right at this moment at uh in may mid-may that's usually when they do it um but it's still important to kind of figure out which teams have the hardest schedules and which teams have the easiest we're going to go over the top five hardest schedules so looking at the cleveland uh the

cleveland browns are at number one it's important to note that the top five schedules, the hardest schedules, we're going based on win percentage from last season, they were all playoff teams last season. I'm not sure if they did that on purpose, but the top five teams in hardest strength of schedule, they were all playoff teams last year. So the ranking goes from going from one to five, Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, Green Bay Packers, and the Houston Texans,

all teams who are in the playoffs this past season. Now, three out of the five are in one division, the AFC North, which is very fitting because this division is maybe one of the most competitive divisions, if not the most competitive out of the past decade and a half like every single year you usually see a couple of playoff teams if not more um it it it does get insane the way it works with that um but their schedule there it leads off with the first five games being the cowboys they'll be visiting they'll they'll be hosting the Cowboys. They'll be at the Jaguars versus the Giants at the Raiders and at the Commanders.

Right out of the gates. Doesn't look too hard. Three out of the five were not playoff teams. Then after that, you visit the Eagles. You're hosting the Bengals. Then you're hosting the Ravens. Again, they have the toughest division in football, arguably. So it does make sense that these AFC North teams have some of the tougher

schedules. So looking at it, you have the Bengals, then you have the Ravens, the Chargers, you're at the Saints, you're hosting the Steelers. You're at the Broncos, at Steelers. You're hosting the Chiefs, at the Bengals. You're hosting the Dolphins, and you're at the Ravens. So right out of the gates, I mean, you have a bunch of teams in your own division who you face twice so the same thing goes for the steelers and uh same thing goes for this for the uh ravens and the steelers right so these are all it's a lot of it comes down to how tough your division is um and also the afc is just

a stacked conference in general like you get a lot of you get a lot of playoff teams um and if they're not playoff teams they're they were in contention for it um so the ravens they start off their schedule with the chiefs they have the ra Raiders, Cowboys, Bills, Bengals. So those first five games are much tougher for them because they have the Bills, Bengals, and the Chiefs, and the Cowboys. The Cowboys, it depends on what Cowboys team you get. You could get the chokers of the playoffs, but in the regular season, it becomes a little more dicey.

But the Bills in the regular season and the Bengals and the Chiefs, I wouldn't be surprised if they beat the Chiefs. I think the Chiefs are that type of team where they could show a lot of regular season struggle, but as long as they make the playoffs and most of their core is healthy, then they're not going to have any issues. But they still do during the regular season. They lost a lot of games that they had no business losing during the regular season. Then they turned it off. Then they turned it on in the postseason um and the Ravens are a very good regular season team they went 13 and 4 last year um and I see this Ravens team making the playoffs again but that doesn't mean you won't have your hiccups and it doesn't mean that you don't have one of the

toughest schedules um in the in the entire league I mean so the Ravens being at two. Looking at the number three team, and I pulled up all the schedules here. The ESPN loves to make things convenient for you and closes out every single tab. So bear with me here. Just to give a visual. Then we have right here we have for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

These first five games are actually very easy. You have the Falcons, you have the Broncos, the Chargers, Colts, and the Cowboys. You do have a couple of wild cards here um i think the coaching is going to get much better for the chargers but you're going to they also have significantly less weapons their defense and their offense got much weaker their offensive line is going to be able to protect justin a little better, but he still needs some targets. You know, like I understand. I do love to say that offensive, the offensive line is more important than your targets that you have to throw to.

But it doesn't make the targets that your quarterback has to throw to any less important. Right. Every single position has its benefits. It has its purpose. Otherwise it wouldn't exist as a position, right? So you need to have your targets and the chargers, I don't think they'll be very good, but a couple wild cards here, Colts and the Falcons. These are two teams that could end up being pretty good. They could also end up being bad because they've always been that fringe team that sometimes they're pretty good, sometimes they're bad. The Colts especially.

