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We've known the opponents since the final whistle of the 2014 season. After a few calculations, we had each team's degree of difficulty as well. Now, a mere four months later, we have in our sweaty, grubby hands the full 2015 NFL schedule.

The hipster crowd finds it fashionable to mock and ridicule the frenzy -- real or imagined -- that has sprouted around the schedule release. So on this fine evening, I'll try to balance the hysteria with seven (somewhat) original and (genuinely, to me) interesting takeaways from Tuesday night's info dump. Come along. ...

Sponsored Content Need NFL tickets? StubHub has them for every 2015 game. NFC East: DAL | NYG | PHL | WAS

NFC North: CHI | DET | GNB | MIN

NFC South: ATL | CAR | NOR | TAM

NFC West: ARZ | SFO | SEA | STL

AFC East: BUF | MIA | NWE | NYJ

AFC North: BAL | CIN | CLE | PIT

AFC South: HOU | IND | JAX | TEN

AFC West: DEN | KAN | OAK | SDG

1. Peyton Manning could become the NFL's passing leader in Week 9, when the Denver Broncos visit the Indianapolis Colts -- the franchise for which he played his first 14 NFL seasons. That can't be an accident, can it?

Here's how it would go: Manning needs 2,148 yards to break Brett Favre's record of 71,838 career passing yards. Since entering the league in 1998, Manning has averaged 272 yards per game. That rate would put him on pace to hit 2,148 for the season against the Colts. (The Broncos have a Week 7 bye.)

The Broncos did make a notable shift away from the passing game at the end of last season, but even if that continues under new coach Gary Kubiak, Manning would still have a chance to break the record in Week 8 with a huge game. If not, at the 248-yard pace he set in the final six games of 2014, he could break it in Week 10 at home against the Kansas City Chiefs.

There are no guarantees, of course. But that it's even a possibility is one of the cooler twists I've seen from the NFL's schedule-makers.

2. Speaking of the Colts, the rematch of the AFC Championship Game -- also known as the "Deflategate" game -- is Week 6 at Lucas Oil Stadium.

We're still, of course, awaiting the result of a doubtlessly exhaustive Ted Wells investigation into what might or might not have happened to the New England Patriots' footballs in that game. But here's what we do know: The league is investigating in part because Colts general manager Ryan Grigson brought the possibility to the attention of officials at the game.

We all know how angry the Patriots are about the accusations; owner Robert Kraft said in January that he expected a league apology if the team is exonerated. How will their presumed animus toward the Colts affect the 2015 rematch? It would be difficult to surpass the success of their previous four games against the Colts, all 40-point efforts won by the Patriots by a combined 189-73 margin.

Here's another bit of history to consider from the Patriots' latest "cheating" scandal:

The New York Jets turned in the Patriots for illegal videotaping in the teams' first meeting in 2007. The Patriots didn't exactly run up the score in the next game, winning 20-10, and for the next three years, the teams split their regular-season series. But overall, the Patriots have defeated the Jets in 11 of 15 regular-season games since "Spygate."

Dolphins fans will get a chance to see Ndamukong Suh at home just twice in the first nine weeks of the season. Steve Mitchell/USA TODAY Sports

3. The Miami Dolphins agreed to give up a home game to play in London, and that decision helped lead to what might be the league's most brutal first-half schedule.

The Dolphins will play seven of their first nine games on the road. Their only games at Sun Life Stadium before Nov. 22 (!) will be in Week 3 against the Buffalo Bills and Week 7 against the Houston Texans. They will finish with five of seven games at home, but it's fair to wonder how big of a hole they'll have to dig out of.

In recent history, at least, the Dolphins have been an average NFL road team. They're 10-14 away from home under coach Joe Philbin; that winning percentage of 41.7 is tied for No. 15 in the league during that span. Since the start of the 2001 season, which is far back as the ESPN Stats & Information database goes, the Dolphins have a 41.1 percent winning percentage away from home, ranking No. 18 overall.

4. The Buffalo Bills will play three of their first five games against teams with more rest than they'll have had, a continuation of a long-term trend I noted last week.

From 2002-14, the Bills played more games against teams coming off either a bye week or a Thursday night game (29) than any other team in the NFL, a competitive imbalance the league hopes to correct with the aid of several researchers from the University at Buffalo.

The Bills' opponents in Week 2 (Patriots) and Week 4 (Giants) will have 10 days of rest following a Thursday night game. Their Week 5 opponent (Tennessee Titans) will be returning from its bye.

The Buffalo researchers also hope to minimize unbalanced concentrations of division games, which could have an inordinate impact on titles, tiebreakers and playoff seeding. The Green Bay Packers have a stretch between Weeks 2 and 9 in which they won't play an NFC North game. Then they'll have four consecutive games against division opponents. As a result, a well-timed or poorly timed injury to a key player could dramatically make an impact on the Packers' fortunes.

5. Three fan bases now know what could be the final NFL games in their cities.

The San Diego Chargers, Oakland Raiders and St. Louis Rams are all candidates to move to Los Angeles as early as 2016. That means the Chargers' final game in San Diego could be Dec. 20 against the Dolphins. Oakland could see its last game Dec. 24 against, in a bit of a twist, the Chargers -- with whom it has proposed a joint stadium in Carson, California. Finally, the Rams' final game in St. Louis could be Dec. 17 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Each team could extend its stay with a home playoff game, of course.

Here's one final, er, note on final games: The last outdoor NFL game in the state of Minnesota could come Dec. 27 against the New York Giants. The Vikings will play this season at the University of Minnesota's outdoor TCF Bank Stadium, but they are scheduled to move into their new indoor stadium for the 2016 season.

6. How to spice up a game with the NFL's two worst teams from 2014? Schedule them in Week 1 and then hope they each draft a quarterback with their top selection.

If it works, the Jameis Winston-led Tampa Bay Buccaneers will host the Marcus Mariota-led Tennessee Titans at Raymond James Stadium. Anticipating that matchup isn't a bad way to spend the summer for the fan bases of franchises that combined for four victories in 2014. According to ESPN Stats & Information, it would be the first time in NFL history that quarterbacks drafted at Nos. 1 and 2 met in the first week of their rookie seasons.

And if either Winston and/or Mariota doesn't play? Ugh. Let's not worry about that quite yet.

7. I'm not a big fan of preseason strength of schedule (SOS) given how often teams' fortunes can change from one season to the next. The SOS can also be skewed by the strength or weakness of a division.

It's no surprise that the Pittsburgh Steelers have the NFL's "toughest" schedule (.578 winning percentage) given they play in an AFC North that sent three teams to the 2014 playoffs.

So does the Steelers' actual schedule match the presumed difficulty of opponents? I don't see many holes in it, starting with a trip to New England to play the Patriots in the annual kickoff game. (The visiting team has lost eight of the past 10 in the series.) The Steelers will also play a brutal stretch of five consecutive games against 2014 playoff teams from Week 12 to Week 16. Three of them are on the road.

For what it's worth, and it appears meaningful for the 2015 Steelers, the team with the toughest preseason SOS has missed the playoffs in six of the past seven seasons. The only team that has advanced against those odds is the 2013 Carolina Panthers. Good night and good luck to everyone involved.