Patriots' 2010 schedule

[pats1]

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).]

Like DaBruinz said, I could have sworn reading Reiss or Schefter saying it had been extended.

 

[DaBruinz]

(2) has already been changed.

(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 Pats played against the AFCS
2004: AFCS #1 @ AFCE #1 (@NE) Pats played against the AFCN and the AFCW#1 (away)
2005: AFCS #1 @ AFCE #1 (@NE) Pats played against the AFCW and the AFCN #1 (away)
2006: Prescheduled @NE Pats played against the AFCS
2007: AFCE #1 @ AFCS #1 (@IND) Pats played against the AFCN and the AFCW #1 (Home)
2008: AFCE #1 @ AFCS #1 (@IND) Pats played against the AFCW and the AFCN #1 (Home)
2009: Prescheduled @IND Pats played against the AFCS

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

#2 - If you read my edit, you'd see that I acknowledged the post from Pats1.

As for #1, I stated that the Pats and Colts were the anomaly, however it IS inevitable that you'll get teams playing 3 in a a row. Also, your HHAAHA formula doesn't work. If you expand it to look at the REST of the rotation of the divisions, you'll understand that. Why doesn't it work? Because you'd end up with an irregular rotation of the divisions. If you look above, I put in RED the divisional game rotation.

In the age of free agency, the league didn't expect teams like the Pats to win 7 of the last 9 division titles or the Colts to win 6 of the last 9 division titles. It is that anomaly that caused the Pats and Colts to play as often as they have and has cause the 3 straight at home and 3 straight away.

 

[DaBruinz]

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.

It was a typo.. And the schedule isn't idiotic if you look beyond your elbow and look at it in its entirety. The only thing that was idiotic was setting it up so that there was even the remote possibility of 4 games on the west coast for east coast teams.

 

[Patspsycho]

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..

My mistake. I apologize.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

#2 - If you read my edit, you'd see that I acknowledged the post from Pats1.

As for #1, I stated that the Pats and Colts were the anomaly, however it IS inevitable that you'll get teams playing 3 in a a row. Also, your HHAAHA formula doesn't work. If you expand it to look at the REST of the rotation of the divisions, you'll understand that. Why doesn't it work? Because you'd end up with an irregular rotation of the divisions. If you look above, I put in RED the divisional game rotation.

OK. Let's try this one more time.

The East plays each division every third year, and the home and away games flip every three years. Thus, the only way that a team can host three home games in consecutive years is if the team hosts two consecutive "1 v. 1" matchups.

The schedule for the Pats the last six years has been:

2004 @ West, v. South, entire North
2005 @ North, v. South, entire West
2006 @ North, v. West, entire South
2007 @ South, v. West, entire North
2008 @ South, v. North, entire West
2009 @ West, v. North, entire South

Show me how you can get three consecutive home matches for this schedule:

2004 @ West, v. South, entire North
2005 @ South, v. North, entire West
2006 @ North, v. West, entire South
2007 @ West, v. South, entire North
2008 @ South, v. North, entire West
2009 @ North, v. West, entire South

Note the only change is flipping the locations of the two "extra" matches in the even years.

 

[PATSYLICIOUS]

Very tough schedule compared to this season

It's tough to predict, but I don't think it will be tougher. Balt, Pitt, SD, Indy I bet will be tough games for sure. GB and Cincy are wild card caliber at their best, they could very well go back to sucking badly next year. Minnesota likely won't have a QB. Division games will likely be the same. Not as tough as it seems.

 

[The Dynasty]

Like DaBruinz said, I could have sworn reading Reiss or Schefter saying it had been extended.

Reiss actually had a blog entry on this, you were right....

2010 opponents finalized - Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

 

[The Dynasty]

It's tough to predict, but I don't think it will be tougher. Balt, Pitt, SD, Indy I bet will be tough games for sure. GB and Cincy are wild card caliber at their best, they could very well go back to sucking badly next year. Minnesota likely won't have a QB. Division games will likely be the same. Not as tough as it seems.

It is tough....at this point in the season we have played only 2 teams that are in the playoffs (Colts and Saints). At the end I think the 2 wild card teams will be teams that we have played so in total we would have played 4 playoff teams this season.

Next season I think it is pretty certain to say that the Chargers and Colts will be in the playoffs so theres a certain 2. Then 2 out of the 3 of Balt, Pitt and Cini will get in. One as the AFC North Champ and the other the wild card. Then in the NFC the Vikings or the Packers will win that divison so there is another playoff team. So with that theres 5 pretty much certain playoff teams next year with the chance for a few more.

Also, the divison will be tougher, the Dolphins will be better than this year with a healthy Brown and then the Jets should be better with Sanchez being in his 2nd year and a top 5 defense. Next years schedule will definitely be tough

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Reiss actually had a blog entry on this, you were right....

2010 opponents finalized - Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

The only thing is, Reiss doesn't say anything that indicates it's an official pronouncement by the NFL. I don't think Reiss is wrong, but I'm not certain it's right.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

Should be something like 6-2 on the road next season...Pitt and SD will probably be losses,the others look like cake judging solely by the current rosters.

 

[The Dynasty]

The only thing is, Reiss doesn't say anything that indicates it's an official pronouncement by the NFL.

Of course it isnt official, nothing is official until the schedule officially comes out. Why would he post this if it wasnt pretty much certain like it has been in years past?

 

[bostonia3333]

that is a real brutal looking schedule if there is no change of personnel in our secondary and pass rushers

We have to play Peyton, Rivers, Roeth all in the same year like in 07. Yikes.

