NFL moving towards a 17 game schedule.

[JediXMan]

Also preseason would be only 3 games. 

 

So how do they decide the extra game every team gets? Just keep it at 16 lol.

 

 

 

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-moving-toward-17-game-regular-season-for-2021-with-plans-to-reduce-preseason-per-report/

[DoubleE Colt]

7 minutes ago, JediXMan said:

Also preseason would be only 3 games. 

 

So how do they decide the extra game every team gets? Just keep it at 16 lol.

 

 

 

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-moving-toward-17-game-regular-season-for-2021-with-plans-to-reduce-preseason-per-report/

I believe the idea is the each teams extra game will be against the team in the same position in the equivalent conference.....so for example next year the Colts would play the second placed team in last season's NFC South...so the Bucs

[JediXMan]

27 minutes ago, DoubleE Colt said:

I believe the idea is the each teams extra game will be against the team in the same position in the equivalent conference.....so for example next year the Colts would play the second placed team in last season's NFC South...so the Bucs

Damn Colts got a tough schedule (Titans, Ravens, LAR, Bucs, Seahawks).

[buccolts]

41 minutes ago, DoubleE Colt said:

I believe the idea is the each teams extra game will be against the team in the same position in the equivalent conference.....so for example next year the Colts would play the second placed team in last season's NFC South...so the Bucs

Which wouldn't work since we'd play that division every 4 years. Not sure they'd have us play a non-conference team twice in a season.

[DoubleE Colt]

1 hour ago, buccolts said:

Which wouldn't work since we'd play that division every 4 years. Not sure they'd have us play a non-conference team twice in a season.

Nothing is official yet so obviously things to sort out still but that seemed to be the most popular option on table from reports. How they sort out home or away needs to be decided too and as you say every 4 years we'd come across the issue of meeting that conference twice. Whatever happens it seems to be a 17th game is inevitable at this point.

[chad72]

2 hours ago, buccolts said:

Which wouldn't work since we'd play that division every 4 years. Not sure they'd have us play a non-conference team twice in a season.

 

We played NFC East in 2018, NFC South in 2019, NFC North in 2020, and will play NFC West in 2021.

 

Since we will play NFC East again in 2022 (Wentz vs Eagles in 2nd year, like Luck vs Peyton in 2nd year, like Brady vs Pats in 2nd year as a Buc, fascinating ), they will choose the division that we played either last year or the year before. So logically, NFC South makes sense based on the above chronology so that you never play the same NFC intra conference opponent more than twice in 2 years for the 17th game, ever. So most likely, we will play the Bucs.

 

Then, it will go on rotation to NFC North, then NFC West, then NFC East just for the 17th game. Does that make sense? That would mean Bucs in 2021, Bears in 2022, Rams in 2023, Giants in 2024, with the assumption they are all #2 in their division and us, for clarification. We will always be 2 years removed from playing that entire division and 2 years away from playing that entire division again from which we will have the intra conference opponent.

[chad72]

23 minutes ago, DoubleE Colt said:

Nothing is official yet so obviously things to sort out still but that seemed to be the most popular option on table from reports. How they sort out home or away needs to be decided too and as you say every 4 years we'd come across the issue of meeting that conference twice. Whatever happens it seems to be a 17th game is inevitable at this point.

 

See my post above for the 17th game rotation, it is never the same NFC division.

[PuntersArePeopleToo]

5 hours ago, DoubleE Colt said:

Nothing is official yet so obviously things to sort out still but that seemed to be the most popular option on table from reports. How they sort out home or away needs to be decided too and as you say every 4 years we'd come across the issue of meeting that conference twice. Whatever happens it seems to be a 17th game is inevitable at this point.

Some of what I have heard is that they would do AFC one year, NFC the next, that way they would stay consistent and it is easier to predict. So most likely the Colts would get the NFC South in 2021 and NFC North in 2022.  

[coltsva]

Thinking way out of the box:

 

Keep the season at 16 games.

 

Top 8 in each conference make the playoffs for Super Bowl.

