The Raiders’ official schedule for 2013 won’t be announced until April.
That’s when Oakland will know the order, dates and times of its games.
Already, though, the Raiders know this much:
Next season’s schedule will be among the easiest in the NFL, which is good news for a team that slumped to 4-12 last season and faces an offseason of roster shuffling and rebuilding.
Based on teams’ records from the 2012 season, the Raiders have been ranked as having the fourth-easiest schedule in the league for 2013 with an opponents’ combined winning percentage of just .469 (120-136-0).
Of course, part of that is the result of living in the AFC West, where the Raiders, Chargers and Chiefs all had disappointing seasons and every team must play its division mate twice. The division-champion Denver Broncos, for instance, have the easiest schedule, with their opponents a combined 110-146-0 (.430) in 2012.
Aside from AFC West foes, the Raiders’ home schedule will have these five home opponents: Tennessee Titans (6-10), Jacksonville Jaguars (2-14), Philadelphia Eagles (4-12), Pittsburgh Steelers (8-8) and Washington Redskins (10-6), the only team in the group to go to the postseason.
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The Jaguars will be making their second straight trip to Oakland, and represented one of the Raiders’ four wins in 2012, a 26-23 overtime decision in October.
Oakland’s non-division road games are tougher, with two playoff teams, the Indianapolis Colts (11-5) and Houston Texans (12-4). Other games are against the New York Giants (9-7), Dallas Cowboys (8-8) and New York Jets (6-10).
Going into this past season under new head coach Dennis Allen, the Raiders were deemed to have the 18th-most difficult schedule, with opponents’ combined records of 127-129 (.496).
The Carolina Panthers go into 2013 with the toughest schedule. The Panthers will face teams that went a combined 138-116-2 (.543) in 2012.
