NFL Schedule Idea

[incognito_man]

Just now, Malfatron said:

16 is divisible by way more

so while 14 is better than 17, 16 is clearly superior.

as is 8 divisions compared to 6.

as is 4 teams per divison compared to either 4 or 5, depending on division 

32 teams

16 games

8 divisions

4 conf finalists

2 conferences

1 super bowl winners

 

it was perfect.

but no, someone wanted a gotdamn prime number of 17 games!

16 was perfect. But could see 17 with two byes being ok. Or even 18, to induce more parity, you can schedule NFC like seeds vs AFC like seeds (either 1, 2 or 3) to get to 17, 18 or 19 games. Would result in far more inter-conference rivalries and epic mid-season matchups. Would also make previous years winners have harder and harder schedules to boost turnover.

[Malfatron]

Just now, incognito_man said:

16 was perfect. But could see 17 with two byes being ok. Or even 18, to induce more parity, you can schedule NFC like seeds vs AFC like seeds (either 1, 2 or 3) to get to 17, 18 or 19 games. Would result in far more inter-conference rivalries and epic mid-season matchups. Would also make previous years winners have harder and harder schedules to boost turnover.

19 games??

[JAF-N72EX]

1 hour ago, incognito_man said:

We're not even to page two yet. Give me a chance

Fair warning. You have to reset team logos, time zones, and ozone layers to get on pf9's level of realignment lol.

1 hour ago, Malfatron said:

it was perfect.

but no, someone wanted a gotdamn prime number of 17 games!

Yep. 32 teams w/ 16 games each made perfect sense.  But money overrules logic in business I guess.

 

[JAF-N72EX]

4 hours ago, incognito_man said:

(1) Reduce the pre-season by 2 weeks.

I would be fine with this (although I still think 3 weeks is better but I wouldn't go ape over 2 weeks either).

I honestly think they're already leaning more towards this anyhow, and even used this years 3 week preseason and 2020 without any as sort of a test subject to get feedback on how it affected the game, coaches, players, staff, etc.  I have nothing to back this up. It's just my thought.  But they have been pushing for this for years now and COVID has ironically put them into a position to where they can get more creative and test different ideas in the guise of "safety first" (like the NFL does regularly) without any of the PR backlash they may have received otherwise under normal circumstances.

 

4 hours ago, incognito_man said:

(2) Give every team two bye weeks in-season (lengthens regular season by 1 week)

I also agree with this, and I also think this is in the works as well. The players are gonna start revolting if they have to play more games while also being expected to not only stay healthy enough to get paid in the short term but also stay healthy enough to play long enough to be eligible to receive benefits after football. Especially since they added an additional post season game on top of it. Right now it seems like a transition phase where every party is still trying adapt and balance everything but I fully expect this to come up at some point during a owner/union meeting sooner than later. If it hasn't already.

Something tells me they are prepping for another 2 team expansion. But once again, this is just my thought and I have no facts to back up this claim. It just seems like they are heading in that direction and adding two more teams means more players health that will eventually lead to 34 teams, 17 games, and 2 bye weeks.

 

4 hours ago, incognito_man said:

(3) Have a 1 week break after regular season for ALL playoff teams. Expand to 8 teams. Everyone plays a game after off-week.

 I strongly disagree with this proposal on both ends.

One of the rewards for being one of the best teams in the league during the reg season is that your team gets additional rest and you get to skip a week while the bottom teams have to fight for every inch to prove why they belong in the playoffs in the first place. I don't think this should ever go away.

Also, expanding the playoffs to 8 teams would also mean having 50% of league making the playoffs, which would be ridiculous. It's already bad enough now in it's current format with the new rules when a 7-8 win team can easily make the playoffs even if they don't really deserve it. Plus, you were just preaching about the league being watered down, no?  Wouldn't this be considered counterintuitive to what you're aiming for?

[BigTrav]

6 hours ago, incognito_man said:

The product keeps getting watered down with injuries to key players. Adding an extra game and no extra rest will only make this worse. I propose the following changes that will keep the NFL calendar the same start and end dates:

(1) Reduce the pre-season by 2 weeks.

(2) Give every team two bye weeks in-season (lengthens regular season by 1 week)

(3) Have a 1 week break after regular season for ALL playoff teams. Expand to 8 teams. Everyone plays a game after off-week.

This will add 2 extra playoff games and remove 32 pre-season games, keep the overall league calendar the same, and give playoff teams 2 extra bye weeks to be healthier for playoff football. It does water down the playoffs, however. An alternative would be to give top seeds 2 weeks off after regular season.

possibly the best proposal I’ve seen on here 

[incognito_man]

10 hours ago, JAF-N72EX said:

Also, expanding the playoffs to 8 teams would also mean having 50% of league making the playoffs, which would be ridiculous. It's already bad enough now in it's current format with the new rules when a 7-8 win team can easily make the playoffs even if they don't really deserve it. Plus, you were just preaching about the league being watered down, no?  Wouldn't this be considered counterintuitive to what you're aiming for?

I also suggested an alternative for playoffs: Could do a week off for everyone, then have 3v6 and 4v5 in wild card (reduce playoff teams again) OR have a bye for everyone and do 2v7, 3v6, 4v5 in wild card (top seed gets 2 weeks off) OR could do bye week for everyone and then 1v8, 2v7, 3v6, 4v5 in wild card round.

I made an observation that injuries water down the product, I don't have a strong opinion on 6,7, or 8 teams in the playoffs. Could do something like:

*Play-in Week: 8 seed vs 5 seed, 6 seed vs 7 seed. All wild card teams. The 4 division champs get a bye

*Wild card Week: 3 seed vs lowest remaining WC, 4 seed vs highest remaining WC. Top 2 seeds get another bye

*Divisional Week: 1 seed vs lowest remaining, 2 seed vs highest remaining.

This would still keep the total schedule in the same time-frame. Could even eliminate off-week between championship games and Super Bowl Sunday with the addition of an extra in-season bye week for all teams and seeds 3 and 4 get 1 week off after regular season and seeds 1 and 2 get two weeks off.

[MWil23]

Why we can't have a system with 2 bye weeks now with every team playing a Thursday night game coming off of one of those byes is truly beyond me. It's more weeks of revenue/TV for the league.

[NeptunePenguins]

The NFL seems to put money first, and then likely player safety as another important factor. Although, I do hate the 17th game myself due to the uneven math with it, but I suppose the average person won't care too much. I do agree two byes might be decent though.