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The NFL won’t officially release the 2017 schedule until about 8 p.m. tonight, but the leaks and rumors have inevitably started flying. In the interest of keeping you guys informed (and giving you something to talk about), we’ve rounded that up here.
Week 1...Da Bears?
Rumor is the #Bears are opening the season against the #Falcons at home.
— Aaron Leming (@AaronLemingNFL) April 20, 2017
This is a very strange potential opening matchup for the NFC’s reigning Super Bowl representative, if it’s true. Chicago figures to be one of the worst teams in the NFC—maybe even the NFL—so the Falcons would be heading on the road to start the year off with a potential thumping.
Actually, that doesn’t sound so bad.
Week 2 Packers
The Falcons will open Mercedes-Benz Stadium for regular season business against the team they thumped in the NFC Conference Championship Game earlier this year, which seems fair and just on many levels. It’s a tough matchup, sure, but a very winnable one for a team that won both its Green Bay games in 2016.
Schedule tidbit from source: Packers will play in Atlanta's new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Week 2 Sunday night.
— Pete Dougherty (@PeteDougherty) April 20, 2017
Week 7 Patriots
This one seems solid.
The Super Bowl LI rematch between the Patriots and Falcons will be in Week 7 at Gillette Stadium: Oct. 22, Sunday night football.
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) April 20, 2017
Sunday Night Football in October is not the worst possible outcome here, but I’m guessing this comes before the bye week, and thus promises to be an even more difficult matchup than it would otherwise be. If the Falcons win this one, I’m going to feel great about the back half of the slate.
Week 11 Seahawks
Leaked schedule for #Seahawks so far: Week 1 at #Packers, Week 7 at #Giants, Week 11 vs #Falcons, Week 13 vs #Eagles
— Samuel Gold (@SamuelRGold) April 20, 2017
Hey, I actually predicted this one! This leak appears to be coming from everywhere at once, and will see the Falcons heading to Seattle a little after the middle of the season. This will inevitably be one of the toughest matchups of the season, but hopefully the Falcons will be just coming off their bye week at this point.
Week 13 Vikings
You’ll find that here, sourced from a Mike Bell tweet he has since deleted. The Vikings are a tough team to play this late in the year, but thankfully Atlanta is home. Their offense is still a major question mark, but defensively they’ll be an excellent late season test if this holds.
If you see ones with sourcing, drop ‘em here!