scar988 Posted October 16, 2020 Share Posted October 16, 2020 1 hour ago, pf9 said: Right now the Cowboys are the only Dallas team not to have a regional rival in their division. The Stars have the Predators. The Rangers have the Astros. The Mavericks have four regional rivals in their division. Plus if the NFL really feels the need to schedule a division rival for Dallas on Thanksgiving, then the Cowboys shouldn't share a division with teams from the Northeast. It just doesn't make sense. Their division rivals should all be in the Deep South - the Falcons, Saints, and Buccaneers. If this alignment had been in place, surely the Bucs would be going to Dallas on Thanksgiving this year, given they signed the popular Tom Brady. The NFL has always been weird with geography at least since the 1950s. In the first two years of that decade, a defunct team located in NYC shared a division with teams from the Midwest and California rather than other teams in the Northeast. Then the Baltimore Colts were placed in the Western Conference despite being on the East Coast, and the Cardinals (then in Chicago, later in St. Louis) were in the Eastern Conference despite being in the Central Time Zone. By 1961, there was an even split of Eastern time teams and non-Eastern time teams in the NFL, but despite this Baltimore and Detroit were still in the West and Dallas and St. Louis in the East. By the end of the 1960s, the West added a third Eastern time team, Atlanta, and New Orleans became the third non-Eastern time team in the East. After the merger, Dallas and the Cardinals shared a division with teams from the Northeast, while the West had two teams in the Deep South. Things kept getting crazy. The Bucs were first in the AFC West then in the NFC Central, the Colts remained in the AFC East despite moving to Indianapolis, and the Cardinals remained in the NFC East despite moving to Arizona. Jacksonville and the Baltimore Ravens both began in the AFC Central despite being on the East Coast, while the Panthers were in the NFC West. Some of these problems were corrected in 2002. However, there were still some anomalies. Miami, the southernmost NFL team, remained in the AFC East far removed from the division's Northeastern teams. Indianapolis, a Midwestern team, was placed in the AFC South. St. Louis, further east than Dallas at the time, remained in the NFC West, which only began to make sense again once they returned to LA. And Kansas City remained in the AFL/AFC West despite Houston being slightly further west. MLB has it right, the Royals are part of the AL Central, and the Astros are part of the AL West. I mean it's OK to be divided into "American" and "National" Conferences like MLB is (with their components called "Leagues"), but the divisions need to be completely geographically accurate like MLB's are. I mean, losing old rivalries would be tough. But in time, you'll create new ones. The only thing I disagree with is the Buccaneers being deep south. Tampa is below the Yankee line. They're more Florida retirement yankees than actual southerners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DigInBoys Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 (edited) I think all things considered the NFC is ok as is. Dallas in the NFC East is the glaring problem, but as mentioned earlier there's too much money in having them play NYG, WSH, and Phil multiple times a year(all huge markets etc.). Besides, where else are they going to go? NFC West and South have teams that should all be there. AFC is a bit of a mess. Miami makes no sense. AFC South should be Miami, Houston, Tennessee, Jacksonville AFC East: New England, NYJ, Baltimore, Buffalo AFC North: Pitt, Cin, Clev, Indianapolis AFC East: Same Baltimore shouldn't be in the south. It's the in same greater metro as DC and no one considers DC the south. Of course, there's a possibility some or all of Buffalo, Jacksonville, and Cincinnati move within the next 10 years or so there's that. Edited October 17, 2020 by DigInBoys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bananabucket Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 6 hours ago, kingseanjohn said: As a KC fan I'd miss the old rivalries. But six games a year versus the Bengals, Browns, and Colts... Yeah cuz the Chargers/Broncos/Raiders is so overwhelmingly difficult Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kael Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 4 minutes ago, bananabucket said: Yeah cuz the Chargers/Broncos/Raiders is so overwhelmingly difficult To be fair, they just lost to the Raiders. They also had to go to overtime to win against the Chargers, who started a rookie QB, in his first start, who didn't know he was starting until kickoff. No matter how good one AFC west team is, the division is always sketchy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pf9 Posted October 17, 2020 Author Share Posted October 17, 2020 While losing the Northeast teams as rivals would suck for Cowboys fans, in time they'd come to regard ATL, NO and TB as huge rivals. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammymvpknight Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 4 hours ago, scar988 said: I mean, if you want to get real freaky with it, I'd do this: NFC East: Carolina Panthers, New York Giants, Washington FT, Philadelphia Eagles (Mid-Atlantic teams) NFC South: Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints (Deep South teams) NFC North: Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings (Perfect as is) NFC West: Arizona Cardinals, L.A. Rams, S.F. 49ers, Seattle Seahawks (Perfect as is) AFC East: Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills (moves Ravens back to where they should be) AFC South: Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (The FLORIDA Division) AFC North: Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers (The North with the Colts in the right spot) AFC West: Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, L.A. Chargers (Perfect as is) I’d love these divisions. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DigInBoys Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 I do agree, If you could somehow convince the NFL to take Dallas out of the NFC East, short of doing a major realignment where your swapping teams between conferences the only logical move would be to swap them with Carolina. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scar988 Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 1 hour ago, sammymvpknight said: I’d love these divisions. Me too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blkwdw13 Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 17 hours ago, scar988 said: I mean, if you want to get real freaky with it, I'd do this: NFC East: Carolina Panthers, New York Giants, Washington FT, Philadelphia Eagles (Mid-Atlantic teams) NFC South: Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints (Deep South teams) NFC North: Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings (Perfect as is) NFC West: Arizona Cardinals, L.A. Rams, S.F. 49ers, Seattle Seahawks (Perfect as is) AFC East: Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills (moves Ravens back to where they should be) AFC South: Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (The FLORIDA Division) AFC North: Indianapolis Colts, Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers (The North with the Colts in the right spot) AFC West: Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, Las Vegas Raiders, L.A. Chargers (Perfect as is) I like these also but the only change I would make and just for geographical reasons would be to switch Atlanta and Tennessee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matts4313 Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 22 hours ago, Split the Sticks said: As long as their is an NFL you will never get Dallas out of the NFCE. Never ever. Your other proposals deserve merit but I don't see this happening. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Agreed 22 hours ago, Danger said: NFC East fans: "But mah history" Its not just history. Its market share and ratings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pf9 Posted October 17, 2020 Author Share Posted October 17, 2020 From a logistics standpoint, Dallas being with Atlanta, New Orleans and Tampa Bay makes more sense in cases where the NFL wants to schedule a division opponent for the Cowboys on Thanksgiving. After all, the Lions share a division with Midwestern teams. So there's no real good reason why Dallas shouldn't share a division with Southern teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawgX Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 Swap Dallas for Carolina. Put Baltimore in the East, Indy in the North, and Miami in the South. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWATcha Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 5 hours ago, blkwdw13 said: I like these also but the only change I would make and just for geographical reasons would be to switch Atlanta and Tennessee. No. Can't split ATL and NO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blkwdw13 Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 1 minute ago, SWATcha said: No. Can't split ATL and NO. Yes you can, if you can split Baltimore/Pittsburgh or Dallas/NYG/Philly then you can split up New Orleans/Atlanta. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWATcha Posted October 17, 2020 Share Posted October 17, 2020 53 minutes ago, blkwdw13 said: Yes you can, if you can split Baltimore/Pittsburgh or Dallas/NYG/Philly then you can split up New Orleans/Atlanta. Nope. Can't do it. Some rivalries you just can't split. Bears/Packers. Saints/Falcons. Might be a couple others (Eagles/Giants? Steeler/Browns?) but those are the 2 that come to mind as long standing, deep hated rivals. The teams hate each other, the fans hate each other. Just too good a rivalry to split up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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