Washington Redskins 2007 Schedule

by Skin Patrol on Apr 11, 2007 1:48 PM EDT in Previews Comment 5 comments

Sep 9 Miami 1:00pm
Sep 17 @Philadelphia 8:30pm
Sep 23 N.Y. Giants 4:15pm
Week 4 BYE
Oct 7 Detroit 1:00pm
Oct 14 @Green Bay 1:00pm
Oct 21 Arizona 1:00pm
Oct 28 @New England 4:15pm
Nov 4 @N.Y. Jets 1:00pm
Nov 11 Philadelphia 1:00pm
Nov 18 @Dallas 1:00pm
Nov 25 @Tampa Bay 1:00pm
Dec 2 Buffalo 1:00pm
Dec 6 Chicago 8:15pm
Dec 16 @N.Y. Giants 8:15pm
Dec 23 @Minnesota 1:00pm
Dec 30 Dallas 1:00pm

I will update the schedule on the left hand side of Hogs Haven later this afternoon.

Quick thoughts:

Open the season at home against Miami, which works. Against the AFC East we face the toughest teams on the road (New England and NYJ) and the weakest at home (Miami and Buffalo). If you're not going for the sweep, which is naive against New England in my opinion, this is a favorable schedule. We might as well write off the Patriots game, we have a chance against the Jets, and I feel confident facing Buffalo and Miami at home.
We have a Monday Night game! Against the Eagles, in Philly, should not be fun. A win could really set the tone for the season, a loss on National T.V. could lead to persistent criticism from the Media -- nothing new.
Giants at home is winnable, though not a gimme. Given our 1-5 Division Record in 2006, I'm concerned about all rivalry games.
Early bye week and there's a very good chance we enter this 1-2, which is bad. Slow starts are a Redskins tradition, followed (nearly always) by a losing season, also a bit of a tradition. The good news is we do have two home games. If we can escape to the Bye Week at 2-1, I'd be absolutely fine. I would prefer a later bye week as well, but those are the breaks.
Detroit at home. That's a W. I almost would've preferred to get Detroit on the Road since this is about as beatable a team as exists in the NFL and I'd rather not burn a home game on them.
Green Bay is a program on the rise, though I suspect much of their success in 2007 will be married to the development of inevitable draft pick Marshawn Lynch. Better to play @ Green Bay in October than November/December.
Arizona at home. Again, about as beatable a team as exists so I wouldn't have minded a road game, though this works for me. As this is one of our two Conference Record scheduled games (the other against Tampa Bay) against "rival" cellar dwellars, these games represent a huge opportunity to make ground and return to '05 form.
@ New England. Post your own comments, I am scared to do so. Ok why not, REDSKINS WIN, REDSKINS WIN!
Two week road streak against the AFC East. As I stated above, there are better and worse ways to face a division. Our schedule favors a 2-2 finish against the AFC, and I'm comfortable with that. Those games have little impact as tie breakers making them far less important than how we perform against division or conference rivals.
Philly comes to FedEx.
This will make it 5 of the last 6 years (possibly more) that we play @ Dallas before they come to FedEx. I don't really have a preference, as we got swept by them in '04 when we opened the series here, swept them in '05 when we opened the series there, and it was a wash last year.
@ Tampa, thus perpetuating a (perhaps) blossoming rivalry between two teams that have faced each other six times in the past 5 years. We're 1-2 @ Tampa in the Joe Gibbs era, though the one win was in the postseason.
I like Buffalo at home as I feel fairly confident in this game. It will mark the return of Derrick Dockery to Washington; by this time in the season we'll have a good idea of how badly (or not at all!) he's missed on our Offensive Line.
Ugh. Though we get the Bears at home, it's a Thursday game meaning we only have four days to recover from playing Buffalo. If you're going to have to play a team on short notice, hope it isn't the NFC's Super Bowl representative from the year before. I'm not at all pleased with this game.
One of two road games in a row, this one against the division rival Giants. It is a Sunday Night game, so the world will be watching. That's two night games against NFC East opponents.
Revenge against the Vikings for beating us in the season opener last year at home. I think this is a beatable team and I don't mind playing them on the road.
Could we have asked for a better way to end the season than Dallas at home? This game should have serious playoff consequences for at least one of us, so this is about as high drama as scheduling could possibly allow for. In my opinion, this is the best news so far.

Also, per ESPN, the Redskins Strength of Schedule heading into 2007 is tied for 18th, at .500 from 2006.

I don't like the Chicago game but beyond that nothing really throws me off. We have some dangerous, debilitating stretches @ NYJ and NE and @ Giants and Minn. And given the placement of the BYE week we only have two consecutive home games once, in a 5 day period.

Based on the schedule, I ~~am a shameless homer~~ optimistically predict 8.5 wins. Post your own thoughts below.

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Comments

2007 Sked

I'd love to get to the bye week 2-1. As long as Eli is running the show, we have a chance against NY. And just think, we won't have to worry about not tackling Tiki anymore.

That weeks 8-12 stretch (@NE, @NYJ, Philly, @Dallas, @TB) is killer. Not to be insanely optimistic, but we coould be 5-1 (please, God)going into the stretch, and if we get through those 2-3, we would be 7-4 and making noise for the playoffs.

Ahhh, April, when NFL dreams of glory seem attainable.

Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son. -Dean Vernon Wormer

by 70Chip on Apr 11, 2007 2:21 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

You've scared me

I'll be shocked if we're 5-1 heading into that stretch, though it wouldn't surprise me if we went 1-4 against NE, NYJ, Philly, Dallas, and TB. I wouldn't call 2-3 in the same stretch optimistic, but 3-2 is. Meaning even with an extremely optimistic 5-1 start, and a sufficient 2-3 run in the 5 game hazing, we're still only 7-4...

But we'd be a strong 7-4.

Go Register. Or else.

by Skin Patrol on Apr 11, 2007 2:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think an objective look at the schedule...

says 6-7 wins. As you pointed out, the BYE week in week 4 sucks, and the team will be traveling away pretty much every other week.

The first 6 games are important. It's possible to see the team at 5-1 or 4-2 by the time they have to go through the killer stretch of the schedule: @NE, @NYJ, home for Philly, @Dallas, @Tampa.

If the team was 6-5 after coming back from Tampa, I'd be content.

Plus, I think the schedule is going to end up being a lot harder than 18th. That 5 game stretch would be tough for any team, much less one coming off a 5-11 year.

I reserve the right to change my mind... but right now, I'll take 7-9... though 5-11 or 9-7 wouldn't surprise me.

by TexSkins on Apr 11, 2007 2:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I'd be interested

to hear how other fans look at us on their schedule. I claim preemptive victory over Arizona and Detroit, though I imagine that's how a lot of teams in the league also feel about the 'Skins.

Go Register. Or else.

by Skin Patrol on Apr 11, 2007 2:46 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I Like

The schedule this year. Starting off with Miamia at home is a good thing. Finish with Dallas is a awesome. I really think the schedule is more manageable this year. Not too high on having four daysbetween those two Dec games nor am I really high on having a bye by Week 4.

PennSkinsFan

Home of the Largest Mock Draft Database http://www.hailredskins.com/MockDraft.htm

by PennSkinsFan on Apr 11, 2007 4:10 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs