The Tennessee Titans have a tough 2022 schedule overall thanks to a slew of difficult matchups against out-of-division opponents.
Part of the Titans’ non-divisional schedule will see them play the entire AFC West, which comes at a terrible time after the division saw several great players added this offseason.
In all, the Titans will face seven teams from outside of their division who made the playoffs in 2021, and even some of the non-playoff teams got better.
According to NFL football ops data scientist, Tom Bliss, Tennessee’s slate of non-divisional games in 2022 ranks as the toughest in the league based on “wins added due to schedule strength and opponent.”
Tennessee’s wins added comes in at -.70.
Wins added is calculated by comparing each team’s game to a game w/ two avg teams, 0 travel and even rest & summing diffs over season.
I.e. PHI hosts PIT (traveling 259 mi) w/ bye rest in wk 8. This is compared to an avg team hosting an avg opp (traveling 0 mi) w/ even rest.
— Tom Bliss (@DataWithBliss) May 17, 2022
While four matchups against the NFC East might seem like a reprieve, two of those teams, the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, made the playoffs last season, and the latter figures to be better than they were in 2021, especially after prying A.J. Brown away from the Titans.
The good news for the Titans is they will face one of the easiest divisional schedules in the NFL. Tennessee’s wins added figure (0.47) when it comes to games against their division rivals ranks third in the NFL.
The Colts will be their biggest challenge, but both Jacksonville and Houston figure to be among the worst teams in the league. Even then, divisional games can be very tricky, so nothing is guaranteed.