Apr 18, 2012

NFL Releases 2012 Schedule

The NFL has released the 2012 schedule and like everything else the NFL does, it was big news. For the Saints, there are lots of interesting take-aways on this year's slate of games.

The first thing that pops out is that the Saints Bye week falls in Week 6. Was this a little "twisting of the knife" by Roger Goodell? What this means is that all the suspended parties (Mickey Loomis, Joe Vitt and players to be named) will have an extra week on their suspensions. The suspensions are for games, so Vitt's six game suspension will now conclude after Week 7 and Loomis' eight game one will conclude after Week 9.

Another interesting note is that even though they'll be playing without their head coach all year and there has been so much negative publicity surrounding the team that didn't stop the NFL from putting the Saints on primetime four times, including one Monday night and one Thursday night game (to be fair, every team gets a Thursday nighter this year).

The Saints open up with the Redskins, and potentially RGIII, at home and close with Carolina in the Superdome. There should be lots of fun game in between and Saints fans can't wait to see their team rise from these offseason ashes and silence all the haters.

Here's the Saints 2012 schedule:

Sun, September 9, Washington Redskins, 12 noon, FOX

Sun, September 16, at Carolina Panthers, 12 noon, FOX

Sun, September 23, Kansas City Chiefs, 12 noon, CBS

Sun, September 30, at Green Bay Packers, 3:15 p.m., FOX

Sun, October 7, San Diego Chargers, 7:30 p.m., NBC

Sun, October 14, BYE WEEK

Sun, October 21, at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 12 noon, FOX

Sun, October 28, at Denver Broncos, 7:30 p.m., NBC

Mon, November 5, Philidelphia Eagles, 7:30 p.m., ESPN

Sun, November 11, Atlanta Falcons, 12 noon, FOX

Sun, November 18, at Oakland Raiders, 3:05 p.m., FOX

Sun, November 25, San Francisco 49ers, 3:15 p.m., FOX

Thu, November 29, at Atlanta Falcons, 7:30 p.m., NFL Network

Sun, December 9, at New York Giants, 3:15 p.m., FOX

Sun, December 16, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 12 noon, FOX

Sun, December 23, at Dallas Cowboys, 12 noon, FOX

Sun, December 30, Carolina Panthers, 12 noon, FOX