The 17-game schedule is a reality. Owners today approved a proposal adding an extra week to the regular season – it will take effect in the upcoming season.
The most noteworthy games being added to the schedule include Green Bay at Kansas City, Tampa Bay at Indianapolis and the Rams at Baltimore. The additional games also give the Jets an extra opportunity to finally beat the Eagles (since the merger in 1970, New York has never beaten Philadelphia, the only such matchup among the 26 teams that existed at that time).
All AFC teams will play at home in these games, giving them a 9-8 split of home games this year. The NFC teams will get the home games in even-numbered years.
With the formula the league decided on, the AFC East teams will host NFC East teams, with matchups determined by place (so Washington at Buffalo, Giants at Miami, Cowboys at Patriots and Eagles at New York). The other matchups include AFC North hosting NFC West, AFC South hosting NFC South and AFC West hosting NFC North.
All of those divisions paired with each other in 2019. This makes sense; they wouldn’t want the same teams from different conferences playing in back-to-back seasons. So while it’s not addressed in the league press release (and might not be decided on yet) my guess it that the 2022 17th-game matchups will be the same as what we just saw in 2020: AFC West at NFC South, AFC North at NFC East, AFC South at NFC North and AFC East at NFC West. But that’s just speculation; we’ll see.
With this switch, fantasy leagues will have an extra week to work with – an 18th week. I expect some leagues will choose to add an extra week to the regular season, while others will expand their postseason. And probably some leagues will just stick with their same format, ignoring the extra games.
Games added in 2021 …
Washington at Bills.
Giants at Dolphins.
Cowboys at Patriots.
Eagles at Jets.
Seahawks at Steelers.
Rams at Ravens.
Cardinals at Browns.
49ers at Bengals.
Saints at Titans.
Buccaneers at Colts.
Panthers at Texans.
Falcons at Jaguars.
Packers at Kansas City.
Bears at Raiders.
Vikings at Chargers.
Lions at Broncos.
Adding these games to the 256 that were already on the books, the Eagles, Cowboys and Falcons project to play the easiest schedules. Pittsburgh, Baltimore and Chicago project to play the hardest schedules.
STRENGTH OF SCHEDULE, 2021 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Team | W | L | T | Pct |
Philadelphia | 117 | 155 | 0 | .430 |
Dallas | 122 | 148 | 2 | .452 |
Atlanta | 123 | 148 | 1 | .454 |
Tampa Bay | 126 | 145 | 1 | .465 |
Denver | 127 | 143 | 2 | .471 |
Miami | 128 | 144 | 0 | .471 |
Carolina | 128 | 143 | 1 | .472 |
NY Giants | 128 | 142 | 2 | .474 |
Indianapolis | 130 | 142 | 0 | .478 |
Buffalo | 130 | 142 | 0 | .478 |
New Orleans | 131 | 140 | 1 | .483 |
New England | 133 | 139 | 0 | .489 |
San Francisco | 132 | 138 | 2 | .489 |
NY Jets | 132 | 138 | 2 | .489 |
Jacksonville | 133 | 138 | 1 | .491 |
LA Chargers | 133 | 137 | 2 | .493 |
Houston | 137 | 135 | 0 | .504 |
Washington | 136 | 134 | 2 | .504 |
Arizona | 138 | 134 | 0 | .507 |
Tennessee | 138 | 134 | 0 | .507 |
Kansas City | 138 | 132 | 2 | .511 |
Seattle | 139 | 133 | 0 | .511 |
LA Rams | 140 | 132 | 0 | .515 |
Cleveland | 140 | 130 | 2 | .518 |
Las Vegas | 142 | 128 | 2 | .526 |
Cincinnati | 144 | 128 | 0 | .529 |
Detroit | 143 | 127 | 2 | .529 |
Minnesota | 144 | 127 | 1 | .531 |
Green Bay | 147 | 124 | 1 | .542 |
Chicago | 149 | 122 | 1 | .550 |
Baltimore | 152 | 118 | 2 | .563 |
Pittsburgh | 155 | 115 | 2 | .574 |
—Ian Allan