 

Bottom 8 in each conference have a playoff for draft position. This adds 15 games to the schedule (as opposed to 16 with a 17 game schedule). It also eliminates tanking and gives all non-playoff teams a chance to improve their draft position by winning, not losing. It provides incentive for teams out of the playoff race to win their remaining regular season games, since the better record you finish with, the lower seed you play in the first round of the "draft position playoff."

[2006Coltsbestever]

18 hours ago, JediXMan said:

Damn Colts got a tough schedule (Titans, Ravens, LAR, Bucs, Seahawks).

Going into last season it was just as tough and everyone in here was saying that = Titans twice, Ravens, Packers, Steelers, and at the time everyone thought the Vikings were going to be good. Because we went 11-5 some in here said our schedule was weak. Since I have been a member in here that has been the narrative for some when we win 10 or 11 games, saying that we played nobody. I expect the same again if we go 11-5, or 11-6 if we play 17.

 

I don't like the idea of a 17 games season, 16 is a lot and more than enough. I am ok with the 7 playoff teams though upgraded from 6. That insures no 11-5 team will get left out. Also with a 17 game season, single season records won't mean the same. 17 games makes it easier to break records like Dickerson's rushing yards in a season and Peyton's passing yards and TD's in a season.

 

 

[BlackTiger]

56 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

Because we went 11-5 some in here said our schedule was weak.

The colts did rank 32nd in SOS.  Two games against Jacksonville will do that, we were low on the list and that week 16 game dropped it to the bottom. 

[2006Coltsbestever]

Just now, BlackTiger said:

The colts did rank 32nd in SOS.  Two games against Jacksonville will do that, we were low on the list and that week 16 game dropped it to the bottom. 

SOS is overrated because we played Jacks twice and the Texans twice they were a combined 6-26, so 12-52. Very deceiving. This seems to happen a lot with us, we always play at least 4 or 5 teams that are good-great every year in reality. 

[BlackTiger]

2 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

SOS is overrated because we played Jacks twice and the Texans twice they were a combined 6-26, so 12-52. Very deceiving. This seems to happen a lot with us, we always play at least 4 or 5 teams that are good-great every year in reality. 

It seems to me that one or more teams in this division are bottom feeders every year.  I'm not sure if that is common around the league.  I do think we played a below average schedule though, but dead last might be a bit misleading.  

[2006Coltsbestever]

Just now, BlackTiger said:

It seems to me that one or more teams in this division are bottom feeders every year.  I'm not sure if that is common around the league.  I do think we played a below average schedule though, but dead last might be a bit misleading.  

I don't know, we played the Titans twice, Ravens, atSteelers, atBrowns, and Packers. That is 6 tough games right there. My point to my initial post was Jedi saying we had a tough schedule, so what if the Jags and Texans stink again and our SOS is anywhere from 28-32 which could be possible? Almost everyone in here before last season was saying we had a tough schedule. We win 11 games and people say it was weak. This happens every year in here. 

[BlackTiger]

22 minutes ago, 2006Coltsbestever said:

I don't know, we played the Titans twice, Ravens, atSteelers, atBrowns, and Packers. That is 6 tough games right there. My point to my initial post was Jedi saying we had a tough schedule, so what if the Jags and Texans stink again and our SOS is anywhere from 28-32 which could be possible? Almost everyone in here before last season was saying we had a tough schedule. We win 11 games and people say it was weak. This happens every year in here. 

I don't think sos is perfect but i believe some merit is there.  It might be better if they didn't go by pure record, but instead how many good, bad and average teams we played.  A 1-32 ranking is probably too misleading, it should be tough, average and light

 

That way it would not sink to last just by being in the division with a 1-15 team.  The schedule wasn't a cake walk like you pointed out.

 

As for next year the Jaguars are hard to predict, Houston is in the running for worst in the league right now

[2006Coltsbestever]

10 minutes ago, BlackTiger said:

I don't think sos is perfect but i believe some merit is there.  It might be better if they didn't go by pure record, but instead how many good, bad and average teams we played.  A 1-32 ranking is probably too misleading, it should be tough, average and light

 

That way it would not sink to last just by being in the division with a 1-15 team.  The schedule wasn't a cake walk like you pointed out.

