Ever wonder why almost all schedules end in an even number? Probably not since it is fairly self-explanatory. Just in case you don’t understand, here’s the deal. If thre are an even number of games, teams are at home half the time and on the road for the rest. No one can complain about an unfair advantage when it comes to scheduling, at least in theory.
Of course, the NFL is not so smart. They already started forcing teams to play random “home” games in far flung locations. That’s pretty bad, but the introduction of the 17-game NFL schedule will make it look like small potatoes in comparison.
According to media reports, teams will have nine home games and eight road games one year with those numbers flipped in the following year. An unbalanced schedule, what could possibly go wrong?
The 17th game conundrum
Imagine you have two NFC teams with 10-7 records (that will take some time to get used to) that play in different divisions. Team A had nine home games while team B in our scenario had only eight games at home. They didn’t play head-to-head, so it goes into the NFL’s myriad of other tiebreakers.
The third tiebreaker after record in head-to-head and divisional play is best record in games played against the same opponents. Since the teams didn’t play each other and had the same record in divisional contests, we jump to the third tiebreaker. Let’s say our hypothetical NFC teams had the Lions, Browns and Patriots as common opponents and they both went 2-1 during those games.
Well, that 2-1 record isn’t exactly the same if team B played two road games and team A only had one. It doesn’t matter though and the next tiebreaker is best conference record and for this example we’ll say team A held the tiebreaker and advanced to the playoffs. Clearly team B is going to have some serious gripes about the fact they had to play an extra road game during the season.
Some teams will always get some breaks when it comes to scheduling. However, the 16-game schedule is at least balanced. There can be no complaints about the structure. The 17th game is going to gum up the works as coaches and players bemoan the fact they went on the road for an extra game.
Hell, teams already complain incessantly about having to play on Thursday and how it puts them at a competitive disadvantage. You can amplify that by 20 once that 17th game is enacted.
It’s hard to see a solution where this doesn’t end with teams moaning a ton about having to go on the road an extra time. And no, getting an extra home game the following year won’t make up for it. Not that the NFL owners care about any of this. They get more cash, game be damned.
