Question about Week 17 scheduling

Was looking at Week 17 schedules and one thing stood out as really odd to me. Every division plays all their games at the same time, presumably force teams to actually play the games. There is one exception though. The AFC West is the only division that plays their games at different times. The Denver-San Diego game is at 4:25, after the results of the Oakland-KC game are known. I don't think in that sense it matters because Denver has a stranglehold on the division, but curious to know the schedulers have the two AFC West games at different times? Also of note - the Denver game is the ONLY AFC game not played at 1pm that week. So, they can also make game time decisions on who (if anyone) to sit because they will know the playoff seedings when they play.

The week 17 gametimes don't mean much at this point. The league can (and has) moved games around on pretty short notice to have games that affect the team(s) in the other games played at the same time.

The league will move game times if an earlier result will affect how a team will play later in the day. They did it last year.

They'll change that schedule to make as many games as meaningful as possible. Week 17 schedule is just a template that will get changed.

Anything to help the forehead, goes....

On a related note, the NFL has said that it prefers to have "win-and-in" games in the primetime slot (that is, a game where the result of that game independent of any others determines if one or both teams make the playoffs).

It'll be interesting to see what happens if (A) there are no such games, or (B) the Pats, Panthers, or both are on the verge of 16–0.

They gave the Donks a cupcake schedule this season. Home versus away and the timing of them are a great benefit to Manning or whomever is playing QB.

denverpatsfan said:

They gave the Donks a cupcake schedule this season. Home versus away and the timing of them are a great benefit to Manning or whomever is playing QB.

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While there are lots of things to criticize the NFL for, the only part of the schedule you can actually criticize them for monkeying around with is the timing of games (e.g., the weeks that specific games are played and whether they're primetime/1 PM/etc.). Everything else is a formula that the NFL doesn't monkey with from year to year.

denverpatsfan said:

They gave the Donks a cupcake schedule this season. Home versus away and the timing of them are a great benefit to Manning or whomever is playing QB.

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The only thing the the NFL has control of is the timing and dates played. When they started the rotating schedule in 2002 they had no idea who would be good or bad in 2015.

Patsrock said:

The only thing the the NFL has control of is the timing and dates played. When they started the rotating schedule in 2002 they had no idea who would be good or bad in 2015.

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And not just that, only 2 of the 16 games depend on the previous season's results. Assuming no realignments/expansion teams, right now you already know 14 of the games the Patriots will be playing ten years from now.

The only thing that can change from the formula is time of day and week.....and when to schedule bye's.

Missing the point. The NFL can control how many days the Donks have to rest before playing the Pats. The Pats have a short week.

stealthdog said:

I don't think in that sense it matters because Denver has a stranglehold on the division, but curious to know the schedulers have the two AFC West games at different times?

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Not so fast. KC should be favored in every game it plays if they continue to play well, and would finish at 11-5 if they win out. Denver could easily lose three of its remaining six (Pats, @Steelers, Bengals), and also finish at 11-5.

denverpatsfan said:

Missing the point. The NFL can control how many days the Donks have to rest before playing the Pats. The Pats have a short week.

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So? Every team plays games on short rest, long rest or playing a team with 24 hours more rest. It happens. Tonight Buffalo has more rest then the Pats.

Yes it can happen but who it happens for can be controlled. The Pats play the Bills who have plenty of rest rather then the Titans. The Pats play the Donks on short rest rather than the Texans. etc.

ctpatsfan77 said:

On a related note, the NFL has said that it prefers to have "win-and-in" games in the primetime slot (that is, a game where the result of that game independent of any others determines if one or both teams make the playoffs).

It'll be interesting to see what happens if (A) there are no such games, or (B) the Pats, Panthers, or both are on the verge of 16–0.

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My guess it will be the NFC Least or AFC South.

denverpatsfan said:

They gave the Donks a cupcake schedule this season. Home versus away and the timing of them are a great benefit to Manning or whomever is playing QB.

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I think the whiney donkey fans are rubbing off on you sub consciously. They complain about our schedule year in and year out and how they always have to play at the razor. As previously stated, it's a formula.

denverpatsfan said:

Missing the point. The NFL can control how many days the Donks have to rest before playing the Pats. The Pats have a short week.

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No doubt the NFL* made sure they gave the forehead and the dolts as much of an advantage as they could have against us.

what would be crazy is: What if Brock does pretty well and earns the starter job moving forward, week 17 rolls around and Den is a lock for the AFC West, kubiak get the chance to sit brock to rest him and the rest of the first unit and peyton ends up coming off the bench to play with a bunch of second stringers

chasa said:

what would be crazy is: What if Brock does pretty well and earns the starter job moving forward, week 17 rolls around and Den is a lock for the AFC West, kubiak get the chance to sit brock to rest him and the rest of the first unit and peyton ends up coming off the bench to play with a bunch of second stringers

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Then you have a QB controversy. Easier for Kubiak to say "Let Brock play the whole game and get experience"....

Denver-San Diego can't be played at 1 PM EST because that is 11AM Mountain time and 10 AM PST. All of Denver's day home games kickoff at 4:05 or 4:25. All West Coast teams' day home games kickoff at 4:05 or 4:25.

Only teams in the Eastern and Central time zones play home games at 1PM EST

(correct me if I am wrong, but I think that this is true)