They're a team that can make the playoffs but sometimes they don't they made a playoff push and the falcons are in a bad division the buccaneers are probably maybe head and shoulders better than them i mean they they made a lot of upgrades but i mean we'll see what ends up happening there um their division their schedule does get much, much tougher later on where they have, um, in their final five games, they have actually their final six games here. They have the Bengals Browns Eagles Ravens chiefs and Bengals again, again, uh, you kind of here, you have a, you have an AFC North team and the Steelers are not I just don't know if the Steelers are going to survive it

excuse me because the Steelers are have a I I feel very much for the Steelers because they they're still in their rebuild process they're still looking for a quarterback but they still have trouble um they still have trouble with getting wins. And they're just good enough to be 500 or better. But I don't know if they will be good enough to make the playoffs. They barely squeaked in this past year, but the rest of the AFC North is getting better. And are the Steelers that much better? I don't know. I don't think so. And on top of that, the only team that missed the playoffs

in the AFC North were the Bengals who are hurt with Joe Burrow. If Joe Burrow wasn't hurt, the Steelers probably don't make the playoffs. And did they get any better? I don't think so because Russell Wilson, I don't know if he has it anymore. Looking at the next team, the Green Bay Packers. So this one is, so four out of the five are playoff teams, or rather are AFC teams, this is the only team that is in the NFC that has a tough schedule, which is interesting because the AFC is, that's where it's loaded to the gills with competitive teams. The NFC is very top heavy. And on top of that, your division has a lot of wild cards. I think the Vikings and Bears are going to be very dependent on how their new quarterback plays. The Bears with Caleb Williams and the Vikings with JJ McCarthy. And we're not

even sure if JJ McCarthy is even going to be ready to start the season. There are some rumors floating around that Sam Darnold might start the year, and they may do what the Patriots might be planning to do, where they sit their quarterback for some time until he's ready. But it'll all hinge on whether or not those players can play the lions i think we know what we're getting out of them and then there's the packers the packers made the playoffs as one of the last wild card teams and the lions did end up winning the division but jordan love was in his first year starting um so looking at these top these first few games let's say the first six you're hosting the eagles hosting the colts you're visiting the titans you're hosting

the vikings and then you are visiting the rams then you're hosting the cardinals um again a couple of there's a lot of mysteries here. We know the Eagles are going to be good, but the Colts are tough. Who knows how Anthony Richards is going to play? They also got Adonai Mitchell in the draft.

Alec Pierce looks good. We know Michael Pittman is good. They have a good offensive line, but it's going to come down to how Anthony Richardson plays. They also have a decent defense. So it'll come down to Anthony Richardson, but that team has some potential. The Titans, I think we've talked about them a little bit in past episodes. It's a team that it all comes down to Will Levis, but they did surround him with good talent,

where if he can play this titans team is going to be really good and even if he's even if he's average even if he's just okay i still see a really strong chance that this titans team makes a playoff push and even if they don't make the playoffs they could still be a really tough out to any playoff team like the Green Bay Packers here. So pay attention to the Titans. Vikings, J.J. McCarthy is going to be the key to everything. I don't know if he's going to be ready this year, but if he is, then watch out for them because you have J.J. You have excuse me. You have Justin Jefferson. You have Addison, Jordan Addison, Jordan Addison and T.J.

Hawkinson and an offensive line. That's just OK. A defense that's improving. So if J.J. McCarthy can play. Then that's a tough team to look out for. And the Rams cashed in on some pretty good offensive talent in later rounds. And Matthew Stafford can still play.

So that's another tough team to beat. So you can see how this schedule, it surprises you to see how tough it is, but it's a tough schedule. Like I said, they have the Bears twice, they have the Vikings twice, Lions twice. So it's either these teams are question marks are miss their question marks or they were playoff teams last year, like Detroit, where you know that they can beat you. But Chicago also is not your Chicago. Isn't your classic team that you end up?

They're not your classic number one overall pick team remember they got this pick from the panthers the panthers were not that good last year um so the the bears were seven and ten but they had a they had a nice little run towards the end of the season um and then they added a lot of talent so we'll see what ends up happening and then we have the texans here um the texans are in the the look out for the afc south because the is here you have the Colts, you have the Jaguars who are still there. The Titans are a sneaky, talented team. And right out of the gates, their division is going to be tough. I could see any one of these teams being competitive this year. If they're not, one of them might end up being bad. There's always that one team that's

