10 Contenders Sure to Get off to Rocky Starts in 2016

Not every contending team can be the New England Patriots.

Sans Tom Brady, the Patriots just started the 2016 season winners with Jimmy Garoppolo under center, besting a Super Bowl hopeful in the Arizona Cardinals 23-21.

One can almost feel the envy of other contenders in the air.

It's not so easy for contenders in any sport. Whether new personnel needs time to mesh properly or a brutal schedule awaits, several would-be contenders must weather early-season storms to prevent their campaigns from running off the tracks. 

Within, let's look at several contenders across multiple sports facing tough starts.

Carolina Panthers

Super Bowl hangover? The Carolina Panthers have already reinforced this idea.

Cam Newton and the Panthers couldn't take down the Denver Broncos to start the season, losing 21-20 to a Trevor Siemian-led team while Newton threw for only 194 yards.

That was a brutal start, and it doesn't get wildly easier. The Panthers play the San Francisco 49ers in Week 2, a team that just blew away the Los Angeles Rams. As far as nonconference opponents go over the first half of the season, the Minnesota Vikings and Cardinals boast elite defenses sure to fluster.

Carolina also has to deal with three NFC South opponents over the first half of the season, two on the road. In theory, Carolina should handle all three, but the team did drop a game to the Atlanta Falcons last year.

The Panthers will make the playoffs this year and disrupt the title outlook again, but the first six to eight weeks of the season aren't kind, and it'll show on the field.

Detroit Red Wings

Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

The Detroit Red Wings have made 25 playoff appearances in a row and counting, but that doesn't mean things will be smooth for the team out of the gates this season.

Though the streak is impressive, the Red Wings don't roster one superstar player anymore, especially not after the departure of Pavel Datsyuk. That lack of star power, alongside needing to work in new guys such as Thomas Vanek and Steve Ott, suggest early-season growing pains to start the lengthy campaign.

Even worse? The Red Wings have to undergo these changes on the ice against fellow Atlantic Division foes such as the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers on the road to start the season—the two teams that finished in front of Detroit last year. Tampa Bay has eliminated the Red Wings from the playoffs two years and running.

Those in charge of the schedule knew exactly what they were doing, leaving Detroit in a tough spot.

Toronto Raptors

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

It has been mostly good news surrounding the Toronto Raptors for a long stretch.

The team lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers, sure, but it picked up two wins while dealing with injuries and has its sights set on an even better finish this year after getting DeMar DeRozan back.

But October and November don't look like kind months.

Here are a few notables the Raptors have to deal with over the first month and change:

• Cleveland Cavaliers (twice)
• Detroit Pistons
• Washington Wizards
• Miami Heat
• Oklahoma City Thunder
• Golden State Warriors
• Los Angeles Clippers
• Houston Rockets

Call it a trial by fire. The Raptors will even out and join the playoffs once again, but recall the team started 7-6 last year thanks to a tough stretch. It looks like more of the same this year while the gang gets back on the same page.

Atlanta Falcons

The Atlanta Falcons sit tied for the toughest schedule in the NFL this year.

No surprise here, then—the Falcons started the season with a loss, a 31-24 affair against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in which the defense coughed up four passing touchdowns to Jameis Winston and Devonta Freeman rushed 11 times for 20 yards.

It's a terrible omen, to say the least.

With Julio Jones already dealing with a nagging injury, the Falcons have to face the Oakland Raiders, New Orleans Saints, Panthers, Broncos and Seattle Seahawks in the coming weeks, not to mention the Green Bay Packers in Week 8.

Atlanta fancies itself a contender and has built up the offense around Matt Ryan like so. But last year's 8-8 mark and the tough schedule ahead reinforce the notion the rest of the NFC South has already passed the team by.

Nashville Predators

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

P.K. Subban's arrival on the Nashville Predators has plenty of hype around the team, especially after it won its first playoff series since 2011-12 last year.

It will be interesting to see how long it will take for Subban to mesh with players such as Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm in an offensive-minded scheme. Netminder Pekka Rinne is still one of the best in the game, too.

Subban fitting in with the team, though, might take some time. The early schedule isn't kind at all. In order, Nashville has to deal with the Chicago Blackhawks twice, the Dallas Stars, the Red Wings, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Anaheim Ducks.

The Predators could turn out even better than last year with Subban on board, but the early results won't show it in dominant fashion.

