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Old 09-07-2003, 01:37 AM   #16 (permalink)
statfreak
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Quote:
Originally posted by Le Grande Orange
I wonder if there was a big outcry about statistical continuity in 1978 when the NFL season jumped from 14 to 16 games...
I don't know... I was only 5.

16 games just seems like the perfect season length. As it is you only play 6 games in your division. Let's say you lose all 6 division games, but win the rest. You'd be 10-6 right now. That would have been good enough to win only one of the 8 divisions in 2002 (there would have been a tie in the NFC West, but the tie-breaker would have went to SF since they would have beaten the theoretical team twice).

Playing an 18 game schedule means you only play 1/3rd of your games against your division rivals. Really seems to me that divisions are meaningless. Might as well just have two conferences and let the top 6 from each make the playoffs.
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