Patriots' 2010 schedule

[Pat the Pats Fan]

Indy at Pats, 1st time in about 4 years?

 

[sieglo]

Hopefully we get SD early, before they have a chance to pick up steam.

 

[RhodyPatriot]

Much tougher home schedule than road so while it's tough it could have been much worse if you flip the home/road.

 

[SoCalPatsfan90]

You serious? SD is the hottest team in the NFL right now.

Considering a.) I live in San Diego and b.) I rarely get to see the team play either live or on TV, yes I'm serious.

They're the hottest team in the NFL for a good part of one season... they were 8-8 last year. Sure they "scare" me more than the dolts with their 14-1 record...

But there isn't any reason to be like "omg, not the chargers, any team but the chargers..."

 

[SoCalPatsfan90]

Hopefully we get SD early, before they have a chance to pick up steam.

This is also true, they're a slow starting team... Get 'em in the first 5 weeks of the season and we've got a better chance to beat them w/o a doubt... Look how well the Raiders looked against them in week 1...

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

Aside from looking too far ahead, there's no guarantee the current schedule rotation remains intact for 2010. That johnnyroadtrip.com site is working on the assumption that the NFL decides to continue the current format for their schedule, and the NFL has no agreement in place at this time for that to happen.

When I posted it, I didn't realize that the original scheduling plan extended only until the end of this season. I would think that if they don't go to 17 or 18 games, they will likely continue this format as they have bigger issues to deal with, as in the CBA and a possible/lockout/strike/work stoppage in 2011.

 

[102 Pat]

Nice to have Indy come to Foxboro for once...hopefully we can be treated to many "manning faces"

 

[NovaScotiaPatsFan]

They're not.

The NFL only approved the current schedule rotation through 2009.

In particular, it was decided that the next rotation would re-order the AFC and NFC West teams to prevent the "four WC road trips in one year" phenomenon (even though it could only happen once in 24 years). It's not clear what other changes, if any, they'll make.

I hope that they do tweak it a bit to fix this whole 4 year home advantage thing, sure it was nice when we had Indy at home every year, but it sure blew havin to go to that crap hole every year for the past few. If they could figure out how to do it I'd like to see them swing it so that no team would have to play an outside division/in conference opponent in the same location 2 or more years in a row.

How to do it and still keep the same type of schedule? I have no clue.

 

[DaBruinz]

You serious? SD is the hottest team in the NFL right now.

Umm.. That is this year. We're talking about next year.. And he's happy because he'll be able to go to the game..

At least keep up with the thread..

 

[DaBruinz]

Indy at Pats, 1st time in about 4 years?

Only because the Pats and Colts have finished the way they have in each of the last 4 years. The 4 years prior, the Colts were at NE for 4 straight and no one was complaining then.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

I'll take the OP's word for it that this is the schedule, as I don't know for sure; it certainly looks tough based on this year's performance. Then again, we got concerned when we saw the 13--3 Titans, 12--4 Panthers and 11--5 Falcons on the 2009 schedule, none of which will make this season's playoffs.

That said, the 2009 record of our 2010 non-division opponents is 84--64 (.568); 82--51 (.617) if you take out Detroit. Ouch!

 

[ctpatsfan77]

How to do it and still keep the same type of schedule? I have no clue.

It's actually very simple.

Every team has two games on the schedule that look like this:

Home game against same-rank team in another division
Away game against same-rank team in another division

The problem is that they scheduled them like this:

2007: AFCE@AFCS, AFCW@AFCE
2008: AFCE@AFCS, AFCN@AFCE
2009: AFCE@AFCW, AFCN@AFCE

See how this can lead to problems? All they have to do to solve the problem is flip the order in a few years of the rotation (I think every other year, although I admit I'm not 100% certain).

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Only because the Pats and Colts have finished the way they have in each of the last 4 years. The 4 years prior, the Colts were at NE for 4 straight and no one was complaining then.

2004, 2005, 2006 were in NE.
2007, 2008, 2009 were in IND.

And except in 2006 and 2009, those games were guaranteed to be played in NE and IND, respectively, if they happened at all (see my post above).

 

[pats1]

They're not.

The NFL only approved the current schedule rotation through 2009.

In particular, it was decided that the next rotation would re-order the AFC and NFC West teams to prevent the "four WC road trips in one year" phenomenon (even though it could only happen once in 24 years). It's not clear what other changes, if any, they'll make.

Incorrect. They extended the formula through at least 2010 in March and also tweaked it to prevent two coast-to-coast matchups in one year:

NFL to make West Coast road format more reasonable - ESPN

EDIT: I finally read the rest of your post. However, I am fairly certain it was extended through 2010.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Incorrect. They extended the formula through at least 2010 in March and also tweaked it to prevent two coast-to-coast matchups in one year:

NFL to make West Coast road format more reasonable - ESPN

EDIT: I finally read the rest of your post. However, I am fairly certain it was extended through 2010.

