All right, so it's not that complicated. The scheduling formula fits on three-fourths of a page in the Record & Fact Book, and it was even shorter than that before the rebirth of the Cleveland Browns gave the league 31 teams.

Essentially, the schedule is designed so that "teams battling for a division title are playing approximately two-thirds of their games against common opponents." Of course, it's also designed to level the playing field just a bit, which explains why the Vikings play the Falcons, 49ers, Broncos and Cowboys in 1999.

	Jon Gruden's Raiders have their work cut out for them.

All in all, the schedule does what's it's designed to do. But that's not to say it's "fair." Every season, there are wide disparities between the strength of opponents from one team to another. Most simply, we can check the "schedule strength" for each team by checking the records compiled in the previous season by each team's opponents.

The addition of Cleveland puts a fly in the ointment, but here we've assumed that the Browns are a 6-10 team, not unreasonable given that the last two expansion teams -- Jacksonville and Carolina -- combined for 11 victories in their first season.

The chart below, then, lists the five teams with the toughest 1999 schedules, based on their opponents records in 1998:

          Avg Opponent
Raiders       .570
Jets          .539
Buccaneers    .539
Broncos       .535
Cardinals     .535

You have to feel for the Raiders ... OK, maybe not. But they're trying to return to their long-ago glory with a pair of quarterbacks named Rich Gannon and Wade Wilson, and they're saddled with the toughest schedule in the league. That's a tough row to hoe.

Once you get past the Raiders, the next four teams are bunched together, to the point where you might as well consider them tied. However, realistically the Bucs probably have the second-toughest schedule in 1999, because they have to play at Seattle, at Oakland, and they've got two games against both Minnesota and Green Bay.

Speaking of Seattle, they're the designated "even steven" team in 1999. They finished 8-8 last year, and their opponents this year finished at exactly .500 last year. Given the presence of Mike Holmgren, you'd have to consider the Seahawks good bets for a two-game improvement and a playoff berth.

Now, what about the flip side of the scheduling coin, the teams who apparently got off easy in 1999? Here are the six teams with the cake schedules, based on 1998 records:

          Avg Opponent
Browns        .395
Bengals       .438
Eagles        .461
Redskins      .469
Titans        .469
Ravens        .469

Looking for a fast mover? How about the Titans, who went 7-5 over their last 12 games in 1998, feature a future star quarterback in Steve McNair, and are blessed with one of the NFL's easier schedules? While the Jaguars are the odds-on favorite to win the AFC Central and the Steelers are likely to rebound from their poor 1998 season, the Titans look like good bets for a wild-card berth.

But of course, the real winners here are the Cleveland Browns. In addition to Tim Couch, they've been gifted with the easiest schedule, by far, in the NFL. They probably won't make the playoffs, but they might well do even better than the 6-10 we've projected for them.

Of course, all these calculations will only take us so far. The Denver Broncos are 26-6 over the last two seasons, which bodes ill for AFC West wannabes like Oakland and Kansas City. But does anyone really think the Broncos are going to win 12 or 13 games with Brian Griese at the helm?

The facts are, great teams won't miss the playoffs because they've got tough schedules, and lousy teams won't make the playoffs because they've got easy schedules. But schedules will determine a few wild-card teams, and perhaps even a division champion or two. That's what "parity" is all about.