Commanders 2022 schedule: A breakdown outside of the NFC East

The NFL schedule is a well oiled machine. The NFC East has very similar schedules each year which make up their 17 games. Yesterday we got a chance to dive into the Washington Commanders’ 2022 schedule within the NFC East. That will make up six of their games in 2022.

Eight of the remaining 11 games will be against each team in the NFC North and AFC South. Every other team in the NFC East will play against those eight teams as well. The remaining three games are where the Commanders’ opponents differ from their NFC East counterparts. To learn more about how these games are determined check out this article.

Examining the Commanders out-of-division- 2022 schedule

Here is a look at every every NFL team’s win total for 2022 according to our friends over at WynnBET.

This is much better predictor of strength of schedule than a teams record the previous year because it accounts for teams offseason moves.

The NFL does a great job of providing league parity with their schedule making, just ask the NFC East. There has not been a single repeat winner in the NFC East since the Eagles won it four straight years from 2001-2004. A big reason for this is the three distinct games on each teams schedule that vary based on your finish in the division, as discussed on the previous page.

The Commanders opponents average win total, outside of the division, is a fairly weak 7.85 projected wins. The Cowboys, coming off a division title, will face much tougher opponents outside of the division with their foes owning an average win total of 8.7 projected wins. This difference in strength of schedule comes from those three straggler games that differ for each NFC East team. The difference between the Cowboys having to play the Rams, the Bengals, and the Buccaneers, whereas the Commanders face the 49ers, the Browns, and the Falcons, could be critical in determining which team has a better record in 2022.

Last year the Commanders were coming off a division title in 2020 and therefore had to play the Bills and Packers, both of whom finished first in their respective divisions that same year.  Meanwhile, the Eagles, who finished last in the NFC East in 2020, did not play the Packers or the Bills and instead faced the Lions and the Jets. The Eagles would go 2-0 on those two games, while Washington went 0-2 in theirs. This spelled the difference between the 7-10 record the Commanders ended the 2021 regular season with, and the 9-8 record Philadelphia achieved.