 

As for next year the Jaguars are hard to predict, Houston is in the running for worst in the league right now

I agree, all it takes is, a team that plays 3 games/teams that stink as in a 1-15 team twice, and a 4-12 team for example than SOS is skewed. If you took the Jags and Texans out of our schedule, our SOS would've been much better.

[Chrisaaron1023]

The 17th game really throws a random wrench into everything.. lol 16 is enough

[Arodgers12]

Maybe we will get to play you guys next year for our 17th game?

[jvan1973]

3 hours ago, Arodgers12 said:

Maybe we will get to play you guys next year for our 17th game?

You guys won the division

[NewColtsFan]

By the SOS metric, the NFL says our 2021 schedule is the 5th easiest.   I got this yesterday on NFL. Com. 

[crazycolt1]

7 hours ago, NewColtsFan said:

By the SOS metric, the NFL says our 2021 schedule is the 5th easiest.   I got this yesterday on NFL. Com. 

The thing is those rankings normally change quite a bit especially after a few games into the next season. 

Personally I don't put much into it because no matter who we play we have to beat them. 

Just saying. 

[bababooey]

Wish they’d just institute a second bye week for every team and stretch the season to 18 weeks. I don’t like the fact that a lot of records are going to be broken because of it.

[RollerColt]

On 2/25/2021 at 7:09 AM, bababooey said:

Wish they’d just institute a second bye week for every team and stretch the season to 18 weeks. I don’t like the fact that a lot of records are going to be broken because of it.

Yep. It will also undervalue future record holders with the whole "yeah, but..." arguments. 

[ReMeDy]

On 2/25/2021 at 7:09 AM, bababooey said:

Wish they’d just institute a second bye week for every team and stretch the season to 18 weeks. I don’t like the fact that a lot of records are going to be broken because of it.

 

NFL is like, "Quick guys, Tom Brady might retire soon! Let's get him to take advantage of this quick!"

[FortheWin]

On 2/24/2021 at 10:31 AM, Arodgers12 said:

Maybe we will get to play you guys next year for our 17th game?

You are getting the Chiefs. Dynamite match up.

[FortheWin]

On 2/25/2021 at 7:09 AM, bababooey said:

Wish they’d just institute a second bye week for every team and stretch the season to 18 weeks. I don’t like the fact that a lot of records are going to be broken because of it.

I am not sure about that. The extra week also means more of a chance for injury and also teams resting their starters for multiple games to preserve them for the post-season. I think it may be time to just go to a 16 team post-season and get rid of the first round bye altogether. 

[Myles]

On 3/1/2021 at 12:50 PM, RollerColt said:

Yep. It will also undervalue future record holders with the whole "yeah, but..." arguments. 

Yep, records will fall in the coming years.  Single season records won't stand a chance.   Yards, TD's and everything else.  Watson, Mahomes and possibly Brady would have all thrown for over 5000 yards last season.  Only 8 QB's have ever thrown for over 5000 yards and now it'll happen to a few every year.  

[craigerb]

On 2/24/2021 at 5:18 AM, BlackTiger said:

The colts did rank 32nd in SOS.  Two games against Jacksonville will do that, we were low on the list and that week 16 game dropped it to the bottom. 

Remember we lost one of the Jax games.

[BlackTiger]

18 minutes ago, craigerb said:

Remember we lost one of the Jax games.

Oh I remember, it was their only win of the year.  I think our game plan was pretty bad in that one, they have a weak run defense and Colts should have stuck with it even after Mack went out.  They kept throwing it like they were playing from behind.

 

This season showed we can beat some of the best and lose to the worst.

[Myles]

On 2/24/2021 at 8:21 AM, 2006Coltsbestever said:

SOS is overrated because we played Jacks twice and the Texans twice they were a combined 6-26, so 12-52. Very deceiving. This seems to happen a lot with us, we always play at least 4 or 5 teams that are good-great every year in reality. 

I also think it is flawed because it doesn't take into account division games.  Jax is a tougher game for the Colts because Jax is knowledgeable about the Colts.  If the Raiders did not play KC twice a year, I don't think they would have beat the Chiefs.  Division games are different.  

