2021 Schedule Expansion: 17 Games Now Approved

[Foxx]

Bills to host NFC East opponent when NFL adds a 17th game in 2021

 

... Like other cross-divisional matchups, teams will play the club that finished in the same place as them from the year prior. Buffalo won the AFC East for the first time in 25 seasons, and that could slate a matchup with the Washington Football Team in 2021.

 

Despite a 7-9 record, they won the NFC East.

 

King explains:

 

When the NFL was choosing options, the formula that prevailed—follow me now—was AFC versus NFC, cross-conference matchup from two years ago, 2021 matchup based on 2020 standings. Now that you’re totally confused, here’s an example: The four AFC West teams played the four NFC North teams in 2019. In 2020, Kansas City finished in first place in the AFC West, Green Bay first in the NFC North. So in 2021, it’s AFC West against NFC North, and 1-versus-1 from ’20 becomes Green Bay versus Kansas City.

...

[KD in CA]

Sweet....I'll happily take an extra game vs Washington while other AFC powers are battling the top NFC teams that week.

[4merper4mer]

7 hours ago, KD in CA said:

Sweet....I'll happily take an extra game vs Washington while other AFC powers are battling the top NFC teams that week.

Whoever plays Seattle caught a break too.  They finished first in 2020 but may be worst in 21.  NO is also staring down the v

barrel of a drop off.
 

The whole AFC East plays a bad team. 

Edited March 5, 2021 by 4merper4mer

[Ann]

There are new TV contracts in place. Now they can proceed.



 

[Foxx]

We get 9 home games this year!

https://twitter.com/SharpFootball/status/1372653437645697032

 

[Ann]

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/bepryor/status/1375176941213515784

[Ann]

Report: NFL will require every team to play an overseas “home” game every 8 years
 

With 17-game seasons on the horizon, teams will soon play nine home games every other year. But some of those “home” games will be far from home.
 

Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal reports that the NFL plans to require every team to play a home game outside the United States at least once every eight years, with the home games being given up on a rotating basis starting in 2022.
 

</snip>
 

 

 

[Ann]

From the article...
 

• The 17-game schedule is highly likely in 2021. No surprise there. TV partners and NFL schedulers are working under the assumption that the 17-game schedule (the way was paved for it last March when players approved a new CBA) will debut in 2021.
 

• The league calendar gets pushed back one week, with a likely Feb. 13 Super Bowl in Los Angeles. No extra bye—17 games in 18 weekends. Super Bowl LVI, originally scheduled for Feb. 6, 2022 and airing on NBC, has not been officially moved yet. The league hasn’t said a word about moving the game to officials in Los Angeles. But the NFL won’t start the season on the ratings-quashing Labor Day Weekend, and the league doesn’t want to add an extra regular-season bye week. So that adds up to Feb. 13, which would be the latest Super Bowl in history.
 

</snip>
 

A note about how the league configured the extra game: When the NFL was choosing options, the formula that prevailed—follow me now—was AFC versus NFC, cross-conference matchup from two years ago, 2021 matchup based on 2020 standings. Now that you’re totally confused, here’s an example: The four AFC West teams played the four NFC North teams in 2019. In 2020, Kansas City finished in first place in the AFC West, Green Bay first in the NFC North. So in 2021, it’s AFC West against NFC North, and 1-versus-1 from ‘20 becomes Green Bay versus Kansas City. I will bet you a Kroll’s West cheeseburger with an ice-cold Spotted Cow that the networks will brawl over this ratings-gold game. This game alone is reason enough for the league to rush the 17th game onto the 2021 schedule.
 

</snip>
 

• A Monday night wild-card game? I think it’s somewhere between 50-50 and very likely. Last year, the NFL wouldn’t consider playing one of six wild-card games on Monday night because it would have conflicted with the Jan. 11 college football national title game. The NFL instead played three wild-card games on Saturday and three Sunday in the 2020 season. This season, college football will play the championship game in Indianapolis on Monday night, Jan. 10, 2022. That leaves Jan. 17 as the football-free Monday night of Wild Card Weekend. So the NFL could play two games on Saturday, three on Sunday, and one on Monday. Screaming, of course, will commence about the Monday night winner playing a short-week game the following Sunday. (And the NFL would ensure that the Monday night winner would not play until Sunday of divisional weekend.) Balderdash. With three wild-card games on Saturday, six teams are sure to play a short-week game. With two wild-card games on Saturday and one on Monday, five teams are assured of a short-week game—four on Saturday and Monday’s winner, which would play the following Sunday. If I’m a coach, I’m happy after playing 17 games in 18 weeks to have an extra day of rest before a playoff game. What’s the argument against it?
 

• Hearing it’s most likely to be AFC hosting all 16 newly invented games in 2021. Then NFC teams hosting in 2022. If that’s how it goes, it’s the fairest way. Competitive equity is the key. You don’t want three NFC East teams playing eight at home and the fourth playing nine at home.
 

• Christmas football. Dec. 25 falls on a Saturday, and the NFL is considering playing two games that day. The league was encouraged by the big rating for last season’s Saints-Vikings game (20.1 million viewers on FOX, the highest non-Sunday rating for the network in more than two years), so expanding to two games seems like a good business experiment.
 

</snip>

 

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/FieldYates/status/1376208742098829320

[Ann]

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/A_kamara6/status/1376222776281993219

[Boyst]

2 hours ago, Ann said:

 

 

 

https://twitter.com/A_kamara6/status/1376222776281993219

Maybe he should find other employment. 

[Ann]

 

 

https://twitter.com/TomPelissero/status/1376593864253919235

[Alaska Darin]

18 hours ago, Boyst said:

Maybe he should find other employment. 

He's not wrong.

[Boyst]

43 minutes ago, Alaska Darin said:

He's not wrong.

I don't disagree. But it's for many other reasons than he. 

 

But I'm not sure which part you agree with. The "shit dumb." Or the "as hell?"

 

Shirley he is a studied thespian

 

[Hedge]

 

 

 

 

[KD in CA]

SEA at PIT
LAR at BAL
ARI at CLE
GB at KC
WFT at BUF
NYG at MIA
DAL at NE
NO at TEN
TB at IND

 

No real advantage over NE/Miami, but the East have significantly easier games than the rest of the AFC contenders.

 

I guess we'll all be on the road for the 17th game in 2022.

[Alaska Darin]

On 3/4/2021 at 11:11 PM, KD in CA said:

Sweet....I'll happily take an extra game vs Washington while other AFC powers are battling the top NFC teams that week.

Washington's DLine is legit.  They get to the QB. 

[Ann]

 

https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/1377025956905385985

[Ann]

 

 

https://twitter.com/NFLPA/status/1377023095660290050

[Ann]

 

 

https://twitter.com/TomPelissero/status/1376966110759763968

[Foxx]

15 hours ago, Ann said:

 

 

https://twitter.com/TomPelissero/status/1376966110759763968

One thing not addressed is how the extra game plays out in future matchups with the same division.

 

Example:

Year 1: NFC East @ Home

 Year 2: NFC West @ Away

Year3: NFC South @ Home

Year4: NFC North @ Away

Year5: NFC East @ ?

 

Would we again get the NFC East at home and never have to play them at their homes? Same with the respective pairings or would we have to play back to back 9 game away seasons followed by back to back 9 game home seasons every 4 years? Seems to me they would have to rotate the home games for divisional games to be fair.