a bust. You expect them to be good and they're not, but I wouldn't be surprised if any one of these teams at least made a playoff push. I'm not saying all of them will, one of them might end up being bad, but I wouldn't be surprised. Let's say the Titans go nine and eight and they're in contention for the last playoff spot. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest. Same thing with the Jaguars. I wouldn't be surprised if the Jaguars won the division. They have the talent to contend in the AFC,

but as long as they have Press Taylor as their offensive coordinator, I don't trust them. I just don't. And Houston, they did very well with their offensive talent that they had. Then they added to it, and they added on both sides of the ball. So I favor Houston to win this division despite this tough schedule. But again, there's a lot of teams here that could end up being competitive, and they could also be really bad. There's a lot of teams here outside of their division. They have the Jets, and they have the Dolphins. These are two teams that could end up being much better than we expect, and just in their division, they have some tough outs.

The Bears are their opponent in Week 2. There's a team that we could see going 10-7. We could also see them going 7-10, right? Because we don't know what they're going to be like. But they brought in a lot of good talent this offseason, so we could see something happening there. All right, so there's the top five going over their schedules. Next, we're going to go over the holiday schedule.

And we are going to go over which are the better matchups, which are the more fun matchups that you guys are going to be going through while you're having your holiday dinners. That's next. This is the Fumble Rooski Podcast. It may not have always showed it in the stat sheet, but you can see him making throws when he needs to make the throws. Back-to-back games where he has three touchdowns. Someone's got to get that six or seven spot. He's an elite wide receiver as a rookie. Truly a lose-lose scenario for both sides. Welcome back to the

Fumble Rooski Podcast by Power88 and Secret Weapon Consulting. I'm Adam Wright. So going over the holiday schedule, there's some good matchups in here. I think definitely my favorite football is Thanksgiving football. I think that's time where it's already a fun holiday because you get to eat. And you get to be around family, get to have some fun desserts. But being able to do it with football being there as well. So the first Thanksgiving matchup is this will be at 1230 p.m. Eastern time. This will be the time when you are preparing some of your food maybe you're going out taking your dog for a walk getting all his energy out um or maybe you'll

be coming back from a run or finishing a workout for you know when you're about to sit and eat a ton of food but bears at lions the lions always play on Thanksgiving, as you guys know. This is a bit of a rivalry game, and this is one I'm actually really intrigued by. Actually, I think this is the most intriguing one out of all the matchups here. So the other ones are the Giants at the Cowboys. Cowboys always play, as you know, on Thanksgiving. The Miami Dolphins at the Green Bay Packers. Now the toughest matchup, the best matchup here is probably the Dolphins and the Packers. I think that is the most, that's going to be the most storied matchup here. So I understand why this one's in prime time. I think this one has the best chance to become the most competitive game.

The thing is, I think we know what we're going to get with it. And yeah, it could be a blowout, but we'll see. I think what I'm most intrigued by, and it could end up not being intriguing at all. This is week 13, by the way. So we will know if the Bears are good or not. I am intrigued by this matchup. As of May 17th, I am intrigued by the matchup of Bears at Lions. We already know the Lions are probably going to be good. Unless some unforeseen injury happens, or just Jared Goff ends up being really bad for no reason, the Lions are going to be good. The Bears we're not so sure about. If the Bears end up being good,

and then you have this matchup, oh boy, I'm not going to be preparing any food during that time. I'm going to have my eyes glued on the TV for this matchup because the Bears have lots of talent that they added to both sides of the ball. And Caleb Williams, say what you want about how likable he is off the field, how you feel about him in general, maybe his talent level. He's, it's all going to hinge on how, how Caleb Williams does. And if he ends up being able to play, then this Bears team will be very competitive.

So I am very excited for this game. Just to touch on the Giants-Cowboys game, because I've touched on the other two. This one's at 4.30 p.m. This is about as bad a matchup as it gets. And I can see why they put it at 430 when everyone's eating, because no one's going to be caring about this game. If you don't have a bet placed or you don't have a fantasy football player on it, this is going to be a bloodbath. The Cowboys are going to destroy the Giants. If you have Malik Nabors on your fantasy team, go ahead and start him. I feel like he's going to end up being that one player. On a bad team, he winds up doing really well.

