Later today, the NFL will reportedly unveil the 2012 preseason schedule. The 49ers will almost assuredly face the San Diego Chargers once again. In years past the 49ers have faced the Raiders each preseason, but after the nonsense from last year's game at Candlestick Park, Jed York recommended the series be postponed for some period of time. We'll have to wait and see what that means for the 49ers 2012 preseason schedule.
The full NFL schedule will likely be released approximately two weeks from now. The NFL Draft is the week after that, so the league will likely be looking to stretch out the news a bit longer. The league really has turned the slow leak of news into an art form. You can just look at yesterday's Nike uniform release to see the NFL work its magic. The buzz was higher than most anything else this week.
Over at NFL.com, Elliot Harrison put together a breakdown of the top twelve games to look forward to in the 2012 NFL regular season. He ranks the 49ers at the Saints as No. 6 and the 49ers versus the Giants as No. 1. He makes a good point as to whether the 49ers defense will be able to shut down the Saints offense on the Superdome turf. The 49ers defense did great things on a variety of surfaces, but that will be a stiff challenge for even the best of defenses. I've got to think both 49ers-Saints and 49ers-Giants end up on primetime in 2012.