A funny schedule quirk!

[Patrick76777]

Last year we all thought we got screwed by having to play 4 games against the AFC West. It wasn’t fair that the two best divisions in football had to play each other. Well it looks like last years tough AFC west came back to hurt us again this year.

Let me explain. Because of the current scheduling system, 14 of our 16 games for each season are in place for the next 7 years. For each of those years, we will have nearly the exact same schedule as Miami. 12 of the 16 games we play will match exactly with Miami. If we play Philly at home, they will play Philly at home. You get the point. 2 of the 16 games are against each other. The other two games are scheduled by matching the 1st place team in one division with the 1st place team in another division. It’s done like this to assure that the bad teams will play other bad teams the next year and in theory, improve the chances of those bad teams.

Which brings us to last year. Because we finished last in a very competitive AFC East, we were scheduled to play the last place team in the AFC North and the last place team in the very competitive AFC West. Because Miami finished 3rd in the East, they got the 3rd place team in each division. The system worked in the North, we got Cincy at home and Miami got Baltimore. But we got screwed in the West. KC and SD both finished 8-8. SD finished 3rd based on a tiebreaker. Therefore we go to KC (11-1) and Miami gets to go to SD (2-10)

SD beat KC by 1 point early in the season KC wins that game and we go to SD, A tackle on a kick return bumps us to 9-7 and we go to SD. KC losses week 1 because of the helmet penalty, if that doesn’t happen we go to KC.

I’m not making excuses, I just like finding these Quirks. Let’s say we did get SD and Miami did get KC. Right now we’re probably 6-6 and Miami is 7-5 and that game in a few weeks is looking very big.


Ah well.

[Patrick76777]

I wrote this very fast, May be a few mistakes or errors. sorry.

[LtBillsFan66]

I'm too lazy, but I want to redo my post about the record of the teams we've played. I would like to see it at the end. We must have had the hardest schedule so far.

Remember we were all up in arms about not beating a "lousy" Eagles team. Look at them since. Same with the Bengals. We barely beat "the lousy Bengals."

[BillsFever]

Originally posted by billsfanone
I'm too lazy, but I want to redo my post about the record of the teams we've played. I would like to see it at the end. We must have had the hardest schedule so far.

Remember we were all up in arms about not beating a "lousy" Eagles team. Look at them since. Same with the Bengals. We barely beat "the lousy Bengals."

I still don't understand why some still acts like we should've walked over the Eagles just because they were 0-2 when we played them. Well since then they're 9-1. You would've thought we played the UB Bulls instead.

[LtBillsFan66]

Originally posted by BillsFever
I still don't understand why some still acts like we should've walked over the Eagles just because they were 0-2 when we played them. Well since then they're 9-1. You would've thought we played the UB Bulls instead.

Right!

Same goes for Cincy for that matter. We (me included!) were all pissed that we barely beat them. Look now... They may be a playoff team.

[The_Philster]

I don't think we were all pissed because we barely beat them, per say...but because we played so poorly in barely beating them.

[LtBillsFan66]

Originally posted by The_Philster
I don't think we were all pissed because we barely beat them, per say...but because we played so poorly in barely beating them.

We still beat them. And they turned out to maybe be a playoff team. At the time, we were all pissed because we all thought they stunk. Much like the Eagles.

[The_Philster]

We certainly didn't deserve to win, IMO. We caught a few lucky breaks and I could tell that the Bengals were a team on the upswing.

[LtBillsFan66]

You are missing my point entirely.

[imbondz]

Originally posted by Patrick76777
Last year we all thought we got screwed by having to play 4 games against the AFC West. It wasn’t fair that the two best divisions in football had to play each other. Well it looks like last years tough AFC west came back to hurt us again this year.

Let me explain. Because of the current scheduling system, 14 of our 16 games for each season are in place for the next 7 years. For each of those years, we will have nearly the exact same schedule as Miami. 12 of the 16 games we play will match exactly with Miami. If we play Philly at home, they will play Philly at home. You get the point. 2 of the 16 games are against each other. The other two games are scheduled by matching the 1st place team in one division with the 1st place team in another division. It’s done like this to assure that the bad teams will play other bad teams the next year and in theory, improve the chances of those bad teams.

Which brings us to last year. Because we finished last in a very competitive AFC East, we were scheduled to play the last place team in the AFC North and the last place team in the very competitive AFC West. Because Miami finished 3rd in the East, they got the 3rd place team in each division. The system worked in the North, we got Cincy at home and Miami got Baltimore. But we got screwed in the West. KC and SD both finished 8-8. SD finished 3rd based on a tiebreaker. Therefore we go to KC (11-1) and Miami gets to go to SD (2-10)

SD beat KC by 1 point early in the season KC wins that game and we go to SD, A tackle on a kick return bumps us to 9-7 and we go to SD. KC losses week 1 because of the helmet penalty, if that doesn’t happen we go to KC.

I’m not making excuses, I just like finding these Quirks. Let’s say we did get SD and Miami did get KC. Right now we’re probably 6-6 and Miami is 7-5 and that game in a few weeks is looking very big.


Ah well.

:dizzy:

[Patrick76777]

If the season ended today!

The following 6 teams would be in the playoffs in the AFC

New England
Cincinnati
Tennessee
Kansas City
Indianapolis
Miami


At the end of the season we will have played all 6 of those teams. Miami and New England twice. That’s 8 of our 16 games against AFC playoff teams.

Throw in Dallas and Philadelphia in the NFC playoffs and 10 of our 16 games were against playoff teams.