 

[JoeShmoe]

that is a real brutal looking schedule if there is no change of personnel in our secondary and pass rushers

We have to play Peyton, Rivers, Roeth all in the same year like in 07. Yikes.

Yep, that young D is gonna learn a lot more next year

 

[lostjumper]

I'm really hoping for a december game against the colts. Something at night, with light snow and wind, at about 0 degrees

 

[FSUPatsFan]

that is a real brutal looking schedule if there is no change of personnel in our secondary and pass rushers

We have to play Peyton, Rivers, Roeth all in the same year like in 07. Yikes.

I think we'd also want a more consisitent rushing game. Theres a lot of potential bad weather games. All the home games plus @ Buf, NYJ, Pit, Cle, and Chi. Thats 13/16 games in cold weather stadiums.

 

[alamo]

Scheduling formula will remain for 2010 and beyond | ProFootballTalk.com

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello pointed out to us that, per page 16 of the 2009 NFL Record and Fact Book, the league decided after the 2008 season to apply the same formula in 2010.

Most likely that was before the owners voted to change west coast scheduling (from the ESPN article posted earlier). But it's still the same basic formula, with a small tweak for the west coast teams.

Whether the tweak actually happens or not doesn't matter to us in 2010, as we don't play the west divisions.

 

[alamo]

OK. Let's try this one more time.

The East plays each division every third year, and the home and away games flip every three years. Thus, the only way that a team can host three home games in consecutive years is if the team hosts two consecutive "1 v. 1" matchups.

The schedule for the Pats the last six years has been:

2004 @ West, v. South, entire North
2005 @ North, v. South, entire West
2006 @ North, v. West, entire South
2007 @ South, v. West, entire North
2008 @ South, v. North, entire West
2009 @ West, v. North, entire South

Show me how you can get three consecutive home matches for this schedule:

2004 @ West, v. South, entire North
2005 @ South, v. North, entire West
2006 @ North, v. West, entire South
2007 @ West, v. South, entire North
2008 @ South, v. North, entire West
2009 @ North, v. West, entire South

Note the only change is flipping the locations of the two "extra" matches in the even years.

Actually, your example flips the *odd* years, not even, but that's a minor detail.

The big problem is this. I once thought the same as you, when this issue came up here in past years. Then I calculated the whole grid, and realized that what you think is a solution is a mirage. Thing is, you can't just swap the two games for the AFCE without also swapping the other three divisions. It fixes the AFCE-AFCS problem which has caused NE to play in Indy 3 years in a row, but it moves the problem elsewhere, not really solving the problem.

In fact it makes it worse (from a league perspective, not a Pats one). For example, with your tweak, the Colts could theoretically play a road game at San Diego in *five* consecutive seasons from 2011-2015. In the current system the maximum consecutive away years is three.

Current Schedule of the "extra" games:

       East    South   North   West
2010	S @W	N @E	W @S	E @N
2011	S @N	W @E	E @W	N @S
2012	W @N	N @W	E @S	S @E
2013	W @S	E @N	S @W	N @E	
2014	N @S	E @W	W @E	S @N	
2015	N @W	W @N	S @E	E @S	
2016	S @W	N @E	W @S	E @N	
2017	S @N	W @E	E @W	N @S

Revised schedule with your proposed change:

       East    South   North   West
2010	S @W	N @E	W @S	E @N
2011	N @S	E [color=red]@W[/color]	W @E	S @N
2012	W @N	N [color=red]@W[/color]	E @S	S @E
2013	S @W	N @E	W @S	E @W
2014	N @S	E [color=red]@W[/color]	W @E	S @N
2015	W @N	N [color=red]@W[/color]	E @S	S @E
2016	S @W	N @E	W @S	E @N
2017	N @S	E @W	W @E	S @N

 

[SpiderFox53]

(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.

But by flipping any of those years, you create an unbalanced home and away schedule. These things don't happen in a vacuum. You have to consider the the scheduling for the other finish determined game.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Actually, your example flips the *odd* years, not even, but that's a minor detail.

The big problem is this. I once thought the same as you, when this issue came up here in past years. Then I calculated the whole grid, and realized that what you think is a solution is a mirage. Thing is, you can't just swap the two games for the AFCE without also swapping the other three divisions. It fixes the AFCE-AFCS problem which has caused NE to play in Indy 3 years in a row, but it moves the problem elsewhere, not really solving the problem.

In fact it makes it worse (from a league perspective, not a Pats one). For example, with your tweak, the Colts could theoretically play a road game at San Diego in *five* consecutive seasons from 2011-2015. In the current system the maximum consecutive away years is three.

Fair enough. That said, I still think that the system can be made fairer. At the very least, there is no reason why the East should permanently be stuck with the risk of 3-and-3s with every division, while each other division only has to worry about that with one other division.

 

[mayoclinic]

Should be something like 6-2 on the road next season...Pitt and SD will probably be losses,the others look like cake judging solely by the current rosters.

We went 8-0 at home this year. That will be difficult to do next year:

- 3 home games against division rivals the Jets, Miami and Buffalo
- 5 home against against: Baltimore, Cincinnati, Green Bay, Minnesota and Indy. That's 5 playoff teams if Baltimore wins this week. Very tough.

Add in 3 divisional road games plus the Steelers and Chargers, and 6-2 on the road would be a major achievement. Heck, we're 2-5 on the road right now. The Browns, Lions and Bears should give 3 wins, but nothing is a given in the NFL.

I think we would be challenged to go 12-4 with that schedule. 6-2 at home and 6-2 on the road would be a major feat. Anything better would be extremely impressive. We could play extremely well and go 10-6.