Denver Broncos 2012 schedule

Douglas Lee Apr 17, 2012 7:09 PM

Here is the 2012 schedule; all times are expressed in Eastern Time.

Week	Day	Date	Opponent	Time	Network
1	Sunday	Sep 9, 2012	Pittsburgh Steelers	8:20 pm	NBC
2	Monday	Sep 17, 2012	at Atlanta Falcons	8:30 pm	ESPN
3	Sunday	Sep 23, 2012	Houston Texans	4:25 pm	CBS
4	Sunday	Sep 30, 2012	Oakland Raiders	4:05 pm	CBS
5	Sunday	Oct 7, 2012	at New England Patriots	4:25 pm	CBS
6	Monday	Oct 15, 2012	at San Diego Chargers	8:30 pm	ESPN
7	BYE
8	Sunday	Oct 28, 2012	New Orleans Saints	8:20 pm	NBC
9	Sunday	Nov 4, 2012	at Cincinnati Bengals	1:00 pm	CBS
10	Sunday	Nov 11, 2012	at Carolina Panthers	1:00 pm	CBS
11	Sunday	Nov 18, 2012	San Diego Chargers	4:25 pm	CBS
12	Sunday	Nov 25, 2012	at Kansas City Chiefs	1:00 pm	CBS
13	Sunday	Dec 2, 2012	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	4:05 pm	FOX
14	Thursday	Dec 6, 2012	at Oakland Raiders	8:20 pm	NFLN
15	Sunday	Dec 16, 2012	at Baltimore Ravens	1:00 pm	CBS
16	Sunday	Dec 23, 2012	Cleveland Browns	4:05 pm	CBS
17	Sunday	Dec 30, 2012	Kansas City Chiefs	4:25 pm	CBS

The 2012 NFL schedule has been released, and the Broncos are scheduled to play five primetime games this season, including the SNF opener against Pittsburgh at home and the following week at Atlanta on MNF.

Denver will also play on SNF in Week 8 as they host the Saints in a matchup that will feature a showdown between Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, health willing and provided that New Orleans re-signs their star QB. The team's other MNF matchup comes at San Diego in Week 6, and they will play a Thursday night game at Oakland Week 14.

Their following game will be 10 days later, providing something of a mini-bye to go along with their true bye in Week 7.

Of course, the game sure to receive the most hype of all will be Denver's Week 5 visit to New England to renew Manning's rivalry with Tom Brady, Bill Belichick and the Patriots. This matchup reportedly also received consideration for the SNF opener.

The entire league's schedule can be found here.

Doug is IAOFM’s resident newsman and spelling czar. Follow him on Twitter @IAOFM

@Bronco_Mike I was referring more to the fact I have to watch two teams I loathe in back to back weeked.

Posted by Ryan on 2012-04-18 17:47:13

Bah, wrapping up at home against KC is a great scenario.

Posted by BottomfedBuddha on 2012-04-18 12:29:16

Hercules, our D isn't too shabby. Sure, we could use some help inside, but the opposition running the ball isn't much of an option if the Broncos can give Manning the tools to run up the score. We have decent backs on D, and our end rush is one of the bigger threats in the NFL. Get the D inside to clog up the pocket, put a lead on with our amazing QB, and this team looks pretty good. And, let's not forget our special teams and especially our kickers are pretty damn good.

I think the key is to make sure Manning has all the best weapons he needs. Good to see them already at work. Manning's one of the top-notch pros. I have a lot of confidence he'll have the team ready by game #1. I hope they "punch" the Steelers square in the nose (btw I grew up a Steelers fan) and serve notice to the NFL that there's a new force to be reckoned with in the league.

Posted by John Tomasik on 2012-04-18 12:05:34

@ JT - I'll take your argument a step further and speculate that the top two factors in favor of a winning team are the starting QB and a defense that can pressure the opposing QB. How does THAT make us look?