Seattle Seahawks

The Seahawks would have made this list even before a miserable Week 1 performance and Russell Wilson's injury.

Seattle sits tied for the fifth-toughest schedule in the league. Week 1 wasn't supposed to be a contributing factor to that, but the Seahawks stumbled to a 12-10 victory against the Miami Dolphins, for a while there looking like the biggest upset victim of the week.

According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Wilson isn't a sure thing for Week 2. Bad news ahead of a Week 5 bye considering the schedule reads Los Angeles, San Francisco and the New York Jets. Those first two sound simple, but keep in mind the Seahawks dropped both games against the Rams last year.

An iffy start has been a staple of these Seahawks for the past few years. In 2014, Seattle came out of the gates 3-3; in 2015, 2-4.

An injury and shoddy opening performance suggest it's more of the same for the Seahawks this year.

Atlanta Hawks

Gerald Herbert/Associated Press

The Atlanta Hawks hope the homecoming of Dwight Howard leads to more than the 48 wins tallied last year and avoids a sweep at the hands of the Cavaliers in the conference semifinals.

It might, but the Hawks walked a weird line between rebuild and wanting to contend, losing Jeff Teague and Al Horford and handing the keys to the offense over to Dennis Schroder.

Schroder was solid last year, averaging 11.0 points and 4.4 assists per game, but the 22-year-old guard will have an adjustment period, even more so while working in a new starting center.

Over the first month of the season, the Hawks have to deal with teams such as Washington, Houston, Cleveland, Miami and Golden State, among others. Slogging through the schedule while trying to build chemistry and finding the right rotations will take time.

Indianapolis Colts

The Indianapolis Colts get labeled as contenders every year because of a notable starting quarterback in Andrew Luck and a weak AFC South division.

Problems exist, though. For one, the division keeps getting better, with the Houston Texans leading the way, the Jacksonville Jaguars looking better and the Tennessee Titans boasting Marcus Mariota. Two, the front office isn't doing much to help Luck.

The Colts went out and lost the first game of the season, a 39-35 shootout with the Detroit Lions. Luck threw four touchdowns, but even linebacker D'Qwell Jackson admitted the defense "played like s--t and we have to play better,” according to ESPN.com's Mike Wells.

In other words, the same problem the Colts have had for years. A big problem given a schedule through Week 8 that includes Denver, the San Diego Chargers, Jacksonville, Houston, Tennessee and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Keep in mind the Colts split the season series against both Houston and Jacksonville last year, so a rough start seems like a guarantee.

Miami Heat

Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

The Heat stand as one of the more perplexing cases of "what if?" going into next season.

On paper, the Heat could contend even without Dwyane Wade so long as the core of Goran Dragic, Chris Bosh and Hassan Whiteside all suit up.

But it's hard to tell if Bosh will play at all next season. If not, it's even harder to tell what the front office will want to do from a roster standpoint.

Granted, Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald notes "growing optimism" Bosh will play next year. But even then, breaking in a lineup with Josh Richardson and Dion Waiters instead of Wade won't be simple, not to mention Richardson suffered an injury.

San Antonio, Toronto, Oklahoma City, Atlanta, Washington, Detroit, Memphis and Boston, among others, await the new-look Heat over the first month and change of the season. There's little doubt the Heat can make the playoffs, but the first few weeks won't look so hot.

Oklahoma City Thunder

Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press

Most knew this was coming, right?

The Oklahoma City Thunder have popped up on this list often as a tough opponent for other contenders, so the inverse applies, with the Thunder's early schedule looking rough.

More important, though, is the absence of one Kevin Durant and how the Thunder adapt. The plan, at least right now, is Ersan Ilyasova at small forward while the new-look backcourt of Russell Westbrook and Victor Oladipo do the heavy lifting.

It's a rough plan, to say the least. There's scoring potential, and Enes Kanter and Steven Adams can bang on the glass, but the Western Conference won't take it easy on the Thunder, a team with a target on its back for years.

On a season-encompassing note, ESPN.com's Bradford Doolittle revealed the team ranks sixth in air miles and dead last in games with two or more days of rest.

That brutal schedule starts in November with a Los Angeles Clippers-Golden State-Minnesota-Miami-Toronto-Clippers stretch and doesn't let up.

Replacing Durant effectively needs to happen fast.