Cincinnati Bengals: Most Anticipated Game of 2013
By Jason Marcum
November 4, 2012; Cincinnati, OH, USA; A Cincinnati Bengals fan celebrates his team
We’re just hours away from the official release of the 2013 NFL regular season schedule. There has already been one leak regarding the first game of the season, as the Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens will open the 2013 season in Denver to face the Broncos in an AFC Divisional playoff rematch.
The 2013 opponents for the Cincinnati Bengals have been finalized, and they’re tied with the Jacksonville Jaguars for the 12th-most difficult schedule.
Because the Bengals finished in second-place in the AFC North, they’ll face the Indianapolis Colts and San Diego Chargers, who finished second in their respective divisions.
They already play the entire AFC East in addition to the NFC North. The East features the New England Patriots, who have won all but two AFC East titles since 2001.
The NFC North features the Green Bay Packers, who have won the North six times in the past 10 seasons.
The AFC North will feature two games against the Super Bowl Champion Baltimore Ravens, as well as the Pittsburgh Steelers, who will likely be in a transition phase, but always play the Bengals to the final few possessions.
Here’s the entire list of home and away opponents for 2013:
- The Bengals play 7 teams that won 10 or more games, but 5 of them come to Cincinnati.
- Over the past two seasons, the Bengals have gone 8-8 vs. these teams, and have gone 4-4 this season.
- The Bengals will face the NFL’s leading rusher (Adrian Peterson), receiver (Calvin Johnson), interceptions (Tim Jennings), and passer rating (Aaron Rodgers)
- Cincinnati will host 5 of this year’s playoff participants, but play just one team on the road who made the playoffs (Baltimore).
- The last time the Bengals played the AFC East in 2010, they went 0-4 against them, and have lost seven of the past eight games against teams from the East.
Getting through the 2012 schedule with a winning record and a playoff berth will be a daunting task, but if the Bengals can survive, they’ll be as battle-tested as any NFL team, making them a legitimate threat to make a Ravens-like Super bowl run next year.
Who in particular are you looking forward to seeing the Bengals play this year? Leave your comments below or hit us up on twitter and let us know.
Want more Bengals news? Like Stripe Hype on Facebook, or grab our RSS feed.