2012 NFL Schedule: Analyzing the Dallas Cowboys' Schedule, Quarter by Quarter

Without question, today marks one of the more exciting days of the year of the NFL off-season: the releasing of the 2012 NFL schedule.

Fans rush to their computers and huddle around their TV sets to find out whom their team will play this year and when they'll be playing on prime-time television.

In the case of the Dallas Cowboys, this year's schedule is going to be a lot of fun. Each NFC East team faces the always-competitive AFC North and the young, up-and-coming NFC South.

The Cowboys are coming off a year where they lost a couple of games which they should've won, and we could've possibly been discussing a different outcome in the order of the East. But it's a new year, with many new players and a lot of story lines for this year's team.

So now let's take a look at what Jason Garrett, Tony Romo and company will be dealing with this season.

1st quarter: Weeks 1-4

(at New York Giants (TNF), at Seattle, vs. Tampa Bay, vs. Chicago (MNF))

No better way to kick off the new season than to face the team that officially ended your season last year, and it's even better if they're the Super Bowl champions. The Cowboys will kick things off on the first game of the year on Sept. 5 against Eli Manning and the Giants.

A rare visit to Seattle will be in the Cowboys' travel plans this year where they face a Seahawks team that isn't near contention for a division title out west, but a young team that could present scary match-ups for Dallas on both sides of the ball.

After starting on the year on the road for two straight games for the second time this year, Dallas opens Cowboys Stadium for the first time of the year against a revamped Bucs team that picked up Vincent Jackson, and can potentially pick up a key player with that No. 5 pick in the first round.

Closing out the first quarter of the year will be a game against the Bears on Monday night, the only Monday game of the year for the 'Boys when they welcome the reunited power-couple of Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall to Texas.

2nd quarter: Weeks 5-9

(BYE, at Baltimore, at Carolina, vs. New York Giants, at Atlanta (SNF))

Good thing the Cowboys have their bye week when they have it, because they have two upcoming road games following for which they're going to have to be fully prepared. After the bye, they'll face the Ravens for the first time since the last game at Texas Stadium and at Baltimore for the first time since the Vinny Testaverde days. Then Dallas travels to Carolina to take on Cam Newton and the upstart Panthers.

Dallas gets their yearly rematch against the Giants in Week 8 as they try to avenge the last time they faced the Giants in Arlington. Note to the 'Boys: If Jason Pierre-Paul is on the field goal team, triple team him. Dallas gets their first of two Sunday Night games in Week 9 against Matt Ryan, Roddy White, Julio Jones and the Falcons. Someone on that secondary better be ready to run all day long.

3rd quarter: Weeks 10-13

(at Philadelphia, vs. Cleveland, vs. Washington (Thanksgiving), vs. Philadelphia (SNF))

The third quarter features two things you'll easily notice: three divisional games, two against Michael Vick and the Eagles with one on Sunday night at home; and a Thanksgiving game against, possibly, Robert Griffin III and the Redskins who look to make some noise themselves.

That three-game stretch at home will be a key stretch with a good chance of putting together three straight wins. But of course, nothing's for sure with Vick and the gang in Philly, and no one has any idea how Washington will do with one of those new quarterbacks. This will probably be the key stretch of the year to watch for any trap games.

4th quarter: Weeks 14-17

(at Cincinnati, vs. Pittsburgh, vs. New Orleans, at Washington)

You talk about a key stretch, look at the quality of opponents that the Cowboys face in the final four games of the year.

The Bengals are bound to be better than last year with Andy Dalton and A.J. Green learning and getting better with a full training camp. But the good side of this is that Dallas has a chance to make a statement near the end of the year with two big-time games against the Steelers and Saints at home.

Then, with the chance of a division title on the line, it'll be huge for tiebreaker purposes when the Cowboys head to D.C. for their Redskins rematch.

Overall, this schedule is perhaps one of the most difficult in recent memory with three of the four AFC North teams making the playoffs last year and of course the level of competitiveness in the NFC East.

The Cowboys are so unpredictable that there's no clear pick on how many wins they'll get this year. They added a few new pieces on defense in Brandon Carr and Dan Connor, and are still in possession of one of the best offenses in the league with Romo at quarterback.

Right now, I'd have to give the Cowboys 9-10 wins this year, depending on what occurs in the draft and how they better themselves.

It should be a fun season, but how do you think the Cowboys will do? Or how do you think your team will do? Put those thoughts down on the comments section.