It's going to give you Odell Beckham Jr. vibes. If you have the Cowboys defense, start him. Because Daniel Jones is one of the worst quarterbacks at taking care of the football in the league. They have one of the worst offensive lines, the Giants. And the Cowboys have one of the best defensive lines at rushing the passer in the league in recent years. And they also have one of the best secondaries when it comes to being a ball hawk. You have Darren Bland and you have Trevon Diggs.

Two guys who are known to have a nose for the football and get those interceptions. So that's just a recipe for turnovers. And if you have them on your fantasy team, start them. Definitely start them. Looking at Black Friday, it's also week 13. It's day after they tried it last year i thought it was pretty good so like you get you get a lot of the crowd who's shopping on black friday some people want to stay home and they want something to do i think football it taps into that crowd um and it's going to be the vegas raiders at the kansas city chiefs it's not that good of a matchup it's a rivalry game. But again, I think people are looking for something to do if they're not shopping.

And there's a large crowd of people who just don't want to shop on Black Friday. So I think this is going to tap into that crowd regardless. People have bets placed. People might be a fan of the Raiders or the Chiefs. I think going to be, I think it's good that we're getting football on Black Friday. Here we are on to the Christmas Day schedule. It's week 17. So we have the Kansas City Chiefs at the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's at 1 p.m. It's on Netflix. And then you have the Baltimore Ravens at the Houston Texans at 4 30 PM Eastern time. This is interesting because these are a couple pretty solid matchups. I know the Chiefs at Steelers doesn't seem like much, but let's not forget this Chiefs, this Chiefs offense is very iffy and the Steelers just have a tendency to be able to hang

with any team in the league. I think they're another 9-8 slam dunk, but it doesn't mean they can't make this a competitive game and maybe even pull an upset. Because again, with the Chiefs, anything goes with me. I think a lot of teams can upset this team during the regular season. It doesn't matter to what they're going to do during the post season because they just have the ability to turn it on. And I think they're going to have to do that this year because I don't think they have the offensive firepower to just blow teams out of the water and go 14 and three every season anymore. I don't think they have that unless Xavier worthy turns into something and you know, we'll see it could, I don't see it, but a lot of people and you know we'll see it could i don't

see it but a lot of people do so we'll see what happens there uh ravens at texans this is a divisional round rematch where the ravens blew doors but cj stroud is pretty young and this could end up being a pretty good matchup because the Texans also got significantly better the Ravens kind of stayed the same so this could be a good matchup but my takeaway for Christmas day is the fact that it looks like they saved all of their best matchups for Netflix. This is the first year Netflix is getting some NFL action. And so, they want to flex their muscles a little bit. They want to start out strong.

And they're adding in two solid matchups here. Now, you want to know my thoughts about the NFL being on Netflix? You can love Netflix. You can hate Netflix. You can love Amazon Prime. You can hate it. Peacock TV, Paramount plus here's my thing. Not everybody has or wants to have subscriptions to all of these, uh, streaming services. And you may, they may not even have the money to get all of these so getting so watching football is becoming more and more expensive and there are some matchups

that people are just going to look at and say i'm not i'm not getting an amazon prime membership in order to watch the vegas raiders the Kansas City Chiefs on Black Friday. They started out with strong matchups, but later on in years to come, people are going to look at some less favorable matchups on Netflix and say, I'm not getting that just to watch one game a year. That just makes no sense. So the more the, I hope it gets to a point where people just stop watching when you need to get all of these streaming services, because it's just getting ridiculous. Not everybody can afford it. And also not everybody even wants to get Netflix or Amazon prime video or paramount plus or Peacock TV if they're just going to be

watching one or two games, maybe three a season. I just don't see that to be... I hope people just stop watching at that point and the NFL starts to notice. But the streaming platforms have been winning lately because everyone ends up getting these, these subscriptions because they don't want to miss out. So we'll see how all of that goes. Um, that's all we have for scheduled content today. So with that being said, thank you for listening to us. Listen to our episodes on at 7 30 PM Eastern standard time on Tuesdays and five o'clock on Fridays. Uh, listen to our episodes on Spotify, Spreaker, Apple podcasts, I heart radio, Google podcasts, and so much more. Also be sure to follow our Instagram

at fumble Ruski underscore podcast and our Tik TO at FumbleRooski pod to keep both up with our latest coverage on the NFL. Otherwise, we'll see you next week. Over and out.