Kansas City Chiefs 2012 Schedule Analysis

Scheduling plays a huge role in the outcome of every NFL season. So the Athlon NFL editors will spend the next month dissecting each and every week of the 2012 slate for all 32 teams in the league.

Kansas City Chiefs 2012 Schedule:

Week 1: Atlanta
Week 2: at Buffalo
Week 3: at New Orleans
Week 4: San Diego
Week 5: Baltimore
Week 6: at Tampa Bay
Week 7: BYE
Week 8: Oakland
Week 9: at San Diego (Thurs.)
Week 10: at Pittsburgh (Mon.)
Week 11: Cincinnati
Week 12: Denver
Week 13: Carolina
Week 14: at Cleveland
Week 15: at Oakland
Week 16: Indianapolis
Week 17: at Denver

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- Kansas City opens its 2012 season in Arrowhead Stadium against Atlanta. Then its back-to-back road games in Buffalo and New Orleans before opening divisional play against San Diego at home.

- The Chiefs play both the NFC South and AFC North as its cross-divisonal opponents in 2012. They will play three of their four NFC games in the first six weeks, while three of their four against the AFC North will come in a five-week span from Weeks 10-14. Kansas City's Week 3 trip to New Orleans is the opener of a difficult three-game stretch that also includes consecutive home games against San Diego and Baltimore. The Chiefs also will play the Steelers on Monday night in Week 10 coming off of a Thursday night road game the preceding week in San Diego.

- Kansas City plays San Diego in Week 4 and then doesn't play another AFC West game until Week 8 as Oakland comes to town. Three of the Chargers' final four divisional games are road contests, including trips to Oakland and Denver in Weeks 15 and 17.

- The Chiefs are on bye in Week 7, meaning they will play 10 straight games when they return to the field. Half of the Chiefs' 10 games after the bye are divisional match ups with their AFC West rivals, starting with back-to-back games against Oakland and at San Diego in Weeks 8 and 9.

- Kansas City's floating games are at Buffalo in Week 2 and against Indianapolis in Week 16. The home date against the Colts comes at a good time, as it will break up the Chiefs' final two divisional games —at Oakland and at Denver.

Fantasy Focus: Jamaal Charles finished second in the NFL in rushing in 2010 with 1,467 yards and was third in fantasy points among running backs. Charles tore his ACL in the first game of the 2011 season, but is expected to be healthy and ready to go in Week 1 of this season. Kansas City also added former Cleveland Brown running back Peyton Hillis, who was second in fantasy points among running backs in 2011, to its backfield during the offseason. Whether it's Charles or Hillis, whoever emerges as the primary ball-carrier for the Chiefs could be in line for a big season, and it's possible both will be a reliable fantasy option in 2012. Eight of Kansas City's 13 opponents in 2012 ranked among the teams who gave up the most fantasy points to running backs in 2011. Tampa Bay, Carolina, Indianapolis and Buffalo led the way in this category, with Cleveland (7th-most), New Orleans (8th) and AFC West foes Oakland (11th) and Denver (16th) also finishing among the top 16 teams.

— by Mark Ross, published on June 14, 2012

2012 Athlon Sports NFL team-by-team schedule analysis:

AFC East
Buffalo Bills
Miami Dolphins
New England Patriots
New York Jets

AFC North
Baltimore Ravens
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
Pittsburgh Steelers

AFC South
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Jacksonville Jaguars
Tennessee Titans

AFC West
Denver Broncos
Kansas City Chiefs
Oakland Raiders
San Diego Chargers

NFC East
Dallas Cowboys
New York Giants
Philadelphia Eagles
Washington Redskins

NFC North
Chicago Bears
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings

NFC South
Atlanta Falcons
Carolina Panthers
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers

NFC West
Arizona Cardinals
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
St. Louis Rams