Posted by Hercules_Rockefeller on 2012-04-18 11:54:52

I'm with Bronco Mike. we generally put a beat-down on the Raiders in Oakland, so I'm not too worried about that one (now, if we could take care of business at Mile High, that'd be nice...). the mini-bye going into the game against Baltimore is a nice break. Each team gets one of these weeks this year, but I not all of them will be fortunate to get it that late in the season, heading into the heart of the playoff race. That and getting the first bye in week 7 (as opposed to, say 3 or 4), gives the players two breaks to rest, spread out during the course of the season.

Posted by Hercules_Rockefeller on 2012-04-18 11:50:02

Broncologist, to get ya' even more excited, I heard a different twist on how to "predict" (guess) the outcome of the games. Whenever teams are compared, the main comparison is usually at the QB position. That said, who in the league is better than our QB? I'd argue none. Some might say Brady or Breeze, but reality is Brady arguably is good because of the system around him, and Breeze is yardage. I'm not talking Rogers 'cause his team isn't in our sights, at least for now.

So, taking that approach, it's highly possible that this team can go 14 wins. I'll be the first to stick my foot in my mouth and say we'll have 15 wins, with the only loss 'cause we sit the starters in the last game to prevent injury for the impending playoffs.

Yes, I'm that excited.

Posted by John Tomasik on 2012-04-18 10:52:33

Let 'em crow. Tebow is not our problem anymore, and he's not starting in New York.

But if you guys think that the guys broadcasting the game aren't going to harp on that playoff win, the acquisition of Manning and the jettison of Tebow, you've got another thing coming. They will bring it up early (probably in the opening montage if there is one, and definitely in the opening remarks) and often (expect at least two mentions per quarter. Wish I was kidding).

Posted by Sam on 2012-04-18 10:45:37

If the team makes it to the playoffs with this schedule, they're better than I'm hoping for. What a friggin' nightmare...who comes up with this crap?

Posted by John Tomasik on 2012-04-18 08:48:00

The beginning of the schedule looks hellacious but who cares? Every day is Christmas. Peyton freaking Manning is our QB. I still can't believe I get say that!!

Posted by Broncologist on 2012-04-18 00:52:18

And vs. Tebow you know Pittsburgh wouldn't try that 1-man defensive backfield thing again on opening night.

Posted by broncosmontana on 2012-04-18 00:13:13

Totally agree. It will be fascinating to see this thing unwind, to watch the players assimilate week after week. You're being charitable to the doubters by even mentioning the durability thing because that gets way more play than it should. The guy never missed a game til the injury. I mean, he was number TWO on the all time NFL QB consecutive starts list behind Favre, for crissakes -- twice as many starts as Brady and Rivers. Thanks to his quick decision making, he never took the pounding Elway did, so he's not dealing with deteriorating knees and hamstrings and legs and all those wacky things that had us starting Brister a few games that last year.

Posted by broncosmontana on 2012-04-18 00:10:02

X-actly, X. Even with an easy schedule, no one would have predicted us to take the division last year. I myself still barely believe it.

Posted by broncosmontana on 2012-04-18 00:02:42

First 6 games will tell how good Denver is or not.

Posted by sleepyteak on 2012-04-18 00:01:41

Well, if we do lose and the zombies surface, they'll have about one week to crow. Jets play at Pittsburgh in week 2. ; )

Posted by broncosmontana on 2012-04-18 00:00:58

Aside from the invective, I actually agree with most of what you say.
A win or a loss in Week 1 won't make or break a season.
But if you think the Zombies won't be out in force if Denver loses to Pittsburgh, I think you're wrong. Hopefully we'll never find out.

Posted by Alaskan on 2012-04-17 23:17:16

Interesting comments.
The schedule always gives some idea of where you are.
Andrew is correct in the respect that, pre-Manning, we're looking at the prospect the only wins might be freakish ones.
However, the situation is now somewhat different. A healthy Manning affects things across the board.
I personally like the way the roster is shaping up. it's not, in my mind, unreasonable to feel that every game is win-able. That doesn't mean I think they will win them all - just that they're all win-able.
But IMO the most important thing will become the way in which each game gives us an idea of where we're at.
Even should Manning not be durable to last the season, I still think the Broncos are ahead of where they were a year ago. In any event, as every schedule gives you an idea of where you are, this one will do so as well.
I expect we'll see surprising upgrades in play in various areas. It will be interesting to see where the most noticeable upgrades appear.