[PuntersArePeopleToo]

1 hour ago, Myles said:

I also think it is flawed because it doesn't take into account division games.  Jax is a tougher game for the Colts because Jax is knowledgeable about the Colts.  If the Raiders did not play KC twice a year, I don't think they would have beat the Chiefs.  Division games are different.  

That is what I was going to say. Divisional games you throw out the records just since they see each other way more often. SOS formula should take in to account divisional games as being more difficult if they want it to be more reflective

[Myles]

14 hours ago, PuntersArePeopleToo said:

That is what I was going to say. Divisional games you throw out the records just since they see each other way more often. SOS formula should take in to account divisional games as being more difficult if they want it to be more reflective

Yes.   The Jax loss should hurt the Colts SOS quite a bit, but not as much as it currently does.  

[lollygagger8]

This seems like a dumb money grab to try and make up for them losing money last season 

[DeathByEagle]

1 hour ago, lollygagger8 said:

This seems like a dumb money grab to try and make up for them losing money last season 

This was approved last year before they lost the fans in the stands. 

 

For season ticket holders like myself, this is a great thing. the 4th preseason game is worthless and season ticketholders are forced to pay for all preseason games. This now takes away 1 preseason game every other year and adds a meaningful game. As a season ticketholder I think this is a move in the right direction and would like to see this go to 18 games and only 2 preseason games which is the rumor that the NFL is looking to go to in the next CBA. 

[crazycolt1]

On 3/1/2021 at 12:50 PM, RollerColt said:

Yep. It will also undervalue future record holders with the whole "yeah, but..." arguments. 

The season used to be 12 games. Not too many fans add a "yeah, but" in todays arguments. 

Just saying. 

1947-1960  12 games

1961-1977  14 games

1978 to present  16 games

My main concern is the injury factor?  Most of the time the teams that have less injuries are the ones who do better in the playoffs. Injuries play a huge factor for every team. 

Doing away with one pre season game does not help in that regard. All pre season games do is help reduce the roster down from 90 to 53 plus a 10 man practice squad. Those same results could be gotten with team scrimmages. Pre season games are played to make money for the NFL, not much of anything else. 

[DeathByEagle]

17 minutes ago, crazycolt1 said:

The season used to be 12 games. Not too many fans add a "yeah, but" in todays arguments. 

Just saying. 

1947-1960  12 games

1961-1977  14 games

1978 to present  16 games

My main concern is the injury factor?  Most of the time the teams that have less injuries are the ones who do better in the playoffs. Injuries play a huge factor for every team. 

Doing away with one pre season game does not help in that regard. All pre season games do is help reduce the roster down from 90 to 53 plus a 10 man practice squad. Those same results could be gotten with team scrimmages. Pre season games are played to make money for the NFL, not much of anything else. 

Preseason is more for building your final few players on the roster and making those final decisions on trades, cuts, FA pick ups, who to put on the practice squad or who to pick up from other teams PS/cuts. Now 5-10+ years ago iwas was much more meaningful.  The standard was always that the starters would play 1 Q the first game, 2Q the second, 3Q the third, then rest for the 4th. Now most of the time/teams rest the starters for all the preseason and might play then 1Q for a few games. However most of your top playoff teams will stick with the old standard. Playing your starters does help with getting in sync(esp the Oline), even helps with injuries. I was a player, nothing helped me more to prepare my body for full 100% contact then preseason and working my way up. Practices can help but now a lot of teams wont even have contact in practice. This I feel drives more soft issue injuries now. 

 

The NFL and the teams dont make as much money as you think on Pre Season games. yes they get the season ticket holders money(my money). But in most cases the stadiums are only 50-75% full in the first few games and extremely empty on on the 4th game. They lose a ton of money on preseason not having the fans there to buy merch, food, drinks, parking etc. The NFL would much rather it be a meaningful game that fans would make the effort to go and stay. 

