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When the NFL released the Broncos 2016 schedule, I noticed right away that they had two fairly difficult stretches in 2016. One is fairly short, but early and the other is quite long and very brutal.
The first happens right off the bat in weeks 1-3. I ranked these as difficult, but not brutal. The first two games are in Denver against the Carolina Panthers and Indianapolis Colts, while the third is on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals.
My hope here is for the Broncos to finish 2-1. After that, there are easily seven straight winnable games with two or three that could be close affairs.
Then after the bye week it gets interesting. The Broncos play three out of four games on the road and how difficult that is really depends on how much the Tennessee Titans and Jacksonville Jaguars have improved. If those clubs are .500ish then the Broncos are going to have their hands full with the New England Patriots at home and then on the road against the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas Day.
The more I look at this part of the schedule the more it feels like the Broncos could stumble somewhere in here and drop a game they should normally win.
Still, I see 10 wins on this schedule. That tells me there are 11-12 winnable games during the source of this season. Being the eternal optimist I am, I'll say the Broncos finish 12-4 in 2016 and take their sixth consecutive AFC West crown.
Denver Broncos 2016 schedule
| All times Mountain. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk | Day | Date | Opponent | Time | TV | |||
| 1 | Thu | Sep 8 |  |
Carolina Panthers |
6:30 pm | NBC (TNF) | ||
| 2 | Sun | Sep 18 |  |
Indianapolis Colts |
2:25 pm | CBS | ||
| 3 | Sun | Sep 25 |  |
at Cincinnati Bengals |
11:00 am | CBS | ||
| 4 | Sun | Oct 2 |  |
at Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
2:05 pm | CBS | ||
| 5 | Sun | Oct 9 |  |
Atlanta Falcons |
2:05 pm | FOX | ||
| 6 | Thu |
Oct 13 |  |
at San Diego Chargers |
6:25 pm | CBS (TNF) | ||
| 7 | Mon |
Oct 24 |  |
Houston Texans |
6:30 pm | ESPN (MNF) | ||
| 8 | Sun | Oct 30 | |
San Diego Chargers |
2:05 pm | CBS | ||
| 9 | Sun | Nov 6 |  |
at Oakland Raiders |
6:30 pm | NBC (SNF) | ||
| 10 | Sun | Nov 13 |
 |
at New Orleans Saints | 11:00 am |
CBS | ||
| 11 | Sun | Nov 20 |
Bye Week | |||||
| 12 | Sun | Nov 27 |  |
Kansas City Chiefs |
2:25 pm | CBS | ||
| 13 | Sun | Dec 4 |  |
at Jacksonville Jaguars |
11:00 am | CBS | ||
| 14 | Sun |
Dec 11 |  |
at Tennessee Titans |
11:00 am |
CBS | ||
| 15 | Sun | Dec 18 |  |
New England Patriots | 2:25 pm | CBS | ||
| 16 | Sun | Dec 25 | |
at Kansas City Chiefs |
6:30 pm |
NBC (SNF) | ||
| 17 | Sun | Jan 1 | |
Oakland Raiders | 2:25 pm | CBS | ||