18 game schedule?

Originally posted by qnnhan7:
They should keep the 16 game schedule but add more wildcard games and teams

Then technically you'd be looking at 40 teams if you wanted to add more wildcard games... lol

Originally posted by pannin4gold:
Ever since this 18 game schedule was mentioned, I felt it was a bad idea for many reasons. After reading some of your post, I see even more reasons it's a bad idea.

But for me, the thing that bothers me most is that they're messing with demand.

Don't get me wrong, I start counting down the days until week 1 in June, February is the worst month of the year (after the SB) and I actually watch as much pre-season as possible.

BUT, I don't know about everyone else, but because you have to wait and there aren't as many games, each game is like a holiday.

I have die-hard baseball/basketball/hockey fans and the regular season games are usually watched half-hearted. That's why football is America's sport, because it won't let you get board of it and we're GLUED to the F***ing screen for every second of the game because we know what it's like when it's gone.

Not that 18 will be like 40, 82, or 162, but it will delude it a bit. It really will, teams will clinch there spots in playoffs sooner, teams will be eliminated sooner, and the last two weeks of the regular season will be more meaningless than they are now. sure they'll probably bring in more than the last two preseason games, but with all the other possible problems, injuries, player wanting more cash, stats inflation, and adding labor day weekend competition, I just think it's a really risky move by the NFL. And probably, take a year off my life due to two more stressful games a season. Or worse, I'll loose a little interest.

Excellent post, I wish Baseball for starters would cut the season down to 125 or less. So many games it makes each one almost seem unimportant even though in the final standings it can come down to one game. Also, don't like how you play 162 and 30 spring training games and then only 4 teams on each side make the playoffs. Why not make it 6 teams? Basketball is a little better... I could live with them cutting it down a few games but they might be too much with 8 teams on each side getting into the playoffs. Also, don't like how they made the first round 7 games instead of 5 like it use to be. The playoffs are too drug out. Problem on all of this is it comes down to money. Why have 125 games and make it more meaningful when you can have 162? That's a lot of extra money.

As far as football goes I am like you... I miss football and the offseason is too long. Stupid Nascar has like a month break. April's draft is pretty much a 2 day fix for a 6 month long absence. That being said I am not sure I like the idea of cutting it to 2 games and making the season 18 games. Right now I could live with cutting the last pre season game. I might be willing to go 3 pre season games and 17 regular season games. That being said what happens when a team like the Colts wrap every thing up 3 games early now instead of 2 games. People are going to complain just like they do with pre season. Plus all the records.... I know a lot of them got broken when we went from 14 to 16 but if we keep going up the records will become meaningless.

Plus with the 2 game pre season how can these rookies and backups show what they got? With 2 games the starters will probably play 1 half in one and 3 quarters in the other. That's 3 quarters to figure out your backups and which rookies make the team. So you will have to make the team in training camp....without knowing how these guys perform in a game time situation. Bottom line is 18 and 2 or 16 and 4 is the same amount of football so it's not like we get more of it. The off season will be just as long. Not really seeing the reason to mess with all of it. Also, not sure I could live with 2 bye weeks. I could live with just cutting one pre season game and keeping everything else the same.

Hello.

REALIGN THE DIVISIONS AS WELL !
(TWO CONFERENCES - FOUR DIVISIONS OF 8 TEAMS - TOP TEAM RECORD-WISE ADVANCE AS WELL AS THE NEXT 3 = 16 TEAMS IN THE PLAYOFFS)

This is the opposite of what baseball did in 1993/94 when the 100+ wins Giants missed the playoffs - instead of more division champs and the possibility of a weak 9-7 team making the playoffs over a 11-5 team that misses out on the wild card because two other 2nd place teams are 12-4 or have the tie-breaker.


WESTERN CONFERENCE :

PACIFIC DIVISION
Arizona Cardinals
Denver Broncos
Kansas City Chiefs
Oakland Raiders
San Diego Chargers
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
St. Louis Rams

MIDWEST DIVISION
Chicago Bears
Dallas Cowboys
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Minnesota Vikings
Tennessee Titans

EASTERN CONFERENCE :

SOUTHEAST DIVISION
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers
Jacksonville Jaguars
Miami Dolphins
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Washington Redskins

NORTHEAST DIVISION
Buffalo Bills
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
New England Patriots
New York Giants
New York Jets
Philadelphia Eagles
Pittsburgh Steelers

Some old rivalries may suffer (mainly Dallas and their east-coast boyfriends) but NEWER, CLOSER REGIONAL rivalries will develop. The scheduling formula for the 18 game season will be:

- 14 games = against 7 teams in own division (home and away)

- 3 games = against coresponding team in other 3 divisions that finished in the same standing from the previous season (4th place in Pacific Division vs the other 4th place teams in the Midwest, Southeast and Northeast divisions)

- 1 game = free invitational game that will be agreed upon between 2 teams in the time period from after the Super Bowl to the draft (this will allow playoff and Super Bowl rematches, etc)

Now, if you'll all excuse me I'll go and forward this to Commissioner Goodell.

