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Tennessee Titans have easiest schedule in 2015

By Will Osgood

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Upon the release of the NFL schedule Tuesday night, the verdict is the Tennessee Titans have the easiest schedule. 

One thing about the NFL schedule release, and all the pomp that comes with it, is that it’s a bit overblown. Teams have known for months who and where they’d be playing in the upcoming season.

The only question was when? Those questions were answered Tuesday night. The verdict, upon the unfurling of the schedule with the dates and times is that the Tennessee Titans gained one major victory in the upcoming season–as they have the easiest schedule.

Again, we already knew coming into the official schedule release the slate of opponents they’d face would be rather fortuitous–though they do have to play the defending Super Bowl champion New England Patriots in Foxborough.

But that game is one of just four all season they play against 2014 NFL Playoff participants–the others being the two mandated games against AFC South rival Indianapolis and November 15 against Carolina.

The Panthers figure to be awful again, as they were a season ago, when they limped into the playoffs with a 7-9 record as NFC South champions.

Indianapolis is tough, but the Titans figure to benefit in playing that final game in Indianapolis on January 3, 2016, instead of playing anywhere outdoors.

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Then again, this is all kind of relative, given that the Titans will probably stink again next year.

But in that vein, there is one game on the schedule which figures to bring some excitement–the very first one: September 13 at 4:25 PM ET/3:25 CT in Tampa Bay against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Why is that game so special? Well–unless one of the two teams trades away their pick in the next nine days–that game will feature the No. 1 and No. 2 overall picks in this year’s draft.

While that could mean Jameis Winston versus Marcus Mariota, it is more probable that it will mean Winston versus some defensive player responsible for chasing down Winston when he drops back to pass.

The conservative bet says that will be defensive tackle Leonard Williams from Southern California. But it could easily be just about anyone else, too.

It could, at least theoretically, be Clemson’s Vic Beasley, Florida’s Dante Fowler or a handful of other prospects. Then again, the Titans may work a trade to get out of the pick, and then the season’s first game will be nothing more than just the first game of the season.

Whatever actually happens, though, note that the Titans are fortunate to have back-to-back road games to begin the season, in the middle of the year and then again in late December (obviously more difficult, especially since both are outdoor in cold weather cities).

The benefit is that the Titans get to spend chunks of the season at home, which could allow them an opportunity to gain some momentum.

Then again the New Orleans Saints had a situation like that a season ago, and preceded to lose all three games, and essentially kill their own season, so it’s not foolproof.

Speaking of New Orleans, the Titans do play in The Crescent City on November 8 at Noon CT. If there were ever an ideal situation for an opposing team to come into in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Fans will be present in the dome, but they won’t really be there. Of course the advantage would be greater for Tennessee if it were November 1 (night after Halloween…in New Orleans).

In other words, the schedule has done Tennessee some favors. Now the Titans must simply put together a competitive team to take advantage.

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