With the NFL schedule released Wednesday night, fans now have the opportunity to pick apart when teams square off, who faces an uphill battle, when rivalry games take place and whether or not their favorite team has a favorable stretch to the season.
However, as former offensive lineman and current media personality Ross Tucker pointed out Wednesday, the players actually care very little about the schedule.
Players rarely focus on more than the next game -- they have coaches and scouts to worry about the rest. So, aside from an occasional grudge match, knowing in April who they play in Week 4 is of little concern to the men on the field.
What part of the schedule do they care about?
Bye weeks.
Players -- like most employees -- what to know when they have vacation time.
For easy consumption, we've provided a cheat sheet for those only interested in the bye-week portion of the football calendar. To the right, bye weeks are catalogued by team. Below is a list of all the squads off for any give week.
Byes by week
Week 5
Miami Dolphins, Oakland Raiders
Week 6
Kansas City Chiefs, New Orleans Saints
Week 8
New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers
Week 12
Carolina Panthers, Pittsburgh Steelers
The "Around The League Podcast" NFL Schedule Extravaganza will change the way you look at everything.