- JedYork

Awful idea. Why? Reasons below.

- Star players would now have even more chance to get injured.
- Rookies and young players trying to prove themselves have even less chance to do so. Think about positional competition. It makes it even harder for coaches to get a better reading on their players. Two games is nothing. I want coaches to have as much game film as possible to make decisions on cuts. I do NOT want them almost entirely relying on practice.
- Teams as a whole have their time to prepare -- and fully condition to game-speed -- cut in half. Do you want to see crap football around the league for several weeks to start the season? Get the heck out of here.

You don't even need any more reasons than this to know it's a horrendous idea. I'm fine with the current setup. We get at least 20 games, including pre-season per year, plus more if our team makes the playoffs. Two more games, just to make money and at the guaranteed expense of players? No. We don't need it.

You KNOW if we have two more games, more guys are going to get hurt. It happens. The thought of MY team losing one our BEST players all because the fans want two more games? I'm not down with that. I don't think we need to be taking that risk.

records won't mean s**t then

Originally posted by BenQ:
records won't mean s**t then

That's what they said when they changed it from 12 and 14 game schedule, too.

Originally posted by defenderDX:

Originally posted by qnnhan7:
They should keep the 16 game schedule but add more wildcard games and teams

Then technically you'd be looking at 40 teams if you wanted to add more wildcard games... lol

Why does it have to be 40 teams...? We're just talking about having more teams to qualified for the wildcards in the playoffs with in the existing 32 teams. Then obviously you will have more games in the playoff at the end of the year.

Originally posted by simplyfloyd:
I personally am not opposed to the idea of an 18 game schedule, and 2 pre-season games. The only area that it seems to have a negative impact is for players like Anthony Dixon who are 6th round picks, or even Phillip Adams. Carson Palmer mentioned it would mean that starters would need those 2 pre-season games to prepare, however It seems it would be more difficult for late round or undrafted players to make the team.

Enjoy!

That's the reason I don't like the idea about 2 preseason game, IMO 3 preseason games are neccesary, even if those games aren't financially convenient...

I vote for a 40 game schedule.

Lets have football year long!!!!

Right after the Superbowl, start the season again.

Originally posted by JedYork:
REALIGN THE DIVISIONS AS WELL !
(TWO CONFERENCES - FOUR DIVISIONS OF 8 TEAMS - TOP TEAM RECORD-WISE ADVANCE AS WELL AS THE NEXT 3 = 16 TEAMS IN THE PLAYOFFS)

This is the opposite of what baseball did in 1993/94 when the 100+ wins Giants missed the playoffs - instead of more division champs and the possibility of a weak 9-7 team making the playoffs over a 11-5 team that misses out on the wild card because two other 2nd place teams are 12-4 or have the tie-breaker.


WESTERN CONFERENCE :

PACIFIC DIVISION
Arizona Cardinals
Denver Broncos
Kansas City Chiefs
Oakland Raiders
San Diego Chargers
San Francisco 49ers
Seattle Seahawks
St. Louis Rams

MIDWEST DIVISION
Chicago Bears
Dallas Cowboys
Detroit Lions
Green Bay Packers
Houston Texans
Indianapolis Colts
Minnesota Vikings
Tennessee Titans

EASTERN CONFERENCE :

SOUTHEAST DIVISION
Atlanta Falcons
Baltimore Ravens
Carolina Panthers
Jacksonville Jaguars
Miami Dolphins
New Orleans Saints
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Washington Redskins

NORTHEAST DIVISION
Buffalo Bills
Cincinnati Bengals
Cleveland Browns
New England Patriots
New York Giants
New York Jets
Philadelphia Eagles
Pittsburgh Steelers

Some old rivalries may suffer (mainly Dallas and their east-coast boyfriends) but NEWER, CLOSER REGIONAL rivalries will develop. The scheduling formula for the 18 game season will be:

- 14 games = against 7 teams in own division (home and away)

- 3 games = against coresponding team in other 3 divisions that finished in the same standing from the previous season (4th place in Pacific Division vs the other 4th place teams in the Midwest, Southeast and Northeast divisions)

- 1 game = free invitational game that will be agreed upon between 2 teams in the time period from after the Super Bowl to the draft (this will allow playoff and Super Bowl rematches, etc)

Now, if you'll all excuse me I'll go and forward this to Commissioner Goodell.

- JedYork

its a terrible idea, but it doesn't matter what we all say, because its gonna happen.