THE NFL SEASON EXPANDS TO 17 GAMES
The NFL Season expands to 17 Games.
Is it possible? Was I dreaming? I woke up to the news that last week the NFL Owners had agreed to expand the NFL season to 17 games.
Yes, that is correct, and you heard me right. As an NFL fan, competitor and gambling person my eyes just opened up. I thought this would take way more negotiating, like all things in business, but it was incredible to see that the decision was made so swiftly by all owners.
Oh wait, never mind, scratch that. You had 31 teams agree and one team that was against it. Can you guess what team that was? I’ll give you a hint. People go crazy about this type of pizza. Warm-up your inner Ditka voice and say, “Da Bears”. They were the only team that voted against the additional game added.
Well, let me stop with this trivia and start focusing on the new NFL schedule. Here at Online Sports Bet, we are going to break this new schedule down and lead you to those “W’s”, because we are as excited about this extra game as you are.
How Are The NFL Games Scheduled?
Let us start with the basics. How are these NFL games usually scheduled? So, the NFL has this incredibly complex algorithm to create the schedule. The second I heard the algorithm; I was done as well. That is why we make things easy at Online Sports Bet. We want everyone to understand the basics and win that money. Let’s start over, in the most basic terms. The NFL has 32 teams. These teams are split into two conferences, American Football Conference (AFC and the National Football Conference (NFC). These conferences are now split into four divisions. East, North, South, and West. Each division has four teams. This is important because this is going to determine the six games a team will always have, no matter what.
The Breakdown Of The Schedule For An NFL Team:
- Each team will play six games against divisional opponents. One home and one away game per season.
- Four games will be against teams from a division in its conference. Two of these games will be home and two games will be away.
- Four games will be against teams from another division in its conference. Again, two home games and two away games.
- Two games against teams from the two remaining divisions in its conference. These matchups are based on division rankings from the season before. With one home game and another away game.
How Is The 17th Game Going To Be Scheduled?
Now this new 17th game, will be based on divisional standings from the previous season and will be against an opponent from the opposite conference that will be determined on a rotating divisional basis.
The way this is going to match up is that you will have for example the AFC West Vs. The NFC North play the #1’s the #2’s, #3’s and #4’s. As a fan, understanding how this is going to work out, every single season, from now on is going to be crazy. So many blockbuster matchups and 16 more opportunities to bet in the regular season!
The 2021 NFL season 17th game matchups:
Here is the schedule for that additional game that has been added to the 2021 NFL season:
Some of the games that stand out to me at first glance are:
Chiefs Vs Packers or Steelers Vs. Seahawks. Those are some insane matchups! Seeing these teams compete against each other after coming in first place in their division and then having to face off against each other the following year. I mean this is incredible. These are matchups that in the past you prayed for as a fan. Now with this new 17th game added.
We will have this treat for years and years to come. You got Mahomes Vs Rodgers you have Big Ben Vs Wilson and that is just talking about the QB matchups. You know that Chiefs Defense is solid with the Honeybadger lurking in the secondary. You know the Seahawk’s have one electrifying DK Metcalf that never gives up on a play.
The Steeler’s with Connor in the run game and then JuJu Smith out Wide. Packer’s you have Aaron Jones, who is just a swiss army knife that never fails in scoring TD’s. Yes, you can tell I am getting hyped on these extra NFL games.
Other games that catch my attention are Ravens Vs. Rams, Patriots Vs Cowboys, and Chargers Vs Vikings. These teams did not have the season they wanted last year but they are some great teams that are going to be fighting so hard to get that “W”.
You know Lamar Jackson, wants to prove to everybody that he can win a championship. Sean McVay, Head coach for the Rams wants to prove that his trade for Matthew Stafford is going to win them a Superbowl. Patriots Vs Cowboys matchup, you have coach Belichick who did not make the playoffs. Something he rarely has missed as a Patriots Coach and now, he is making some serious moves in the free agency to be contenders to win a Superbowl.
The cowboys on the other hand have invested so much money in their QB coming from injury, Dak Prescott.
When Will We See Our Team’s And The Whole 2021 NFL
Schedule?
If we look historically, the NFL schedule has usually been announced either the second or third week of April. In addition to that, the schedule is usually released on a Thursday. The big days to circle on your calendar for this year would be April 15th and April 22nd. Each spring five NFL executives take on this ginormous task of creating the NFL schedule as broken down to you earlier in the article.
Things that these five NFL Executives must take into account are, fans, the leagues broadcasting partners and other factors when building the new 272-game schedule that spans the whole regular season. They also have to work around other events that occur in NFL stadiums such as concerts and other things that can factor into the field’s preparation and logistics. These are all things that teams need to turn over to the NFL in January.
Where Can You Watch Your NFL Games?
Games are played on Thursdays, Sunday’s and Mondays with the Thursday game being the first game of that NFL week and Monday being the one to end the week. Later towards the end of the season is when you see some Saturday matchups appearing. The Sunday afternoon games of the NFC are broadcast by FOX, and the AFC games are broadcasted by CBS. During the course of the regular season, FOX and CBS will each get eight doubleheaders.
Here is where Flex scheduling comes to play as well. What is flex scheduling? Flex scheduling was introduced in 2006. It made sure that the best end-of-the-season matchups reached the largest audience. The NFL can change the day and time of certain games to make sure the fans get to see a matchup that could mean a playoff birth or not, as an example.
Some games towards the end of the season do not mean anything for certain teams and for others as I said previously could be the first time they make the NFL playoffs in years!
272 NFL Games to:
With this new 2021 NFL Schedule being released soon is something that we can all look forward to cheering, celebrate, get our hearts broken, lose our voice, talk smack to other friends and family but most of all 272 NFL games to bet on! This is incredible to know that we have 16 more opportunities to bet on regular-season games. II am excited with absolutely everything football season brings a year in and year out but this year the NFL has given us a treat for all of us to look forward to.
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