ESPN Hits the Nail on the Head with MNF schedule

There were lots of words one could have used to describe the 2011-2012 ESPN Monday Night Football schedule, but “good” was not one of them. I’m not going to break down every game of last seasons schedule, if you want to view the schedule yourself go here, but lets just say we saw too much of the Jaguars and Dolphins and not enough of the elite NFL franchises-- like the Patriots, Steelers, Saints, Packers, and Ravens.

            This year, however, will be a different story. ESPN did a fantastic job with their Monday Night Scheduling. ESPN will kick off the MNF season with a doubleheader (which is a also a great idea); it will feature the up-and-coming Bengals on the road at Baltimore, and the west coast game is San Diego at Oakland.

            Overall there are only two games I would consider bad. In week three, the Packers will travel to Seattle to take on a very average Seahawks team, and week ten features a boring Chiefs team against a far superior Steelers team in Pittsburgh. Other then that we get to see the likes of Denver (Peyton Manning), San Francisco (amazing defense), Dallas (wildly popular), Pittsburgh (America’s team), Houston (high flying offense), both New York teams (one is a disaster, the other is the defending champs, you figure out which is which) and plenty of other great games. To see the whole schedule click here.

            Other Odds and ends: The New York Jets have eight tough games to start the season, which is only going to open up the doors more for Tebowmania if they do in fact get off to a rough start… Pittsburgh starts on the road where they ended last season, Denver… Week 15 might be the best week of football, with the highlighting games being New York Giants at Atlanta, Denver at Baltimore, Pittsburgh at Dallas, and the 49ers at New England… Thanksgiving day will feature Houston at Detroit and New England in New York taking on the Jets…. The self-proclaimed “dream team” has another tough schedule, with tough teams coming at them all throughout the year. Their easiest stretch probably goes from week 12-15, where they take on Washington, Carolina, Dallas, and Tampa Bay (only one at home is Carolina)… The New England Patriots by far have the appearance of the easiest schedule, with their two toughest back-to back games being Houston and San Francisco weeks 14 and 15-- both at home.

--Chris Cappella