Why we play in KC EVERY year ... or at least why it feels that way.

[damj]

I was curious why we've played in KC 3 years in a row and why we played in TEN 3 years in a row from 2019 - 2021.

 

You'll need your thinking caps on for this one.

 

It has to do with how the schedules are structured ... it's based one 8-year and three 6-year cycles that overlap.

 

The 8 year cycle are the NFC games. We rotate NFC divisions over 4 years (North, East, West, South from 2022-2025). We play 2 teams at home and 2 on the road. Over the next 4 years, we play divisions in the same order but switch home and away. Therefore, over an 8 year cycle, we play every NFC team home and away.

 

We play other AFC divisions on a 6 year cycle. (North, West, South from 2022-2024 ... 2 home, 2 away, then switch the next 3 years). Again, we play every non AFC East team home and away over a 6 year cycle.

 

Each year, we play 2 other out of division games against AFC teams who finished the same position (ie; 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th) in the other 2 divisions that we're not playing. These are determined by a six year cycle which are off set by one year:

Out of division game 1:  South,   @North,   West,   @South,   North,     @ West). (2022-2027)

Out of division game 2:  @West,    South,  @North,   West,    @South,   North).  (2022-2027)

 

What ends up happening is a 6 year cycle where we potentially can play 3 games against the same team on the road followed by 3 at home.

 

Against KC, we played them in Buffalo in  2020 when we played the entire AFC west. The next 2 years, we both won or division, so we had @West (KC) in 2021 & 2022. in 2023 we play the entire AFC West, but this time we play in KC. 

 

The good news is that assuming KC and Buffalo keep winning their divisions every year, they have 3 straight in Buffalo (2024-2026).

 

Because of this, we also played @TEN 2019-2021.

 

We've also played @CIN in 2022 & 2023. We'll play them again in CIN in 2024 if we both end up winning our divisions in 2023 (or both 2nd, etc...)

 

There's one additional 8-year cycle which determines the 17th game against another NFC team ... but that's not important.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

Thank the heavens you didn't start singing 'Age of Aquarius'. 🤨

[damj]

1 minute ago, Ridgewaycynic2013 said:

Thank the heavens you didn't start singing 'Age of Aquarius'. 🤨

Damn! You blew my secret. That's my encore! 

[KDIGGZ]

I read that entire thing and I still don't understand why. But I'll play them at Cheektowaga high school if we have to. The Bills won the last 2 of 3 there and the one we lost there was only 13 seconds left

[appoo]

I don’t understand even after reading it (my fault not yours) but i feel better knowing that someone in the community understands why and is ok with it 

[Franco_92]

At this point the explanation has been made here so many times we should probably just make a permanent sticky thread at the top of the forum.

[Warcodered]

Considering how it's gone the last couple of years in the regular season, to keep them humble.

[Franco_92]

Also, this is why we got Pittsburgh in Buffalo in 20, 21 and 22. We didn't notice that though because they were irrelevant 

[Fleezoid]

Seems to me, the 2 years where 2 teams win the division on the non-division years, those 2 games should alternate. 

 

(I know what I'm trying to say, I just hope I said that right)

[damj]

1 minute ago, arcane said:

Also, this is why we got Pittsburgh in Buffalo in 20, 21 and 22. We didn't notice that though because they were irrelevant 

Right, and we don't mind getting 3 home games in a row.

 

Bottom line, the way they set-up the schedules, we'll always get times where we play the same team 3 times in a row at home or on the road. It's not the league deciding it, it happens automatically

[Aussie Joe]

2 minutes ago, arcane said:

Also, this is why we got Pittsburgh in Buffalo in 20, 21 and 22. We didn't notice that though because they were irrelevant 

Yes … now that you mentioned it …there seemed noticeably less attention about this from the Bills fans …

[damj]

4 minutes ago, Fleezoid said:

Seems to me, the 2 years where 2 teams win the division on the non-division years, those 2 games should alternate. 

 

(I know what I'm trying to say, I just hope I said that right)

They can't though, because it would create unequal numbers of home/away games or having teams play two teams from the same division.

[Fleezoid]

5 minutes ago, damj said:

They can't though, because it would create unequal numbers of home/away games or having teams play two teams from the same division.

 

I think I see now. But we all know when it's time for the Bills to get those 2 back to back home games from the same "record" games, we won't have the same record.

