"Who plays who and why?" NFL season structure for dummies

NFL NFL season structure for dummies Who plays who and why? There are two conferences in the NFL: American Football Conference (AFC) & National Football Conference (NFC) Each conference has four divisions: East, West, North & South Each division has 4 teams which makes a total of 32 teams in 8 divisions and 2 conferences AFC WEST AFC NORTH NFC WEST NFC NORTH Denver Broncos Kansas City Chiefs Oakland Raiders San Diego Chargers Baltimore Ravens cincinnati Bengals Cleveland Browns Pittsburgh Steelers Arizona Cardinals St. Louis Rams San Francisco 49ers Seattle Seahawks Chicago Bears Detroit Lions Green Bay Packers Minnesota Vikings AFC SOUTH AFC EAST NFC SOUTH NFC EAST Houston Texans Indianapolis Colts Jacksonville Jaguars Tennessee Titans Buffalo Bills Miami Dolphins New England Patriots New York Jets Atlanta Falcons Carolina Panthers New Orleans Saints Tampa Bay Buccaneers Dallas Cowboys New York Giants Philadelphia Eagles Washington Redskins Regular season Each team will play a total of 16 games during the regular season starting in September during a period of 17 weeks (each team gets one bye week) based on the following rules: Each team plays each of the other teams in its division twice (home & Away) Each team will play all of the teams in one of the other divisions in its conference once. Which division they play shifts each year and will follow a standard cycle = 6 games = 4 games Each team will play all of the teams in one of the divisions in the OTHER conference once. Which division they play shifts each year and will follow a standard cycle Each team will play two teams of the other divisions in its conference. These games are assigned on the basis of the team's final divisional standing in the previous season 2 games = 4 games Example of the New York Giants 2014 regular season 2. AFC WEST AFC NORTH NFC WEST NFC NORTH Denver Broncos Kansas City Chiefs Oakland Raiders San Diego Chargers Baltimore Ravens cincinnati Bengals Cleveland Browns Pittsburgh Steelers Arizona Cardinals St. Louis Rams San Francisco 49ers Seattle Seahawks Chicago Bears Detroit Lions Green Bay Packers Minnesota Vikings 4. AFC SOUTH AFC EAST NFC SOUTH NFC EAST Houston Texans Indianapolis Colts Jacksonville Jaguars Tennessee Titans Buffalo Bills Miami Dolphins New England Patriots New York Jets Atlanta Falcons Carolina Panthers New Orleans Saints Tampa Bay Buccaneers Dallas Cowboys New York Giants Philadelphia Eagles Washington Redskins 3 Playoffs AFC WEST AFC NORTH NFC WEST The champion teams of each division and the top two remaining non-division- champion teams for each conference (known as wild-cards 1& 2) proceed to the playoffs and are seeded 1-6 based on their standing. NFC NORTH AFC SOUTH AFC EAST NFC SOUTH NFC EAST 2 3 1 2 3 Division champions Wild-cards! The Divisional winner seeded #I will always play the lowest seeded team through from the wild-Cord playoffs. This means that if wild-card2 (seeded 6th) wins its match against the team Wild-card playoffs Divisional playoffs Conference championship seeded Ist in the Divisional playoffs seeded 3rd it will automatically play the team Super bowl! 'Super bowl Sunday' usually falls in the last weekend of The Divisional winners seeded as numbers I & 2 get a bye in the wild-card playoffs and automatically advance to the Divisional playoffs January or the first weekend of in a predetermined location NFL February and is held, NFL CHAMPION And the long wait for September starts again! Source: www.nfl.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Football_Conference @FemkeGoedhart