Has the Broncos’ Bye Week Been Neutralized?

I was taking another peek at the Denver Broncos 2008 schedule and noticed something I hadn’t seen yet - the games around the bye week. Normally a team would prefer to have their toughest game the week after the bye, with a nice breather of a game right before.

The Broncos have the exact opposite going on.

Week 7 - October 20 - at New England Patriots 6:30 PM
Week 8 - BYE
Week 9 - November 2 - Miami Dolphins 2:05 PM

Nothing to write home about, but it’s worth noting nonetheless. Having a generally tough game before and a generally easy game after wouldn’t even be worth mentioning. It’s just oddly ironic that THE toughest game on the schedule comes the week before the bye, and THE easiest game comes the week after.