Gang Green Nation
Let’s be honest. The addition hasn’t been very exciting.
When the NFL expanded the regular season from 16 to 17 games in 2021, the possibilities were endless.
A 32 team league divided into two conferences and eight divisions was configured perfectly for a 16 game season. Every team played both home and away against the other teams in its division. Then games against every team from one division in each conference. Finally teams played a game against the two other teams from their own conference who finished in the same spot in the divisional standings the year before.
All of the bases were covered by the 16 game schedule. This meant the 17th game could be anything the league imagined.
What we got was the least inspired formula imaginable. The matchup for the 17th game pits each team with an opponent from a predetermined division in the opposite conference who finished in the same spot in the standings the previous year.
In 2024, the AFC East was matched up with the NFC North. Because the Jets and Vikings both finished in third place in 2023, they played that 17th game.
In 2025, the AFC East is matched up with the NFC East. The Jets draw the Dallas Cowboys since both teams finished in third place in 2024.
It’s tough to believe this was the best the NFL could do.
Surely there are ways the extra regular season game can be used to add excitement to the schedule. Here are two ideas.
I don’t think there’s any reason there needs to be a formula to determine the opponent for the extra game. The formula makes plenty of sense for the other 16 games.
The league should use the extra game to schedule matchups the fans want to see.
Jets-Giants, Rams-Chargers, Ravens-Commanders, Steelers-Eagles, Dolphins-Buccaneers, and many other AFC-NFC geographic rivalries are only played once every four years. These matchups could be scheduled with much more frequency.
It wouldn’t need to only be geographic rivalries, though. The league could ensure there is a Super Bowl rematch every season.
The last couple of years, Jets-Giants could have been skipped to produce a Jets-Packers and allowed Aaron Rodgers to face his old team.
One of the issues of having an odd number of games in the regular season is it produces an imbalance of home and road games. With a 17 game schedule, half the league gets 9 home games while the other half gets 8.
The NFL has addressed this by giving all AFC teams 9 home games in odd numbered years and all NFC teams 9 home games in even numbered years.
I suggest a different solution. Give every team 8 home games, 8 true road games, and 1 neutral site game each year.
The league currently plays a number of games abroad each season as part of its International Series. In each of those games, one of the...
