How do they decide who will play each other in regular season NFL football??

March 3rd, 2010 | by admin |

This will be my 2nd season watching nfl football. I’m cheering for the Eagles…I know, I know LoL. Anyway, I was looking at their 2008 schedule and was just curious about how they decide what teams they’ll play in the regular season. I notice they only play a couple of teams twice in a season. Thanks.

A lot of this changed, post division realignment.

Each team plays for teams from another division within its conference, on a three-year rotation cycle.

Each team plays 4 teams from the other conference on a four-year rotating cycle.

The link I attached explains it pretty simply.

  1. 14 Responses to “How do they decide who will play each other in regular season NFL football??”

  2. By 50/50 to 50 on Mar 3, 2010 | Reply

    They play their conference teams twice and the other teams are based on their own and the other teams previous records.
    References :

  3. By Phil w on Mar 3, 2010 | Reply

    say the bills placed first in there division. they would face all other teams that placed first in there respective divisons in the afc. then every year they play a different division. one nfc division one afc division
    References :

  4. By Noah P on Mar 3, 2010 | Reply

    each team plays the other 3 teams in their division twice, but other than that i have no idea
    References :

  5. By Smelly Dead Cat™ on Mar 3, 2010 | Reply

    A lot of this changed, post division realignment.

    Each team plays for teams from another division within its conference, on a three-year rotation cycle.

    Each team plays 4 teams from the other conference on a four-year rotating cycle.

    The link I attached explains it pretty simply.
    References :
    http://football.about.com/cs/football101/a/bl_schedproced.htm

  6. By Cool Guy69 on Mar 3, 2010 | Reply

    The eagles conference is NFC East and they play those teams twice but they dont choose every team to play eachother other then that it is at random GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS GO REDSKINS yah
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  7. By Greg K on Mar 3, 2010 | Reply

    The most complicated part of schedule selection is the rotating out-of-conference schedule. Each division in the league (ex. NFC North) faces a division from the other conference (ex. AFC South). The next year the NFC North would play the AFC West, and keep moving along.

    The rest of the schedule selection is pretty simple: you play each team in your division twice, bringing you to a total of ten games. Add one in-conference division (NFC East), and you’re up to 14 games. Then you play the other teams in your conference (in the divisions you didn’t play, like NFC West and NFC South in our example), who finished in the same division standing as you the previous season. For example, the Bears, who finished in last place in the NFC North, would play the Rams from the NFC West, and the Falcons from the NFC South.
    References :

  8. By doboy343 on Mar 3, 2010 | Reply

    Usually the comissioner of football gets together with a couple other people and they hold a meeting and decide which teams will play who. The teams play each team in their conference twice and play one division in the NFC and one division in the AFC. For example the Cowboys play the redskins 2 times, eagles 2 times, and the giants twice. then lets say they play the AFC North then they play every team in that division same thing with the division the play in the NFC.
    References :
    Sports fanatic

  9. By imin34 on Mar 3, 2010 | Reply

    each team is in a division with 3 other teams. the Eagles are in the NFC East division with the Cowboys, Giants, and Redskins. The NFL makes each team play everyother team in their division twice a year (this is because which ever team has the best record playing their own division teams is a deciding factor to who goes to the playoffs from that division). and basically the rest of the schedule is made by trying to match up evenly skilled teams, made up randomly, and made up for game hype and/or rivalries.
    References :

  10. By slmess on Mar 3, 2010 | Reply

    You always play the teams in your division 2 times a year, once at home, once away. then the other 8 games are picked by divisions playing each other (e.g. all teams in nfc east play all teams in afc west once). that’s what I know, but what I don’t know is how the Pats & Colts play every year. There is also a rule in there for how the teams did the previous year (e.g. 4-12 team gets an easier schedule that a 12-4 team). Except if you’re the Pats, they go 16-0 and then only play 4 teams with a winning record the following year. Guess it’s good to have the NFL on your side, you can cheat, you’ll only get a slap on the wrist, and then they’ll still make a nice easy schedule for you.
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  11. By Jay S on Mar 3, 2010 | Reply

    I have no idea. By reading some of the answers it sort of makes sense but, if you look at the Patriots 2008 schedule other than they play the teams in their division twice I can figure it out. It appears to be a pretty easy schedule after ripping the entire league in the regular season.
    References :

  12. By cheinzen24 on Mar 3, 2010 | Reply

    The NFL sets it up so each team play every team in their division twice, so the eagles will play the cowboys, redskins, and giants twice. They will also play every team another division in their conference. For the eagles this year it happens to be the NFC west, so they play the 49ers, cardinals, seahawks, and rams. Every team must also play teams from a division in they other conference. For the eagles, this division is the AFC north (browns, bengals, steelers, ravens). That takes us to 14 games. The last two are just random teams from the other two divisions in their conference. The eagles have the falcons (south) and the bears (north). And that covers all 16 games.
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  13. By Hardcore Habs+Bills Fan! ♣ on Mar 3, 2010 | Reply

    ok it’s really simple!

    I will use the Eagles as an example this time ok?

    the Eagles play every team in their division twice (once home, and once away per each team)

    they also play every team in one division in their confrence! to decide what confrence they face they just use a cycle. (2 games at home, 2 on the road)

    they also play every team in one division in the other confrence. same rules as previous one apply!

    and since they finished 4th in their division last year they play every other 4th place team in their confrence excluding the division in which they already played! (1 game at home, 1 away!)

    the end!
    References :
    http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_does_the_NFL_regular_season_schedule_work

  14. By Weapon X on Mar 3, 2010 | Reply

    they play the teams in their division twice a season they play the teams in their conference on rotating 3 year shedule they play the teams in the opposite conferance on a rotating 4 year shedule
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  15. By Plowmaster on Mar 3, 2010 | Reply

    Besides the conference games of 2X per season thus 6 games total and if your like the Texans stuck in a conference with all other playoff teams these games can be very tough. The rest is suppose to be based on records, but looking at New England’s season last year they really screwed up the match ups.
    References :

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