The National Football League has released its schedule for the upcoming season, thus the smart handicapper will start formulating a gameplan of possible opportunities to wager on in the new season. Of course, nobody is to going to base a play on something they review in April, nonetheless making notes enables you to be better prepared to succeed when the moment arrives.

Evidently Denver has supplanted Dallas as America’s team with an 11 potential national games on the schedule. The Broncos were a rock solid 11-4-1 ATS last season and might be hard pressed to match those numbers next year. Trips to New England and Pittsburgh will be difficult and probable underdog situations. The home schedule sees challenges in Baltimore, Indianapolis and Cincinnati paying a visit to the Mile High City. One big pratfall pops up in November. After a large home game with San Diego, Jake the Snake  and his Broncos mates have a short week and a trip to Kansas City for the first ever Thanksgiving Night game at Arrowhead Stadium.

The Chiefs will see if they can continue their winning ways under new coach Herm Edwards. Kansas City just missed making the playoffs despite a 10-6 record, yet brought plenty of joy to those that wagered on them with a 10-5-1 ATS record. The middle of October is the roughest part of the Chiefs schedule. At least two of the games are at home when they face San Diego and Seattle, but prior to that, the Super Bowl champion Steelers pay a visit.

The champion Steelers open the season on a Thursday night against rapidly improving Miami. Pittsburgh was the first sixth seed to win the Super Bowl was 9-7ATS in the regular season. Pittsburgh will have an interesting time navigating this season’s schedule. After the opening game, four the next six Steelers games are on the road, which include going to Jacksonville, San Diego, Atlanta and Oakland. Of course two more battles with the Bengals and a visit to Carolina, make this a season for the wavers of the Terrible Towels possibly something to fretting about.

Tom Coughlin’s Giants continued to show improvement winning the onerous Eastern Division last season and contributing to the coffers of many of the New York fan base with 10-5-1 ATS mark. This upcoming season places the G-Men in peril. Besides six games against strong Eastern opponents, the Giants open on NBC on Sunday night versus the Colts at home in Manning Bowl I. This is immediately followed by sojourns to Philadelphia and Seattle. Next is a home game against the hated Redskins, leading to hitting the bricks again with visits to Atlanta and a Monday night beauty in Dallas. Given this strenuous first half schedule, the New Yorkers have numerous Play Against possibilities.

One of the mysteries of the NFL scheduling is Green Bay having three national dates. Maybe Commish Tags is hard wired into Kiln, Mississippi knowing something the rest of us don’t in scheduling this many appearances from the storied franchise. The Packers had more then expected injuries last year, never the less, they rest of the roster left a great deal to be desired. Green Bay was one of the worst teams in the NFL with a 4-12 record and a 5-9-2 ATS record. Monday night road games to Philadelphia and NFC champ Seattle will most likely have the Pack played as large dogs. Is the NFL Network Thursday night game in late December against Minnesota, which happens to be Green Bay’s last home game, the true ‘swan song’ for one of the best to play the quarterback position?

A few other items do not make much sense, with the Jets playing on Christmas Day, because they have done what? Oakland Raiders merchandise may continue to sell, however does that warrant four prime appearances? In addition, the final week of the season lacks much drama at this point with only four divisional games on the docket. Granted two of them are marquee match-ups in the Giants visiting the Redskins and Pittsburgh at Cincinnati, still again this upcoming campaign lacks for potential drama to close the regular season.

On the positive side, it certainly is great to see New Orleans will open up at home on a Monday night ESPN game against South Division rival Atlanta in late September. Kudos to the NFL for making this work. NBC also deserves credit for working with the league to have a flex schedule late in the season. This benefits everyone and FOX and CBS graciously played along. Plus, we get the benefit of a new acronym for Sunday’s, SNF.

Chicago drew as favorable a schedule as any team in the league. One of the components of an easier slate is being the best team in a weak division, which fits Chicago to tee. The NFC Central Division champs drew the AFC East, which beyond New England the Bears should have a very legitimate chance to beat all other comers. A couple of games against weaker links San Francisco and Arizona, plus a mid-December home date against Tampa Bay, puts Chicago again in Super Bowl contention and a real Play On potential team. The only real down side is a 3-game road trip in November.

Sportsbooks like SportingBetUSA.com will be releasing Over/Under totals before you know it and training camps open in just over three months.