NFL Teams with tough schedules

The difference between a 10- and a 6-win team isn’t just about who’s under center – it’s also about who’s on the schedule. The NFL ensures that conference division winners battle it out while last-place finishers duke it out.

Don’t think it matters? Take a look at the St. Louis Rams schedule. Sure the Rams are rebuilding, but they play just three games against teams with a winning record last season.

Here’s a look at four teams with the toughest schedules in 2010.

Houston Texans

Last season: 9-7 SU; 7-7-2 ATS

Odds to win: AFC South -- +350

Odds to win AFC: +1300

Odds to win Super Bowl: +2800

Opponents’ cumulative 2009 record: 140-116

Like soccer in America, it always seems to be about tomorrow for the Texans, and in the end the franchise plays well enough to salvage its dignity but not well enough to crack into the playoffs. The Texans patted themselves on the back after their first winning season, but in reality the Patriots laid down in the final week and Houston should have finished with its third straight 8-8 season. And now the Texans are faced with the toughest schedule in the NFL.

Houston has plenty of offensive weapons, but its chances of making a serious run at a wild card spot and a first-ever playoff berth are contingent on the Texans growing a spine in division games. The Texans are 4-14 in the AFC South in the last three seasons, and realistically have to finish at least 3-3 to sniff the playoffs. A skeptical fan base will no doubt be seeing how the Texans come out of the game in their opener at home against the Colts; last season the team was booed off the field in a 24-7 loss to the Jets in Week 1.

Cincinnati Bengals

Last season: 10-6 SU; 7-9 ATS

Odds to win AFC North: +300

Odds to win AFC: +1600

Odds to win Super Bowl: +3000

Opponents’ cumulative 2009 record: 138-118

Raise your hand if you think the Bengals will go 6-0 in the North again this season. Me neither.

It could get nasty in the Queen City this season as last season’s AFC North champs deal with the fourth-toughest schedule in the league. Winning the division spawned games this season against companion division winners New England, Indianapolis and San Diego, with only the Chargers game at home. And if the playoff loss to the Jets last season wasn’t difficult enough to swallow, the business model [ride the hard running of Cedric Benson and live with less production from Carson Palmer] is already in trouble due to Benson’s run-in with the cops in Texas a few days ago.

The season could not have a more difficult start – the Bengals open at New England, where the Patriots were 8-0 last year, and then take on Baltimore (everyone’s chic Super Bowl pick) in Cincy’s home opener. Assuming the majority of the roster is not hospitalized with battle fatigue, the schedule then eases up with games at Carolina and Cleveland, and a home game against Tampa Bay.

The Bengals sneaked up on everyone last season, and despite some decent additions [Antonio Bryant and rookies Jordan Shipley and Jermaine Gresham], lots of things will have to go right if they plan to celebrate their first back-to-back winning season in nearly three decades.

Washington Redskins

Last season: 4-12 SU; 6-8-2 ATS

Odds to win NFC East: +500

Odds to win NFC: +1300

Odds to win Super Bowl: +2500

Opponents’ cumulative 2009 record: 134-122

Lost in the maelstrom of the Redskins’ issues last season was the fact that the defense wasn’t half bad. Despite an offense that couldn’t move the chains, the Skins were actually in the upper third of the league defensively and would have been even higher if the O could have moved the ball even a little. This season an improved (how can it be worse?) offense will be tested by a tough early-season schedule that threatens to swallow the Redskins whole – five of the first six games are against teams that had winning records last season, and four of them made the playoffs.

By the time the opener (home vs. Dallas) rolls around the Redskins will no doubt have figured out a way to rid themselves of Albert Haynesworth, but right now the team is desperate to dump the big lunker without taking too great a hit on the bottom line. Until that happens, Haynesworth will cast a large shadow over the club.

The defensive tackle is not a roster anchor, Donovan McNabb can give the offense a shot of adrenaline and the players give it up for Mike Shanahan, there is some elbow room in an NFC East as Philadelphia is poised to take a step back and the Giants may not find it within themselves to again battle for 16 games.

Dallas Cowboys

Last season: 11-5 SU; 9-7 ATS

Odds to win NFC East: +130

Odds to win NFC: +600

Odds to win Super Bowl: +1200

Opponents’ cumulative 2009 record: 139-117

Big-game atmospheres are oxygen for Jerry Jones, and the Cowboys’ schedule has a saddlepack full of marquee matchups – the Boys’ calendar has dates with NFC finalists New Orleans and Minnesota, plus NFC West champ Arizona, AFC West winner San Diego and a fun trip to Indianapolis. In all, Dallas takes on five division champions, and you can toss in an interesting trip to Green Bay during the early-November tourist season.

The good news for the Cowboys is that among all the teams that are facing tough schedules, they seem best equipped – offensively at least -- to handle the heavy workload. Tony Romo (26 TDs, 9 INTs last season) is nowhere near as skittish as he was a few seasons ago and the offense is capable of laying 35 on anyone.

Plus, the Cowboys have the ultimate good-luck charm – Miles Austin has latched on to Kim Kardashian, and the Kardashians have a great track record (Reggie Bush and Lamar Odom are sporting very large championship rings.)

All of the above, save maybe the Kardashian connection, has made the Cowboys solid favorites in the NFC East and a decent bet to get to the Super Bowl despite a difficult schedule.