Scheduling. Sorta.

A couple of weeks ago, the NFL announced the full schedule for the 2012 season. I've read five or six different football fans who have posted on various social media something about their feelings toward the opponents their team will face this year. None of them said anything about when their team is playing someone, or if they have a particularly difficult stretch.

This leads me to believe that these fans I've come across think that it isn't until April that we can know who our team's opponents will be for the following season, and that's just patently false. I can tell you 14 of the Cowboys' 16 opponents for every season in the future (or at least for as long as the current scheduling format remains the same). The second that any given regular season ends, I can tell you the last 2 opponents for the following year. That means that the only new information we received a couple of weeks ago was the dates that our teams would play, and on what tv station. If you truly need that information now (i.e., if you are scheduling your November Sunday afternoons and you have to plan around your team), then you have a weird life.

So here's the basics of how you can know who your team will play in seasons to come without having to wait for the league to announce it in April:
1. Each team plays the other 3 teams in its own division twice (one home, one away each). 6 games
2. Each team plays the 4 teams in another division within its conference on a rotating basis. Last season the NFC East played the NFC West. This season they'll play the NFC South. In 2013 they'll play the NFC North. In 2014 the rotation begins again, and they'll play the NFC West. Pretty easy. Two of these games will be home, and 2 will be away (which I think is determined primarily on where they played the last time they faced these teams). 4 games
3. Each team plays the 4 teams in a division from the opposing conference on a rotating basis. Last season the NFC East played the AFC East. This season they'll play the AFC North. In 2013 they'll play the AFC West, and in 2014 they'll play the AFC South before rotating back to the AFC East in 2015. Two of these will be home, 2 will be away. 4 games.

And that's 14 games. So we know 14 of the 16 teams Dallas will face in 2013, 2014, 2015 and beyond until they change the format. But what about the last two opponents?

The final two opponents are determined by final regular season standings. Each team will play the teams from the two other divisions they do not face within their conference who finished in the same divisional spot as them the previous year. I'll simplify. Last season the Cowboys finished 3rd in the NFC East. Other 3rd place teams in the NFC were the Bears (North), Panthers (South) and Seahawks (West). Since the Cowboys play the NFC South this season, they're already playing the Panthers. The final two opponents they'll face are therefore the Bears and the Seahawks.

All this to say, if you're truly an NFL fan, there's no reason to get all excited about the release of the schedule in April, because you already know who your team's playing. The only interesting part is how the level of difficulty in schedule is impacted by when they play (when they get their bye, if they have a string of away games, or a string of especially tough games after the weather gets cold, etc.).