Opponents for the 2013 Falcons' regular-season schedule have been confirmed by the NFL.
Each season, six of the Falcons' 16 games consist of division foes Carolina, New Orleans and Tampa Bay (facing each once at home and once on the road). The other 10 games, which include matchups against 4 of the 8 NFL division champions in 2012, were determined by a pre-set League scheduling formula.
The home slate is highlighted by matchups with the AFC East champion New England Patriots and the NFC East champion Washington Redskins.
The road schedule features two trips to the west coast to face San Francisco and Arizona, as well as a visit to Lambeau Field to battle the NFC North Champion Green Bay Packers.
Atlanta's 2013 regular season schedule is comprised of the following opponents:
HOME
Carolina Panthers
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
St. Louis Rams
Seattle Seahawks
New England Patriots
New York Jets
Washington
AWAY
Carolina Panthers
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Arizona Cardinals
San Francisco 49ers
Buffalo Bills
Miami Dolphins
Green Bay Packers
The schedule rotation adopted during the 2002 NFL divisional realignment created the formula that lays out the slate of games for each team every year. The NFL made slight tweaks to the 11-year-old rotational format over the past three seasons to limit the amount of cross-country travel a single team endures in a given season.
Though future schedules expect to remain consistent with the on-going NFL rotation format, opponents for NFL teams beyond 2013 have not been confirmed by the League.
The NFL announces specific dates and times for each team's 16-game schedule some time in April.
The website JohnnyRoadTrip.com has compiled all 32 NFL teams' schedules, including unofficial speculation on schedules beyond the 2013 season.
