UB2SF Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I was watching NFL Live (or whatever it's called these days) on ESPN last night, and my head almost exploded as the panel of blowhards went on an on about how the League's schedule-makers were giving advantages or disadvantages to various teams. This happens every year when the schedules are released, and thank yaweh that I have TBD to vent about it! The reality of schedule-making is that the selection opponents for each team is formulaic: each team in a given division will play each fellow-division team twice, all of the teams in one other division within the conference, and all of the teams in one other division in the other conference. Each AFC East team in 2008, for example, plays the other AFC East twice, all of the teams in the AFC West, and all of the teams in the NFC West. The only two games each season outside of this formula are actually formulaic too -- each team plays one game against an opponent from each of the other two Conference divisions. So the AFC East teams in 2008 play one game against the AFC Central and one game against the AFC South. The Bills get the Browns and the Jags; the Patriots get the Steelers and the Colts; the Jets get the Bengals and the Titans; and the Dolphins get the Ravens and Texans. Media blowhards go on and on about strength of schedule, but that statistic is mostly driven by the league's formula rather than some master plan to create parity or pick on certain teams. The main reason that the Bills typically have a "harder" strength-of-schedule, in terms of opponents' winning percentange, than the Patriots is because the Bills play the Patriots twice while the Patriots play the Bills twice. The Patriots typically-excellent W/L percentage inflates this statistic for the Bills while the Bills sub-.500 W/L percentage deflates the percentage for the Patriots. The Bills' strength of schedule for 2008 is a lot "less" than 2007 mostly because the Jets and the Dolphins sucked last year, and because the AFC West and NFC west were weak last year too. Most of you probably know this already, so I guess I'm just venting. But I ask that you help dispel this myth if you hear people promoting it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Most of you probably know this already, so I guess I'm just venting. Pssst....a little secret: the talking heads know it too, but they have to fill up an hour of time to sell those commercials. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuckeyeBill Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I was thinking along the same lines. There should be a strength of schedule list and then a list of strength of schedule OUTSIDE the division. New England and Buffalo have an inflated easy schedule this year because 1/4 of the games we play (Jets and Dolphins) have a combined win total of 5 last year. I wonder who has the easier schedule ignoring the Dolphins/Jets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billadelphia Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Not to mention, in the last 10 years, free agency and the liquidity of the personel on a team has changed drastically. Anymore, a team can be bad one year and hit a hot streak the next (i.e. 2006-2007 Giants). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swift Sylvan Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Strength of schedule is determined at the end of the year because teams surprise you for better or for worse. Let's decide then if we had an easy schedule or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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