Breaking down the schedule

In fantasy football, we have learned time and time again it's not so much how your team plays but how your opponent does. Some of us have learned this the hard way. Well, one of us.

With that in mind- the addition of two teams adds a new wrinkle this year- an unbalanced schedule. 14 weeks of a regular season balanced out perfectly in an 8 team league, but 10 makes it a little tougher- as a team will play just 5 of their 9 competitors twice. So who got the short end of the stick? There's no real way to rate the schedules objectively yet, so we'll just lump the teams into three groups based on tenure in the league, and owner's past performances.

It's an inexact science, as Viano and Gun's schedules seem easier because they don't have to play themselves, and the expansions will seem harder for the same reason. Still, here goes:

Toughest Luck:

JR
Teams played 2x: Viano, Gun, Ed, Stem, Lincoln
Worst Bye week: 5, missing Trent Green, Tony Gonzalez, Tiki Barber (opponent: Gun)

Drew
Teams played 2x: Viano, Gun, Ed, Stem, Baron
Worst Bye week: 8, missing Edgerrin James, Curtis Martin, Warrick Dunn, Alge Crumpler (opponent: Champ)

Can't really complain:

Ed
Teams played 2x: Gun, JR, Drew, Champ, Baron
Worst Bye week: 10, missing LaDanian Tomlinson, Rudi Johnson, Chad Johnson (opponent: Gun)

LaTomke
Teams played 2x: Viano, Gun, Champ, Lincoln, Baron
Worst Bye week: 4, missing Thomas Jones, Marty Booker, Lee Suggs, Braylon Edwards (you'll see)

Baron
Teams played 2x: Gun, Ed, Stem, Drew, LaTomke
Worst Bye week: 9, missing Marc Bulger and Mike Anderson, plus 3 bench players (opponent: Viano)

Champ
Teams played 2x: Viano, Ed, Lincoln, Stem, LaTomke
Worst Bye week: 5, missing Kerry Collins, Randy Moss, Jeremy Shockey (opponent: Ed)

Lincoln
Teams played 2x: Viano, JR, Stem, Champ, LaTomke
Worst Bye week: 6, missing Donovan McNabb and Anquan Boldin (opponent: Ed)

No excuses:

Gun
Teams played 2x: Ed, JR, Drew, Baron, LaTomke
Worst Bye week: 9, missing Willis MaGahee, Steven Jackson, Torry Holt (opponent: Stem)

Viano
Teams played 2x: JR, Champ, Drew, Lincoln, LaTomke
Worst Bye week: 8, missing Petyton Manning and Darrell Jackson (opponent: Gun)

Stem
Teams played 2x: JR, Drew, Lincoln, Champ, Baron
Worst Bye week: 5, missing LaMont Jordan, Jerry Porter, Plaxico Buress (opponent: Lincoln)