If defenses play this year anything like they played last year, it's a safe bet Philadelphia and Carolina will finish with better passing numbers than Tennessee. The Eagles and Panthers will play their 16 games collectively against opponents that allowed over 6,000 more passing yards last year than the 16 teams that will play the Titans.

I posted the Strength of Schedule data for rushing yesterday. Now I'll turn my attention to passing.

This is just like standard Strength of Schedule, only I replace the wins and losses with passing production -- yards and touchdowns. And to combine those two, I use the fantasy scoring system of 6 points for TD passes and 1 point for every 10 passing yards.

This is, of course, based on what defenses did last year. Many defenses will be a lot better or a lot worse, causing teams to rise and fall. The Saints, most notably, can't possibly be anywhere near as bad as last year, when they set an all-time record for most yards allowed.

But when you work your way through this process, the teams that appear to have easy schedules (for passing) seem to be the Eagles, Cowboys, Falcons and Panthers. So, good news for the likes of Romo, Ryan and Newton.

The Titans have the projected hardest schedule, followed by three teams from the AFC North -- Browns, Bengals and Ravens. Lots of good defenses in that division.

Strength of schedule - Passing
YardsTDPPPG
Philadelphia65,90340935.3
Dallas65,33741835.3
Atlanta65,50840735.1
Carolina66,17738434.9
Chicago64,84440034.7
NY Giants63,59841034.5
San Diego63,70940334.3
Seattle65,12137734.3
Washington63,39240534.3
Detroit64,24638934.2
Denver64,17638934.2
NY Jets63,72839234.1
Kansas City62,33240733.9
Arizona63,85337333.7
Green Bay63,68937533.7
San Francisco64,01235833.4
St. Louis63,27536833.3
Tampa Bay62,59937433.2
New Orleans63,14535933.1
Buffalo62,81336233.0
Oakland61,64537933.0
Minnesota61,70537432.9
Houston62,37336232.8
Pittsburgh61,99236832.8
Jacksonville61,52737232.8
Miami62,03735732.6
Indianapolis61,38436632.6
New England60,95036632.4
Baltimore59,70436631.9
Cincinnati60,07335731.8
Cleveland60,53134231.7
Tennessee59,83834431.4

--Ian Allan