NFL (2024 Season)

[thspfc]

I don't get it. Why have another game that throws off the home/away balance?

[Big John]

I don't get it. Why have another game that throws off the home/away balance?

$$$

[webny99]

My guess is that it would alternate with all NFC teams being home one year and all AFC teams the next, so that teams within a conference competing for wildcard spots are all playing the same number of home games.

Not sure how it would work for home vs. away, but it would be the opposite conference team from the division your team hasn't seen for two years and won't see for two more. Sounds complicated, but using the Bills as an example:
They faced the NFC East in 2019 and won't again until 2023. So in 2021, they are two years away from any regularly scheduled games against the NFC East. As last year's division winner, they'll play Washington, while the Dolphins will play the Giants, the Pats will play the Cowboys, and the Jets will play the Eagles.

(Ironically, the last-place matchup whipped up on the first-place matchup in the 2019 regular season games. The Eagles beat the Bills 31-13 (it was the Bills only loss all season by more than a touchdown), while the Jets beat the Redskins 34-17.)

I don't mind an extra week of NFL action, but I'm not a fan of an odd number of games.

[Henry]

Don't be surprised if calls for an 18-game season come to be. Frankly, I see nothing wrong with the current 16 games; why fix something that isn't broken? It's just change for the sake of change.

[NWI_Irish96]

Don't be surprised if calls for an 18-game season come to be. Frankly, I see nothing wrong with the current 16 games; why fix something that isn't broken? It's just change for the sake of change.

If they wanted more TV money, they could have just added a second bye for every team and still get 18 weeks worth of games.

[jmacswimmer]

Let's not forget the NFL's other motivation both for adding a 17th game and the new 7th seeds this year (allowing for 6 wild-card games):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcrRl9CgaVw

[1995hoo]

Don't be surprised if calls for an 18-game season come to be. Frankly, I see nothing wrong with the current 16 games; why fix something that isn't broken? It's just change for the sake of change.

If they wanted more TV money, they could have just added a second bye for every team and still get 18 weeks worth of games.

They did that in 1993 and it was a flop. Apparently most of the teams felt having two weeks off was too disruptive. The only other time they've played over 18 weeks was unplanned but entirely understandable (2001).

[webny99]

If they wanted more TV money, they could have just added a second bye for every team and still get 18 weeks worth of games.

They did that in 1993 and it was a flop. Apparently most of the teams felt having two weeks off was too disruptive. The only other time they've played over 18 weeks was unplanned but entirely understandable (2001).

Also, adding an extra bye week wouldn't increase the total number of games. In an 18 week season, the byes could be spread out over 14 weeks at most. At least 4 teams per week would be on bye for nearly the entire season, and timing two byes for each team would make the schedule even more complicated than it already is.

[Big John]

The NFL ownership wanted an 18-game season, bur the players union objected that plan.  So the compromise was to make it a 17-team season.

[DandyDan]

Don't be surprised if calls for an 18-game season come to be. Frankly, I see nothing wrong with the current 16 games; why fix something that isn't broken? It's just change for the sake of change.

If they wanted more TV money, they could have just added a second bye for every team and still get 18 weeks worth of games.

They did that in 1993 and it was a flop. Apparently most of the teams felt having two weeks off was too disruptive. The only other time they've played over 18 weeks was unplanned but entirely understandable (2001).

I remember that and I remember them saying that, but one thing I don't recall anyone ever saying is that every team had both their byes in the first half of the season. I thought it was poorly executed. If they had a bye somewhere in the first 9 weeks and another in the second 9 weeks, it would work out better.

[thspfc]

Byes need to be restructured. It's been extremely obvious for a while now that a late bye provides a massive advantage over teams that had early byes. This year, the Bucs had a week 13 bye. Last year's Chiefs had a week 12 bye. The 2018 Patriots had a week 11 bye. No Super Bowl champion has had a bye earlier than week 9 since 2015. If it was me, I would just give every team the same week off in the middle of the season, like maybe the second weekend of November. But that's never going to happen, so they can at least condense the range of byes. Instead of from week 4 to week 13, it could be from week 7 to week 10.

[NWI_Irish96]

They're never going to give more than 4 teams a bye during the same week or else the slate of games gets thin, but they could implement a rule whereby you must alternate between early and late byes every other season.

