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Geographical realignment would improve NFL


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From Football365

By Anthony Bialy on April 23, 2007 04:05 AM

I'm over Vince Lombardi giving the AFC grief after Super Bowl I. We've had 40 Super Bowls since then, and that's plenty of time to drop the bitterness, just as those in NFC markets shouldn't be upset about that hippie punk Joe Namath and his victory over the old school. It's time to officially declare the anciently pointless conference rivalry over, most of all so we can rid ourselves of one relic of the rift that's approaching 50 years old: geographically illogical conferences.

The current conference divide is basically based on whether teams were in the established or rebel group, a holdover from the Eisenhower administration. It would be much more sensible to abolish a split based on who was in what now-superseded league and instead arrange teams based on the logical approach of looking at a map and seeing what cities should be grouped together.

Of course, how's this for honesty, any realignment will have the drawback of ending some traditional rivalries. But the benefit would be that we could establish newer and hopefully fiercer rivalries in its place. Once the adjustment is overcome, teams facing new, closer twice-a-year opponents will make the game more enjoyable for the fans and ferocious for the players involved.

Staying in the current divisional setup is like remaining in a relationship with someone you don't adore: It may be functional on a certain hollow level, and it may be what you're used to, but you'd be better served by looking for someone better, even if it means a temporary awkward transition.

For example, it means Buffalo and Miami won't be division enemies anymore, a pairing which evokes the natural contempt between dissimilar cities. However, the Bills will be playing teams from localities closer to home while the Dolphins can look forward to rivalries with the other two Florida teams. The New York City and Bay Area teams, respectively, will each battle twice a year instead of maybe once every four years, and other franchises that are within a full tank of gas from each other will play home and away games annually.

We can't continue to have the league's placement of teams jury-rigged around the Cowboys and Redskins getting to play each other two times a season. Besides, fans of those teams will soon have the Texans and Ravens, respectively, to hate.

So, here are two new alignments to consider. There are a lot of ways to go with resetting the teams, and any plan to regionalize divisions and thereby create enmity between neighbors will make the NFL better.

Alignment One:

Eastern Conference

Northeast Division

New England Patriots

New York Jets

New York Giants

Philadelphia Eagles

Southeast Division

Baltimore Ravens

Washington Redskins

Carolina Panthers

Atlanta Falcons

Gulf Division

Jacksonville Jaguars

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Miami Dolphins

New Orleans Saints

Erie Division

Buffalo Bills

Pittsburgh Steelers

Cleveland Browns

Detroit Lions

Western Conference

Midwest Division

Cincinnati Bengals

Indianapolis Colts

Tennessee Titans

St. Louis Rams

Central Division

Minnesota Vikings

Green Bay Packers

Chicago Bears

Kansas City Chiefs

Southern Division

Houston Texans

Dallas Cowboys

Arizona Cardinals

San Diego Chargers

Northwest Division

Denver Broncos

San Francisco 49ers

Oakland Raiders

Seattle Seahawks

Alignment Two:

Eastern Conference

Northeast Division

New England Patriots

Buffalo Bills

New York Jets

New York Giants

Atlantic Division

Philadelphia Eagles

Pittsburgh Steelers

Baltimore Ravens

Washington Redskins

Southeast Division

Atlanta Falcons

Jacksonville Jaguars

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Miami Dolphins

Central Division

Indianapolis Colts

Cincinnati Bengals

Tennessee Titans

Carolina Panthers

Western Conference

Northern Division

Green Bay Packers

Chicago Bears

Detroit Lions

Cleveland Browns

Southern Division

New Orleans Saints

Houston Texans

Dallas Cowboys

Arizona Cardinals

Midwest Division

Minnesota Vikings

St. Louis Rams

Kansas City Chiefs

Denver Broncos

Pacific Division

San Diego Chargers

San Francisco 49ers

Oakland Raiders

Seattle Seahawks

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I don't know if I would like to see the NFL realign the teams or not. I never understood why Dallas was in the NFC East.

so FITM when will the JC mock draft be?

12:54AM - News: This Week At JetsCentral

Posted by Gary Grund -

This week at JetsCentral will be a bit of a change. The draft is coming up next weekend and we are going to shift into full draft mode for the week. Not only will we bring you news, rumors, and opinion on the Jets, but we will go about taking a look at all 32 NFL teams.

During the week, we here at JetsCentral will conduct a first round mock draft that will be posted. As draft day approaches, we will have the latest on any possible trades that breakdown in the closing hours to draft day.

Starting at noon on Saturday, April 28th, the NFL draft will begin. Throughout the first round, we will have a new blog post for each pick, then we will be giving our opinion on each pick for all 32 first round selections.

Between rounds 2-3, we will breakdown only the AFC East picks that are made.

