2018 NFL schedule rankings AFC North Bro

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For coach Hue Jackson, there is one upside to going 0-16 last season: He can't technically do any worse this year. Actually, I take that back, he could get fired, which is something that definitely seems po sible heading into the upcoming season. The biggest reason Jackson and the Browns could struggle again this year is because Cleveland has the most difficult schedule in the AFC North. With the regular season still almost three months away, you might be wondering how we already know that the Browns have the most difficult schedule in the division, and that's because we went ahead and ranked all 32 schedules in the . The easiest way to rank each schedule is , but we don't like doing things the easy way around here, plus, that's not exactly the most efficient way to rate schedule difficulty. Instead, we've devised a formula to rank every team's schedule. More on the NFL Basically, we went through each individual game on each team's schedule and ranked it based on difficulty, and let's Jakub Vrana Jersey just say, the Browns could be staring down another lost season. For one, they open up the year against the and , which isn't ideal when you're trying to build team confidence after an 0-16 season. To devise our formula, not only did we look at each individual game, but we also looked at odds. Since the oddsmakers in Las Vegas seem to know what they're doing, we incorporated their odds, which is a big reason why the Browns could be in trouble. Not only do the Browns have to play six games against playoff teams from last season, but three of those games will come in a row when they play Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Atlanta starting in Week 8. The Browns have a bye in Week 9, which might be a good time for Jackson to start beefing up his rsum. No other team Michal Kempny Jersey in the AFC North has to play three straight games against three playoff teams from 2017. It's almost like the NFL wants the Browns to lose. One final thing we used to tabulate this formula is the first three games of the season. We weighted those three games slightly more than the other 13 games because they tend to be a good indication of how a team will play throughout the season. Basically, teams that go winle s in their first three games almost never make the playoffs. Since 1990, only three teams have started 0-3 and made the playoffs (1992 , 1995 , 1998 ). On the flip side of that, 3-0 usually means good things in the NFL: From 1990 to 2010, 75.9 percent 3-0 made the playoffs. Those odds drop to 54.9 percent for 2-1 teams and 23.3 percent for 1-2 teams. You can look at last year's playoff field as proof of how important the first few games are: Of the 12 teams that made the postseason, only the Saints (1-2) didn't have a winning record through the first three weeks of the year. The other 11 teams either started the year 2-1 or 3-0. This basically means that if your favorite team has a murderer's row in the first three weeks of the season, you should probably just give up on 2018 and start paying attention to 2019. The reason we're not giving the final three games of the season more weight is because the final games don't always mean the same for everybody, especially when a team is resting its starters. The Saints went 0-3 in their final three games in 2009 and still won the Super Bowl. The went 1-2 in their final three in 2012 and also won the Super Bowl. Alright, that's enough rambling, let's get to these rankings. Wait, one more thing, here's how things are going to work with our schedule rankings: On Tuesdays and Thursdays over the next NHL Washington Capitals Jersey three weeks, we'll be going division by division to rank every schedule in the NFL. After starting with the AFC East and AFC South last week -- which you can check out by and -- we'll be hitting the AFC North (Tuesday) and the AFC West (Thursday) this week. Next week, you'll be getting the NFC East (June 26) and the NFC South (June 28). Ranking the AFC North schedules 4. Schedule difficulty rating:82.75 Easiest stretch:If the Bengals somehow manage to start 0-3 for the second-straight season, then Marvin Lewis might want to think about firing himself, because the Bengals' easiest stretch of the year will be coming during those first three weeks. For one, they get to open the season against a team that still has no idea if will be healthy enough to start. In Week 2, the Bengals will have a Thursday night home opener against a Ravens team that will be traveling on four days rest. Also, the Bengals are 5-1 in their past six home games against Baltimore. After that, the Bengals get a 10-day break before they head to Carolina in Week 3. Roughest stretch: If the Bengals are in the playoff hunt heading into the final quarter of the season, they're going to be in for a rough ride. Starting in Week 14, the Bengals will play Evgeny Kuznetsov Jersey three of their final four games on the road (at L.A. Chargers, Oakland, at Cleveland, at Pittsburgh). Although that Cleveland game might look winnable, oddsmakers don't agree. That actually happens to be just one of are favored to win during the 2018 season. And no, that's not a typo, the oddsmakers in Vegas currently have a team that went 0-16 last year favored to beat a Bengals team that is 7-0 in their past seven meetings against Cleveland. Weird scheduling note:Someone in the office must have finally gotten the memo that the Bengals don't play very well in primetime, because the team was given only one Matt Niskanen Jersey late-night game this year, which will come on a Thursday in Week 2. The Bengals were completely left off the Monday night schedule for the first time in seven years, which actually might be a good thing for them, considering they're winle s in their past four Monday night games. 3. Pittsburgh Steelers Schedule difficulty rating: 88.00 Easiest stretch:The Steelers have gone 11-1 against AFC North teams over the past two seasons, including 6-0 last year, so picking out their easiest stretch consisted of finding the spot on their schedule where they get to play a bunch of division games in a row. That spot starts in Week 6, when the Steelers play a stretch of three straight divisional games (at Cincinnati, Cleveland, at Baltimore). Roughest stretch: The Steelers' ugliest stretch of the season starts in Week 10 and seems to go on forever. Although the other three teams in the AFC North only have to deal with a rough stretch that goes on for three games, the Steelers have to deal with one that goes which is nearly the entire back half of their schedule. Starting in Week 10, the Steelers have to deal with three of the top seven defenses in the NFL from last season in Carolina, Jacksonville and Denver, then they have to move on and play consecutive games against four potential MVP candidates in , , and . Odds to win 2018 NFL MVP:Rodgers +650Brady +700Wentz +950Brees/Wil