[McMuffin]

Yay we get to play in the Annual Arrowhead Invitational 😕

[smuvtalker]

32 minutes ago, McMuffin said:

Yay we get to play in the Annual Arrowhead Invitational 😕

Yeah, regardless of the results, I'm tired of visiting freakin Arrowhead every @#$_ year.

 

 

[BillsfaninChicago]

That makes sense actually. Probably not the exact same system and some of them were playoff games but likely also why we saw a lot of Manning vs Brady games back in the day.

[damj]

11 hours ago, BillsfaninChicago said:

That makes sense actually. Probably not the exact same system and some of them were playoff games but likely also why we saw a lot of Manning vs Brady games back in the day.

I think it's been this way since the league went to 4 divisions of 4 teams each, but you're right ... when teams consistently win their divisions, they'll play each other the next year

[damj]

12 hours ago, smuvtalker said:

Yeah, regardless of the results, I'm tired of visiting freakin Arrowhead every @#$_ year.

 

 

Same here! I'm looking forward to getting them here for 3 years in a row.

[SoCal Deek]

Very impressive, but why do we play in KC every year? 😉

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

15 hours ago, damj said:

They can't though, because it would create unequal numbers of home/away games or having teams play two teams from the same division.

Was just gonna say that…every team needs one home division placement type game and one away one(ignoring the extra nfc game for simplicity)  the years you play a certain entire division you don’t do a division placement game against that division and those divisions rotate.    
 

this year we had division placement games against AFC West and AFC south and next year we have division placement games against the AFC south and AFC north and play the entire AFC West.  
 

the last two seasons we had two division placement games in a row against the AFC west which led to us traveling to kc both times so the division placement stuff lined up right for every team.  

[damj]

57 minutes ago, Generic_Bills_Fan said:

Was just gonna say that…every team needs one home division placement type game and one away one(ignoring the extra nfc game for simplicity)  the years you play a certain entire division you don’t do a division placement game against that division and those divisions rotate.    
 

this year we had division placement games against AFC West and AFC south and next year we have division placement games against the AFC south and AFC north and play the entire AFC West.  
 

the last two seasons we had two division placement games in a row against the AFC west which led to us traveling to kc both times so the division placement stuff lined up right for every team.  

The two division placement games are on the same cycle, but offset by 1 year which is why there is always the possibility of 3 straight at one stadium (assuming both teams end up in the same place in the division).

[Generic_Bills_Fan]

30 minutes ago, damj said:

The two division placement games are on the same cycle, but offset by 1 year which is why there is always the possibility of 3 straight at one stadium (assuming both teams end up in the same place in the division).

Right I thought that would be too confusing to throw in there haha so I focused on why you can get two away division placement games against the same division in a row 😂

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

21 hours ago, damj said:

I was curious why we've played in KC 3 years in a row and why we played in TEN 3 years in a row from 2019 - 2021.

 

You'll need your thinking caps on for this one.

 

It has to do with how the schedules are structured ... it's based one 8-year and three 6-year cycles that overlap.

 

The 8 year cycle are the NFC games. We rotate NFC divisions over 4 years (North, East, West, South from 2022-2025). We play 2 teams at home and 2 on the road. Over the next 4 years, we play divisions in the same order but switch home and away. Therefore, over an 8 year cycle, we play every NFC team home and away.

 

We play other AFC divisions on a 6 year cycle. (North, West, South from 2022-2024 ... 2 home, 2 away, then switch the next 3 years). Again, we play every non AFC East team home and away over a 6 year cycle.

 

Each year, we play 2 other out of division games against AFC teams who finished the same position (ie; 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th) in the other 2 divisions that we're not playing. These are determined by a six year cycle which are off set by one year:

Out of division game 1:  South,   @North,   West,   @South,   North,     @ West). (2022-2027)

Out of division game 2:  @West,    South,  @North,   West,    @South,   North).  (2022-2027)

 

What ends up happening is a 6 year cycle where we potentially can play 3 games against the same team on the road followed by 3 at home.

 

Against KC, we played them in Buffalo in  2020 when we played the entire AFC west. The next 2 years, we both won or division, so we had @West (KC) in 2021 & 2022. in 2023 we play the entire AFC West, but this time we play in KC. 

 

The good news is that assuming KC and Buffalo keep winning their divisions every year, they have 3 straight in Buffalo (2024-2026).

