Is the 2012 schedule really as hard as people are making it seem?

This doesn't really apply to the 'Zone here, but recently I've seen a bunch of analysts and talking heads comment on the 49ers "brutal" schedule (Steve Wyche just recently mentioned this in his article about how Smith went "overboard" calling Cam out).

Maybe it's just me, but I don't find the schedule to be "brutal". I'd say it's a bit more challenging than last year but not by a whole lot. You also have to take into consideration that the 2012 49ers appear to be a better team than the 2011 squad.

I'm not going to sit here and break down every game because people have done that to death. Just wanted to gauge general reaction to the schedule. I, personally, am not too concerned about it.

For the first time in a while, teams should be scared of playing the 49ers, not the other way around.

Sunday, 9 San Francisco at Green Bay (4:15 PM) 49ers at Packers Tickets

Sunday, 16 Detroit at San Francisco (8:20 PM) Lions at 49ers Tickets

Sunday, 23 San Francisco at Minnesota (1:00 PM) 49ers at Vikings Tickets

Sunday, 30 San Francisco at N.Y. Jets (1:00 PM) 49ers at Jets Tickets

October Sunday, 7 Buffalo at San Francisco (4:25 PM) Bills at 49ers Tickets

Sunday, 14 N.Y. Giants at San Francisco (4:25 PM) Giants at 49ers Tickets

Thursday, 18 Seattle at San Francisco (8:20 PM) Seahawks at 49ers Tickets

Monday, 29 San Francisco at Arizona (8:30 PM) 49ers at Cardinals Tickets

November Sunday, 11 St. Louis at San Francisco (4:25 PM) Rams at 49ers Tickets

Monday, 19 Chicago at San Francisco (8:30 PM) Bears at 49ers Tickets

Sunday, 25 San Francisco at New Orleans (4:25 PM) 49ers at Saints Tickets

December Sunday, 2 San Francisco at St. Louis (1:00 PM) 49ers at Rams Tickets

Sunday, 9 Miami at San Francisco (4:05 PM) Dolphins at 49ers Tickets

Sunday, 16 San Francisco at New England (8:20 PM) 49ers at Patriots Tickets

Sunday, 23 San Francisco at Seattle (4:15 PM) 49ers at Seahawks Tickets

Sunday, 30 Arizona at San Francisco (4:25 PM) Cardinals at 49ers Tickets

Looks tough to me, but if we have evolved like I think we have? Then we can make the best of it. Starting out @ GB... man, that's tough. The silver-lining to that is, we can seriously come out and stun the Packers. I don't suspect our coaches to just plod out there with a ton of what we did last season... so hopefully we will be pretty creative and unpredictable out of the gate. Packers game-planning for our "same old same old"... we give them something unexpected. With a full offseason, we maybe don't need that typical 1/4 of the season to get the engine firing on all cylinders.

It's ugly when you start out a season with your first two games ending in a loss. We really need to yank one of those Ws. Hell, let's get em both. Nothing like starting out a season "outdueling" the Great Aaron Rodgers and then thumbing your nose at Jim Schwartz and his merry band of thugs.

I don't think it's brutal at all. We have the 9th easiest schedule based on opponent win %, and only face 5 teams that won 9 or more games last year. Now obviously teams change drastically from year to year, but we will be favored to win every week with exception to 2 or 3 games. I agree that teams should be fearing us, not the other way around.

Originally posted by oldman9er:
Looks tough to me, but if we have evolved like I think we have? Then we can make the best of it. Starting out @ GB... man, that's tough. The silver-lining to that is, we can seriously come out and stun the Packers. I don't suspect our coaches to just plod out there with a ton of what we did last season... so hopefully we will be pretty creative and unpredictable out of the gate. Packers game-planning for our "same old same old"... we give them something unexpected. With a full offseason, we maybe don't need that typical 1/4 of the season to get the engine firing on all cylinders.

It's ugly when you start out a season with your first two games ending in a loss. We really need to yank one of those Ws. Hell, let's get em both. Nothing like starting out a season "outdueling" the Great Aaron Rodgers and then thumbing your nose at Jim Schwartz and his merry band of thugs.

Exactly. I wouldn't even use the word "stun". We could very well top the Packers for the reasons you mentioned. All the new pieces on offense work to the Niners' advantage for 2 reasons:

1. Upgraded talent in the receiving corps gives Smith options on the field and Harbaugh/Roman options in the playbook
2. Normally I'd worry that the offense would take some time to jell, but the core group is intact. Furthermore, look at what Harbs did in 2011 with a brand new unit he only had a month to work with.

The Green Bay game is a great opener IMO. Firstly, we get to the play in Lambeau when the weather is warm. Second, it will tell us right out the gate how far this team has come.

As you said, we need to win at least one of those first two. I can see them winning both and if not, I'm damn sure they're gonna knock out Detroit on Sunday night at the 'Stick's opener. Cully did a nice job containing Calvin Johnson as a rook last year, look for him to make a nice leap this yr.

This day n age predicted strength of schedule means nothing. Before the salary cap you could look at a schedule and see what the tough games were going to be. But today with parity the way it is you can't really predict anything.

if our D plays as well as it did last season and our O improves a bit, we'll be unstoppable.

My dick is

Originally posted by DaDivaRecieva15:
My dick is

I'd say it's pretty soft.....the schedule that is.........

No.

Packer, Lions, Patriots, Bears, Saints, Giants are all VERY tough games. 6 very tough games out of 16

Jets and two Seahawk games will be battles - definitely not cake walks. 3 tough games out of 16 games.

The two Cards games may be tough games but not as tough as the other 9. Some may think I'm underestimating them - too early to predict.

Buffalo is a question mark at this time.

I don't think Vikings will be a tough game. Nor the two Rams games

Miami will not be a tough game.

So, I think we'll have 9 highly competitive games. What makes it stand out is back to back tough games.

Packers and Lions games 1 & 2. Giants and Seattle games 6-7. Maybe a tough game at Cards the week following the Seahawks.

Bears and Saints the 10-11 games.

The Patriots and at Seattle 14-15.

I don't think we'll go undefeated [as much as I would love it] so I'm thinking 11-5, the all the way to the Superbowl and then take the Lombardi trophy home.

Cake walk

Originally posted by SofaKing:

Originally posted by DaDivaRecieva15:

My dick is

I'd say it's pretty soft.....the schedule that is.........

I thought he was saying that we had a small schedule.

Alex is going to be an 8 year veteran soon in this league. The NFC West is improved, the schedule is brutal, and he's played a full season in Harbaugh's offense. He should be able to handle anything at this point.

Originally posted by defenderDX:
Alex is going to be an 8 year veteran soon in this league. The NFC West is improved, the schedule is brutal, and he's played a full season in Harbaugh's offense. He should be able to handle anything at this point.

Definitely. Whether you're a supporter, detractor, or indifferent about A. Smith, one thing we can all agree upon is that the guy has is thick-skinned and as resilient as they make em.

If you can survive being booed outta the stadium during that game vs. Philly in 2010, you can survive anything.

Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:
Definitely. Whether you're a supporter, detractor, or indifferent about A. Smith, one thing we can all agree upon is that the guy has is thick-skinned and as resilient as they make em.

If you can survive being booed outta the stadium during that game vs. Philly in 2010, you can survive anything.

gator skin wiih small hands/feet and a long chewed up tail