Entering Thursday night, we knew who each NFL team was playing who, now we know when they’ll be playing. The NFL released its full regular season schedule on Thursday night and everyone knows their path during the regular season to get to Super Bowl LII in Minnesota. The Cowboys and Texans are both trying to get to the top, but each of their roads could come down to key stretches on the road during the later portions of the season.
Here's your 2017 #DallasCowboys schedule, what game are you most excited for?
Details: https://t.co/xZq8FRmiQc pic.twitter.com/OIUYwBMVrq
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) April 21, 2017
Coming off a 13-3 season, the Dallas Cowboys enter 2017 with a pretty tough road to repeat as NFC East champions. Among the highlights: a Week 1 home game against the New York Giants which has become an annual season-opening tradition in recent years. The Cowboys then venture to Denver and Arizona on consecutive weeks and will have their chance at revenge when the Packers come to AT&T Stadium in Week 5.
Following the bye, the Cowboys have two separate stretches of three out of four games on the road. The first stretch includes games at San Francisco, Washington and Atlanta. The second segment of road trips may be the toughest run of games the team will have playing in The Meadowlands against the Giants, the hostile crowd in Oakland and Philadelphia to end the year. That stretch also includes a home game against Seattle, which is always a tough battle.
Overall, the path to 13-3 is a lot tougher this time around than it was a year ago. The Cowboys will have an even bigger target on their backs and considering the other teams in the NFC East have all improved on paper, 2017 could be a more challenging go-round for Dallas.
We know you've been waiting.
Here you go.
The 2017 #Texans schedule is LIVE!
🏈📆: https://t.co/lzdJSUImz0 pic.twitter.com/8hTjHXJhcK
— Houston Texans (@HoustonTexans) April 21, 2017
As for Houston, they also start with a divisional opponent at home in Week 1 against Jacksonville. Their schedule doesn’t get any easier as they play back-to-back road games at Cincinnati (a team that the Texans are very familiar with) and New England. They’ll also have three straight games at NRG Stadium with Tennessee, Kansas City and Cleveland but they’ll have to keep their suitcases as they play four of the next six on the road.
The home stretch does present some good opportunity for the Texans with games against San Francisco and at Jacksonville. Pittsburgh and Indianapolis cap off the regular season. By all accounts, the schedule seems fairly manageable but the six-game stretch out of the bye week could be the pendulum that could swing the direction of Houston’s season. If they can survive that stretch at 3-3 or better, the chances for another AFC South title will improve dramatically for the Texans in 2017.
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