 

 

[crazycolt1]

1 hour ago, DeathByEagle said:

Preseason is more for building your final few players on the roster and making those final decisions on trades, cuts, FA pick ups, who to put on the practice squad or who to pick up from other teams PS/cuts. Now 5-10+ years ago iwas was much more meaningful.  The standard was always that the starters would play 1 Q the first game, 2Q the second, 3Q the third, then rest for the 4th. Now most of the time/teams rest the starters for all the preseason and might play then 1Q for a few games. However most of your top playoff teams will stick with the old standard. Playing your starters does help with getting in sync(esp the Oline), even helps with injuries. I was a player, nothing helped me more to prepare my body for full 100% contact then preseason and working my way up. Practices can help but now a lot of teams wont even have contact in practice. This I feel drives more soft issue injuries now. 

 

The NFL and the teams dont make as much money as you think on Pre Season games. yes they get the season ticket holders money(my money). But in most cases the stadiums are only 50-75% full in the first few games and extremely empty on on the 4th game. They lose a ton of money on preseason not having the fans there to buy merch, food, drinks, parking etc. The NFL would much rather it be a meaningful game that fans would make the effort to go and stay. 

 

 

The local businesses are the ones who don't make as much money but the NFL are paid by the networks. (that includes preseason games)

Not making as much money on pre season games does not mean they are losing money. 

 

[DeathByEagle]

8 minutes ago, crazycolt1 said:

The local businesses are the ones who don't make as much money but the NFL are paid by the networks. (that includes preseason games)

Not making as much money on pre season games does not mean they are losing money. 

 

In a business sense yes it does mean you are losing money when you know you can gain more profits by changing the preseason game to a regular season game. It is the main reason they made the change. 

[crazycolt1]

46 minutes ago, DeathByEagle said:

In a business sense yes it does mean you are losing money when you know you can gain more profits by changing the preseason game to a regular season game. It is the main reason they made the change. 

I do believe the networks and the payments to the NFL will not be increasing. 

The fan base and the viewership have been going down for the last few years. Thus the advertising money will not have the return as much as in the past. 

Like it or not a large portion of the NFL fans are turning away for various reasons. 

I myself do not even listen to a NFL game no longer. I watch but without sound. Thus negating what the advertisers are trying to accomplish. I have lifelong NFL friends who don't even follow the game any longer. 

What is happening to the NBA is slowly happening to the NFL. 

 

[DeathByEagle]

17 hours ago, crazycolt1 said:

I do believe the networks and the payments to the NFL will not be increasing. 

The fan base and the viewership have been going down for the last few years. Thus the advertising money will not have the return as much as in the past. 

Like it or not a large portion of the NFL fans are turning away for various reasons. 

I myself do not even listen to a NFL game no longer. I watch but without sound. Thus negating what the advertisers are trying to accomplish. I have lifelong NFL friends who don't even follow the game any longer. 

What is happening to the NBA is slowly happening to the NFL. 

 

I guess it depends on your area. Im in South Jersey, Eagles country. I've been a Eagles season ticket holder over 25 years after the game was done with me. I played for a Div 1 school, then extremely short time in the NFL as a Safety. This area is Eagles 24/7. Even now during offseason. People will watch the Sixers or Flyers. But all the talk all year is still the Eagles. That is honestly one of only two reasons I stay in this area. The passion and love for the Eagles in this area that never dies and the food(Cheesesteaks, Pizza, Calzones, etc. yes believe it or not Im still kinda of skinny, lol. 

 

I know people who go to the games in my sections and people when watching at home that will have head phones on and listen to our local sports radio broadcast on 94.1 during the game to get Merrill Reese's commentary instead of the TV or even the loud fans in the stands. So similar to what you might do.  In Philly you cant get tickets unless your a season ticket holder or buy them on the secondary market for double the price min. The wait list is over 70 years to get season tickets, only behind Green bay.  So Id have to disagree. I dont see the NFL slowly dying just yet. At least not in this area. I could see it in areas like LA, Vegas, some of the Florida market etc because the fan base is not as passionate or loyal to one sport over all the others. I think the pandemic of course doesnt help but I know as soon as they allow full stadiums, at least in Philly it will be jammed packed. Parties will be on the rise again etc.