[webny99]

Four teams per week requires at least eight weeks. However, it's not unheard of for six teams to be on bye at once. This year, weeks 8 and 11 (IIRC) were scheduled with six teams off before that had to be reshuffled due to COVID.

I'd do it as follows:

Week 6: 4 teams
Week 7: 6 teams
Week 8: 6 teams
Week 9: 6 teams
Week 10: 6 teams
Week 11: 4 teams

I'd actually prefer Weeks 7-12, but Thanksgiving is usually Week 12, and all teams have to play that week, so you'd have to bump some teams to Week 13, giving them a two-week advantage over the other teams.

[webny99]

JJ Watt was released by the Texans on Friday and... the Bills make a ton of sense as a potential landing spot?

[tchafe1978]

JJ Watt was released by the Texans on Friday and... the Bills make a ton of sense as a potential landing spot?

A lot of speculation has him going to the Packers. The Packers are his home state team, and it fits and area of need for the team. Question is, what will his price be, and will the team be able to fit him in under the salary cap? One other much talked about team for him is the Steelers, obviously because both of his brothers play for the Steelers. But the thought also is he wants a chance at a Super Bowl, and the Packers are probably closer to being a Super Bowl team than the Steelers.

[thspfc]

I don't understand the love for JJ Watt as a free agent. He was 56th in sacks last year. The Texans' defense was horrible all around, and their pass rush was dead last. He uses the media to rip on his teammates, because apparently he doesn't want to handle it himself, or he's not successful. Point is, he's going to be paid a lot more money than he's worth as a player.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Packers and Steelers will have to do some cap gymnastics to make Watt work. The Dolphins, 49ers, and Cardinals might be more feasible from that standpoint.

[webny99]

Carson Wentz traded to the Colts, a trade many expected, for a third round pick and a second round pick. The second rounder becomes a first rounder if: Wentz plays at least 75% of snaps in 2021 or he plays at least 70% and the Colts make the playoffs.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/why-the-eagles-had-to-get-rid-of-wentz-and-the-colts-had-to-take-a-chance-on-him/

[kevinb1994]

Looks like the Browns didn't realize that Watt wasn't headed there. D'oh!

Good on the Cardinals' part. I'll be rooting for them.

As for the Texans...

[CoreySamson]

As for the Texans...

...they could go 0-16 next year if Watson leaves.

[Alps]

Looks like the Browns didn't realize that Watt wasn't headed there. D'oh!

Good on the Cardinals' part. I'll be rooting for them.

As for the Texans...

I won't, but I'll be rooting for Watt to have a healthy season to see what he can still do. Dude's legendary.

[NWI_Irish96]

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2021/02/28/nfl-17-game-schedule-zach-wilson-fmia-peter-king/

Details confirming how the 17th game is going to work:

Teams will play a team from the opposite conference that finished in the same place in their division. The division matchups for the 17th game will be the same as the whole-division matchups from 2019:
NFC North vs AFC West
NFC South vs AFC South
NFC East vs AFC East
NFC West vs AFC North

The AFC teams will host all games this year, with the NFC teams all hosting next year. This ensures that teams competing for wild card spots and division winner seeding within each conference all played the same number of home games. I have seen a couple other article indicating that all of these games will be played the last week of the season, but this source does not specify that.

[jeffandnicole]

...I have seen a couple other article indicating that all of these games will be played the last week of the season, but this source does not specify that.

For the 2021 season, that may be the easiest way to incorporate it into the schedule, as it's very likely the schedule for the 16 week season has already been determined.  It could also have come down to stadium availability for what will be the 17th week, with AFC teams winning out.

[webny99]

...I have seen a couple other article indicating that all of these games will be played the last week of the season, but this source does not specify that.

For the 2021 season, that may be the easiest way to incorporate it into the schedule, as it's very likely the schedule for the 16 week season has already been determined.  It could also have come down to stadium availability for what will be the 17th week, with AFC teams winning out.

Doesn't the schedule usually come out in April or May? I'd be surprised if it's mostly done already, and equally surprised if the extra games are played the last week. Chiefs-Packers is one of the extra games, and the league isn't going to want to see backups in that one.

[Big John]

^^  A few years ago, the NFL started to make the final week of the regular season all divisional games in order to try to make those games more intriguing.  The NFL seem to like this policy, since they followed it the last few years. So I don't see week 18 being the extra games.