You could be correct, but I haven't seen anything that says the rotation has been decided for 2010 on.

[And, BTW, the "downside" to the plan is that it guarantees a WC road game every time a team plays either West division, and guarantees two WC road games at least once every 12 years under the current rotation (evey time they play both West divisions in the same year).]

 

[DaBruinz]

Aside from looking too far ahead, there's no guarantee the current schedule rotation remains intact for 2010. That johnnyroadtrip.com site is working on the assumption that the NFL decides to continue the current format for their schedule, and the NFL has no agreement in place at this time for that to happen.

I could have sworn that Reiss or Schefter reported that, for at least 2010, the schedule rotation would remain the same.

I am fairly certain of a couple of things regarding the schedule:
1) There is no way to avoid the dreaded "3straight away games" against a conference opponent unless you guarantee that the teams can't finish in the same order inside their division. This stems from rotating the odd number of divisions (3) that you rotate the home and away schedule for the Strength of Schedule match-ups. There are only 6 combinations. The reason the Pats and Colts have played 3 straight years is because of how dominant they've been in the league. They are the anomoly, not the norm.

2) IF the site is correct about what the future schedules could be, then we will see 3 games on the West Coast (2 against the NFCW and 1 against the SOS AFCW) . However, we don't see the NFCW and AFCW at the same time.. The only way to "fix" it would be to swap either St. Louis or Arizona with San Fran or Seattle. And then, make it so that, on the AFCW divisional schedules, we don't play Oakland and San Diego as away games in the same season. For some reason, I believe that the OWNERS wanted the combinations the way they are...

EDIT: Thank you to Pats1 for the ESPN Article.. It would seem that the owners have already changed the pairings so the Johnnyroadtrip site is wrong. Though, when teams play Arizona and San Fran and also have to face either San Diego or Oakland as an AFW away game, they could still have a long trip out west.. There is no perfect way to fix it.

 

[DaBruinz]

2004, 2005, 2006 were in NE.
2007, 2008, 2009 were in IND.

And except in 2006 and 2009, those games were guaranteed to be played in NE and IND, respectively, if they happened at all (see my post above).

Nothing you said changes what I said. The only reason for the 3 straight in each instance is because of how the teams finished in the divisions.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I could have sworn that Reiss or Schefter reported that, for at least 2010, the schedule rotation would remain the same.

I am fairly certain of a couple of things regarding the schedule:
1) There is no way to avoid the dreaded "3straight away games" against a conference opponent unless you guarantee that the teams can't finish in the same order inside their division. This stems from rotating the odd number of divisions (3) that you rotate the home and away schedule for the Strength of Schedule match-ups. There are only 6 combinations. The reason the Pats and Colts have played 3 straight years is because of how dominant they've been in the league. They are the anomoly, not the norm.

2) IF the site is correct about what the future schedules could be, then we will see 3 games on the West Coast (2 against the NFCW and 1 against the SOS AFCW) . However, we don't see the NFCW and AFCW at the same time.. The only way to "fix" it would be to swap either St. Louis or Arizona with San Fran or Seattle. And then, make it so that, on the AFCW divisional schedules, we don't play Oakland and San Diego as away games in the same season. For some reason, I believe that the OWNERS wanted the combinations the way they are...

(2) has already been changed. And, BTW, the original order was strictly alphabetical.

(1) I don't think it's inevitable. It has to do with the asinine way the "1 v. 1" matchups were scheduled. There is no fundamental reason why it had to be done this way, which created the HHHAAA setup:

2003: Prescheduled @IND
2004: AFCS #1 @ AFCE #1 (@NE)
2005: AFCS #1 @ AFCE #1 (@NE)
2006: Prescheduled @NE
2007: AFCE #1 @ AFCS #1 (@IND)
2008: AFCE #1 @ AFCS #1 (@IND)
2009: Prescheduled @IND

Flip the 2005/2008 games, and in fact you get strict alternation. Flip 2004/2007 and you get HHAAHA, which is still an improvement.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Nothing you said changes what I said. The only reason for the 3 straight in each instance is because of how the teams finished in the divisions.

Well, you did say "4 in a row." And, as I stated above, the reason for the 3 straight was the teams' finishes combined with an idiotic schedule.

 

[Ryan]

It'd be pretty cool if we played Detroit on Thanksgiving. I really enjoyed it the first two times we did.

It's nice to have Indy, Cincinnati, Green Bay, & Minnesota coming to Foxboro. I'd say those are 4 of the 6 toughest games.