awboatguy
Well-known member
My understanding is that its a home/away rotation when playing an intraconference division. So in three years when we play the AFC south again, we will travel to Indy and Houston, while Jax and Ten visit the burgh. Same goes for the "same place as" games.
They did add this caveat in 2010 after the original formula made one complete cycle.
Under the original 2002 formula, half of the teams scheduled to play all the AFC West clubs had to travel to both Oakland and San Diego in the same season, while half of the clubs playing the NFC West had to make their way to both San Francisco and Seattle. In years in which a division was scheduled to play both AFC and NFC West teams, two clubs (such as the New England Patriots and New York Jets in 2008) each had to make cross-country trips to all four of the aforementioned west coast teams.
As a result, after all of the teams had cycled through playing against each other both home and away by the end of the 2009 season, the NFL tweaked the pairings to relieve teams from having to travel to the west coast more than twice in a season. Under the modifications implemented in 2010, clubs now only have to travel to play one team based on the west coast (either Oakland or San Diego) in years they play the teams in the AFC West, and only one such team (either San Francisco or Seattle) in years they play the NFC West.[7]
This ensures that each team in your conference comes to your stadium at least once every six years, and every team in the league every 8.
Now that is a complete response. I just learned something. Thanks Freak!