 

Because of this, we also played @TEN 2019-2021.

 

We've also played @CIN in 2022 & 2023. We'll play them again in CIN in 2024 if we both end up winning our divisions in 2023 (or both 2nd, etc...)

 

There's one additional 8-year cycle which determines the 17th game against another NFC team ... but that's not important.

 

There's a simple solution to this Cut Josh Allen!  Then likely will finish in 4th place while KC continues to dominate and win their division.  Then will only face KC every 3rd year when we play the AFC West.

 

Curious did you start a similar thread 10 years ago or so when we faced the Bengals and Jag's close to every year when we were all more often than not finishing in last place?

[RiotAct]

it was hilarious the number of people who were questioning why we’re playing at Arrowhead again, yesterday on facebook when the Bills posted the official slate of opponents for 2023.

 

 

One person even commented: “Why so many NFC games?” 😂

[damj]

1 hour ago, Ed_Formerly_of_Roch said:

 

There's a simple solution to this Cut Josh Allen!  Then likely will finish in 4th place while KC continues to dominate and win their division.  Then will only face KC every 3rd year when we play the AFC West.

 

Curious did you start a similar thread 10 years ago or so when we faced the Bengals and Jag's close to every year when we were all more often than not finishing in last place?

I don't think I did ... but then again I can't remember what I did 10 minutes ago, let alone 10 years ago. I wouldn't put it past me though.

33 minutes ago, RiotAct said:

it was hilarious the number of people who were questioning why we’re playing at Arrowhead again, yesterday on facebook when the Bills posted the official slate of opponents for 2023.

 

 

One person even commented: “Why so many NFC games?” 😂

[The Wiz]

7 hours ago, SoCal Deek said:

Very impressive, but why do we play in KC every year? 😉

[The Wiz]

 

[djp14150]

On 1/9/2023 at 4:44 PM, damj said:

I was curious why we've played in KC 3 years in a row and why we played in TEN 3 years in a row from 2019 - 2021.

 

You'll need your thinking caps on for this one.

 

It has to do with how the schedules are structured ... it's based one 8-year and three 6-year cycles that overlap.

 

The 8 year cycle are the NFC games. We rotate NFC divisions over 4 years (North, East, West, South from 2022-2025). We play 2 teams at home and 2 on the road. Over the next 4 years, we play divisions in the same order but switch home and away. Therefore, over an 8 year cycle, we play every NFC team home and away.

 

We play other AFC divisions on a 6 year cycle. (North, West, South from 2022-2024 ... 2 home, 2 away, then switch the next 3 years). Again, we play every non AFC East team home and away over a 6 year cycle.

 

Each year, we play 2 other out of division games against AFC teams who finished the same position (ie; 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th) in the other 2 divisions that we're not playing. These are determined by a six year cycle which are off set by one year:

Out of division game 1:  South,   @North,   West,   @South,   North,     @ West). (2022-2027)

Out of division game 2:  @West,    South,  @North,   West,    @South,   North).  (2022-2027)

 

What ends up happening is a 6 year cycle where we potentially can play 3 games against the same team on the road followed by 3 at home.

 

Against KC, we played them in Buffalo in  2020 when we played the entire AFC west. The next 2 years, we both won or division, so we had @West (KC) in 2021 & 2022. in 2023 we play the entire AFC West, but this time we play in KC. 

 

The good news is that assuming KC and Buffalo keep winning their divisions every year, they have 3 straight in Buffalo (2024-2026).

 

Because of this, we also played @TEN 2019-2021.

 

We've also played @CIN in 2022 & 2023. We'll play them again in CIN in 2024 if we both end up winning our divisions in 2023 (or both 2nd, etc...)

 

There's one additional 8-year cycle which determines the 17th game against another NFC team ... but that's not important.

Is the world is round too?

 

 

this scheduling formula has bern the same since 2002 4 team divisional 

 

they create 2 team pairs in each division.

in 2010 they reset some team pairs to prevent the issue of both west coadt teams being in a pair.

 

the current team pairs likely won’t get changed until the 2026 season. 2002-2009, 2010-2017,  2018-2025 

 

within conference its every 3 years. The 2 years between it’s tied to finishing in the same position the season befire.

 

there was quirkiness in the KC games sequence because K.c changed parters which affected divisional match up home and road.

 

thry played each other from 2008-2015. 3 were division matchups.