NFL Network is releasing the 2008 NFL schedule as I type. While this really doesn’t mean that much it’s always one of my favorite days of the off-season.
This year there are a few interesting tidbits. The first thing that jumped out at me is that Miami will visit Buffalo in Toronto this year. Yes, it’s been well-known that the Bills were playing a home game north of the border.
But I think a subtle signal is being sent to the Bills’ fans, city and organization by this Dec. 7 match-up. The Dolphins, while down on their luck in recent years, have long been one of the Bills’ rivals. And for Bills fans to have to travel north to the Rogers Centre has to be a bit of a bitter pill.
The other international game, to be held again at Wembley Stadium in London, pits New Orleans and San Diego, which should be more entertaining than the Dolphins tilt with the New York Giants was last year.
Also of note, with a cursory glance, I count 10 division match-ups in week 17. That’s good and exciting as the league tries to make those late season games more meaningful.
Back to the day job for now, but I’ll probably be back with more thoughts on the schedule later.
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I’m not sure that divisional match-ups automatically make the game meaningful. That Jets-Dolphins game sure would have been a thriller if it happened week 17 in 2007.
Yeah, but with that many divisional matchups, there will almost assuredly be a few that will be important. Which is what the networks want.
I agree that divisional games aren’t important automatically, but it adds the potential that divisions will be decided by games within the division – teams getting into the playoffs by winning or losing rather than having to rely on help from other teams.
It’s not a panacea by any stretch, but coming from a league that often makes decisions that make the game less fun I think this is at least a decent effort.