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