Finally, on Sunday, rounds 4-7, we will only breakdown each pick by the Jets.

With that said, it will be a busy week here at JetsCentral. Let

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That's crazy IMO. I can't imagine the Jets not being division rivals with the Dolphins, or even the Cowboys not even being in the same division as the Redskins, Eagles, or Giants. Yeah the geography is pretty screwy but you can't just "create" new rivalries out of the blue and expect them to come even close to Jets-Dolphins or Cowboys-Redskins.

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so FITM when will the JC mock draft be?

12:54AM - News: This Week At JetsCentral

Posted by Gary Grund -

This week at JetsCentral will be a bit of a change. The draft is coming up next weekend and we are going to shift into full draft mode for the week. Not only will we bring you news, rumors, and opinion on the Jets, but we will go about taking a look at all 32 NFL teams.

During the week, we here at JetsCentral will conduct a first round mock draft that will be posted. As draft day approaches, we will have the latest on any possible trades that breakdown in the closing hours to draft day.

Starting at noon on Saturday, April 28th, the NFL draft will begin. Throughout the first round, we will have a new blog post for each pick, then we will be giving our opinion on each pick for all 32 first round selections.

Between rounds 2-3, we will breakdown only the AFC East picks that are made.

Finally, on Sunday, rounds 4-7, we will only breakdown each pick by the Jets.

With that said, it will be a busy week here at JetsCentral. Let

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I don't know if I would like to see the NFL realign the teams or not. I never understood why Dallas was in the NFC East.

On the last realignment when the Browns were reborn and the Jags and Panthers came in, Cowboys, Giants, Eagles and Skins pretty much demanded to stay together. They like thier rivalries, the same way it would suck not to count on those 2 wins each year form the Dolphins.

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F the Giants.

I like the Phinns in the division.

Do you really? They own Tom Brady... 2 games with almost no passing... a shutout... he is 2-2 vs the Phins...

Tom Brady vs Dolphins in the last 2 seasons (4 games)

Yards - 490 (122.5 yards per game)

TD - 5 (1.25 TD per game)

INT - 3 (.75 INT per game)

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No way either CBS or Fox will give up the NYC market to facilitate a realignment like this.

That's what will stop it. And under no circumstances will the Steelers and Browns be split, along with the Bears-Packers and the entire AFC West. If you've ever been to any of theose cities, you would realize how much they despise and look forward to beating the crap out of each other.

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There is no chance that this could / will happen. There is no way that the NFL would take away all the key and big rivalries two times a year that give them a huge draw of attendance, viewer ratings, etc.

They would not take the Philadelphia Eagles and Giants out of the NFC East and place them in with the Jets & Patriots while kicking out the Bills & Dolphins. Miami / New York, Miami / New England, Miami / Buffalo, Buffalo / New England, New York / Buffalo... and thats just the AFC East's affects. What about Philly / Dallas and Dallas / Washington?

Those are just two divisions and you can go on and on. There is no way this would happen. It could've been done 30-40 years ago... not now.

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There is no chance that this could / will happen. There is no way that the NFL would take away all the key and big rivalries two times a year that give them a huge draw of attendance, viewer ratings, etc.

They would not take the Philadelphia Eagles and Giants out of the NFC East and place them in with the Jets & Patriots while kicking out the Bills & Dolphins. Miami / New York, Miami / New England, Miami / Buffalo, Buffalo / New England, New York / Buffalo... and thats just the AFC East's affects. What about Philly / Dallas and Dallas / Washington?

Those are just two divisions and you can go on and on. There is no way this would happen. It could've been done 30-40 years ago... not now.

I agree 124, I think there's a better chance of changing up the days of the week, though I wouldn't mind that, I'd love to wake up & find that tomorrow is friday

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Do you really? They own Tom Brady... 2 games with almost no passing... a shutout... he is 2-2 vs the Phins...

Tom Brady vs Dolphins in the last 2 seasons (4 games)

Yards - 490 (122.5 yards per game)

TD - 5 (1.25 TD per game)

INT - 3 (.75 INT per game)

Yeah.

Too much AFC East history would go away.

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The mere fact that this guy considered this idea should result in a lifelong ban on writing anything about the NFL. Whoever gave the go ahead to print this should also be fired. What a retarded idea, quite possibly the second worst idea I've ever seen relating to the NFL put in print.

The first? When there were rumors that the NFL was considering taking the home crowds out of the games, because they didn't like Peyton's audibles not being heard or something. But at least in that case it was a reporter reporting a rumor, and there's a good chance it was just a joke anyway. The scary thing is the moron that wrote this article is SERIOUS and thinks he has a good idea!!!! Congratulations Herm Edwards, you are no longer the stupidest person in the NFL!

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