How to handle byes
No one could touch Ezekiel Elliott on this day. Coming out the bye week, the second-year runner scored three touchdowns, including a 72-yard reception. It was the fourth of six straight weeks Dallas’ offense scored 28 or more points before his suspension kicked in.
Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
The biggest concern about moving to an 18-game schedule is obviously the wear and tear concerns of the talent, the actual product fans pay to watch.
More and more, Super Bowl contender pools are about the war of attrition than merely the best collection of cohesive talent. Teams on the fortunate end of the injury equation tend to have what is necessary to move forward deep into the playoffs.
“Next man up” is a myth coaches tell their backups as motivational tools; losing key players hurt.
An additional bye is an absolute necessity, but it has to be handled strategically. Here’s how.
Pro Bowl is now a mid-season All-Star event
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – FEBRUARY 05: CeeDee Lamb of the Dallas Cowboys and NFC and Justin Jefferson #18 of the Minnesota Vikings and NFC celebrates in a game against the AFC during the 2023 NFL Pro Bowl Games at Allegiant Stadium on February 05, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Getty Images)
The additional bye week can be used to take advantage of one of the biggest wastes in the NFL: the Pro Bowl. No other sport relegates their All-Star event to an afterthought like pro football. Why hide your all-stars at the tail end of the season?
Instead move the Pro Bowl to in the middle of the regular season like every other league. That builds in the second bye week for 95% of the players in the league and allows the league to have an entire rest week without losing a complete week (yes, it will be a dip) of revenue.
But won’t players opt out in order to get the rest?
Yes, unless it becomes more financially lucrative for them to participate.
Increase the number of events, lower the number of invites. Make it really worth it for players not to skip by offering up to $325,000 per player who participates (not just show up); $75,000 per-event participation, $100,000 bonus for doing the maximum three events.
Pro Bowl is in Week 13
Feb 4, 2024; Orlando, FL, USA; NFC wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (88) of the Dallas Cowboys before the 2024 Pro Bowl at Camping World Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
The best time to host the Pro Bowl would be Week 13. This allows voting to go on for six weeks, from Week 5 through Week 10 with nominees being announced in Week 11, allowing two weeks of signing up for individual events and promoting the actual participants.
Players would be required to fly into town on Wednesday for opening ceremony events and a media party on Thursday, and athletic events Friday through Sunday afternoon. Players fly back out to their home cities that evening and go back to work on Tuesday, still having had a break from on-field collisions and a lot richer.
Scheduling team’s rotating bye weeks
Photo courtesy of Corona, used with permission
An additional bye week for everyone is just part of the equation, as teams would still get their rotating bye week throughout the season.
All 32 teams would have a bye week in one of two windows; Weeks 6 through 10 and Weeks 15 through 17. There would be no bye weeks during the two weeks before the Pro Bowl or the week after, and there would be no bye weeks during the final three weeks of the regular season, Weeks 18 through 20.
To help offset a long stretch for a handful of teams, Thursday night games would be used as a mini-bye in the opposite end of the schedule for teams that have early or late bye weeks.
Week 6 and Week 7 bye teams (8) have Thursday games in Weeks 16,17, 18 and 19
Week 15, 16, 17 bye teams (12) have Thursday games in Week 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.
The other 12 teams have Thursday games in Weeks 1-3, and Weeks 14, 15 with two Thursday games on Weeks 3 and 14.
Expand to 16-team playoffs, New Bye between Week 20 and Wild-Card Weekend
GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN – NOVEMBER 13: Head coach Mike McCarthy of the Dallas Cowboys reacts during the second quarter against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field on November 13, 2022 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
As it stands, No. 1 seeds have a ridiculous number of advantages over the field. That should be trimmed down some. In every year since a seventh seed has been in play (2021), the presumptive eighth seed would’ve had at least nine wins. They deserve a shot at the playoffs as well, and of course another game feeds the cash-hungry NFL monster.
Add an eighth seed and the No. 1 team should still prevail with home-field advantage, but yes make them earn the trip to the divisional round too.
The week off allows for every team to get some must-needed rest following the regular season, especially those teams that have to work all the way until Week 20 to earn their spot.
Super Bowl moved to President’s Day weekend every year; the new NFL calendar
Feb 10, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; The Super Bowl 30 ring to commemorate the Dallas Cowboys 27-17 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XXX at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz. on Jan. 28, 1996. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
One of the biggest gripes that makes sense only from the perspective of being gracious to the NBA is that the Super Bowl isn’t a national holiday. Okay, so schedule it on the holiday weekend.
If the 18-game schedule was in place this year, with all of these changes, the two-game exhibition schedule would be on the weekends of August 3-4 and 10-11. Week 1 of the NFL season would be August 18-23. Week 20’s Sunday would be January 5.
Wild-card weekend would be Thursday, January 16 (1 game), Saturday, January 18 (3 games, Sunday, January 19 (3 games) and Monday, January 20 (1 game).
Let the team with the best record play in the Thursday slot and everything else can fall into place.
Welcome to Tuesday Night Football
Sep 25, 2017; Glendale, AZ, USA; Dallas Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones (right) with owner Jerry Jones prior to the game against the Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
This seems like an eventual move to help increase revenue for the league, so why not add it with this schedule lengthening? An entire brand new billion-dollar deal awaits.
Obviously teams that play on Tuesday can’t turn around and play the following Sunday, so scheduling these could be done in the same manner as international games. Teams would have a mandatory (no longer let them opt out) bye the following week.
Recap
Jan 22, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell before a NFC divisional round game between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers at Levi’s Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
All of these changes gives the NFL multiple additional avenues for revenue:
2 additional weeks of NFL contests for their broadcast packages
An additional broadcast package for Tuesday night contests across up to 19 weeks
Two additional wild-card games every year with a 1 vs 8 matchup in each conference
Bigger Super Bowl parties with most of the US now having Monday off
In-season Pro Bowl increases fan interest
Source link : https://cowboyswire.usatoday.com/lists/nfl-18-game-schedule-proposal-ideas-changes/
Author :
Publish date : 2024-07-26 12:28:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