Posted by ivanthenotsobad on 2012-04-17 22:29:41

Dude, stop with your PM apology for a potential loss to the steelers 6 months from now.

Why must you view everything through a Tebow lens/angle. Every game is it's own game. The broncos could very well loose to the steelers in week 1 and anybody with one iota of perspective will know that doesn't mean squat.

If the broncos don't win more games than last year the season will be a massive failure. At that point you will have enough of a sample size to start to worry...then you can roll out all your apologies. You'll need them.

Posted by HavanaBronco on 2012-04-17 22:07:32

Well if we can get to the playoffs we'll most definitely be battle tested. Good thing we got Manning I don't want to think about how rough this schedule would have been with tebow at the helm.

Posted by andrew on 2012-04-17 22:02:41

lots of whining.... after all we have Saint Peyton... how can we lose.. lol
it's a game.. these guys are pros these guys are supposed to the best of the crop.... the team that makes the least mistakes on any given game day will probably win..

Posted by sailorjo on 2012-04-17 21:27:00

Why is anyone belly-aching?

We play SD before they supposedly get hot (2nd game Nov 18).
Only tough road games are NE and Baltimore.

Not scared of Atlanta or Carolina road games.

Seeing 11-12 wins if the defense holds up and Manning stays healthy. Two big ifs, but I like our chances.

Posted by Orange_and_Blue on 2012-04-17 21:25:58

What a bunch of whiney babies posting comments lol. Grow the hell up. It's a schedule.

Posted by Broncorick69 on 2012-04-17 20:32:01

I love it! No one will be able to accuse us of backing into the playoffs this year. I also agree with what Xtreme said about not getting too worked up over it in April. If we continue to improve and work hard, we should be alright.

Posted by hcubed on 2012-04-17 20:30:57

Let's not get too worked up over the schedule in April. Who knows how teams will look once the season starts? The sky's the limit right now. I see 16 winnable games when I look at that schedule. Why the eff not? No mercy!

Posted by Xtreme212000 on 2012-04-17 20:22:39

A good team could open 1 and 4 against that schedule. But it looks like it gets easier as it goes along, at least to me.

The thing I don't like is that Pittsburgh comes to Denver for the opener. That certainly sets things up for the Tebow crowd to crow if Pittsburgh wins. It should be a great game, but I am already dreading what we will hear if Manning does not beat Pittsburgh after Tebow did it in such dramatic fashion (of course, no one will mention what happened the next week at New England).

Posted by Alaskan on 2012-04-17 20:20:13

Yuck the Raiders have the Browns at home the week before that Thursday game.

Posted by Bronco_Mike on 2012-04-17 19:37:00

Actually, we want 10 days to heal up and prepare for Baltimore in their house, that's to our advantage. Whatever way you want to slice it that Thursday game is going to suck, at least it's the crappy Raiders.

Posted by Bronco_Mike on 2012-04-17 19:34:34

I'm as excited about P(F)M as anyone... but wow. I am seeing 9 wins here. We could, and should, be a much better team this year than last. It might only net us 8-9 wins though.

Posted by QDoc on 2012-04-17 19:32:17

I'm thinking that having to go to Oakland and play 4 days after the Bucs is the bigger dick move.

Posted by QDoc on 2012-04-17 19:31:28

Yikes.

A schedule that Nietzsche would approve of...

Posted by AlexXSmith on 2012-04-17 19:22:29

At OAK on a Thursday followed by At BAL 10 days later is a dick move, NFL

Posted by Ryan on 2012-04-17 19:20:35

Holey moley! That's a bruiser...

Posted by drewthorn on 2012-04-17 19:18:01

Not a single Monday Night Football game in Denver? Playing the Chiefs at home in Week 17 for the third time in four years? Another Monday night game in San Diego--2007, 2009, 2010, and now 2012, not to mention a Sunday night game there in 2008. I thought for sure San Diego would be our Week 17 opponent in Denver. Always interesting how these things pan out. I really wanted a home Monday or Thursday night game in Denver. Oh, well.

Posted by RSH, Esq. on 2012-04-17 19:16:01

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