FanPost

Solving the 17-game NFL schedule...


Hello fellow Dolfans, I hope you're staying safe and sound. Here in Mexico the coronavirus situation is not as dire (not thanks to our idiot president, who is in a state of denial that is almost criminal), but those of us who are able are staying home. And since we need all the distractions we can have, let´s tackle the situation that the NFL will be facing in 2021 and beyond.

First of all, I personally think a 17-game schedule makes absolutely no sense. There was a mathematic beauty in the league distribution: 32 teams, 8 divisions, 16 games. If the league wanted to "have more football", the logical solution was to expand the regular season to 18 weeks, with 2 bye weeks per team (and the league could also have solved the issue concerning the dreaded and hated Thursday games by scheduling two teams coming off a bye).

Since, like it or not, a 17-game season is coming soon, it will be interesting to see how the schedule makers will handle it. I've read in several places that the extra game should/must be an AFC-NFC game to avoid disrupting the conference tiebreakers, and I agree. However, how should the games be determined? My humble idea is, to have a home-and-away series with the team from the other conference/division that finished in the same position as a given team. For example, the Dolphins finished fourth and will play the NFC West, so they would be playing the Cardinals twice (one game at Miami and one at Glendale). The Patriots would play the Niners twice, and so on.

What's your take on this topic? Share your thoughts in the comment section!!!

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of The Phinsider's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan though, which is as important as the views of The Phinsider writers or editors.