Browns-Lions would have a good old school feel to it. The Browns and Lions faced one another four times in the NFL Championship Game. 1952- Lions 17, Browns 7 1953- Lions 17, Browns 16 1954- Browns 56, Lions 10 1957- Lions 59, Browns 14 As for those four South teams above, I think the Falcons would have to be paired with the Jaguars. A Georgia team vs a Northern Florida team would make for a good rivalry. Georgia-Florida is obviously a heated college football rivalry. Now that I'm on the subject... I liked the 18-game schedule of the USFL. It allowed the cream to rise to the top. The cream would have risen to the top in the NFL in 1999 if there was an 18-game schedule. The Dolphins and Seahawks both made the playoffs with 9-7 records. Both played awful football down the stretch. The Jets (for sure) and Chiefs (IIRC) were playing well down the stretch. The Jets finished 8-8. The Chiefs finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs due to a tiebreaker. If there was an 18-game schedule, the Jets likely would have finished 10-8, the Chiefs 10-8 or 11-7, and the Dolphins and Seahawks likely would have been 9-9. Another USFL thought... At the time, I wanted a couple teams to merge with the NFL. Two USFL franchises could have entered the NFL. The Jacksonville Bulls and Baltimore Stars would have been the way to go. Baltimore would have been home to an NFL team once again. Their team name and helmet logo would probably have annoyed the Dallas Cowboys, which would be to my liking. Jacksonville had pretty good attendance from what I remember and I loved their name and uniforms. Bills vs Bulls would have been a funny matchup, sort of a Rough Riders-Roughriders thing going on there. Had this happened, Art Modell would have had to find a different city in which to relocate the Cleveland Browns and St. Louis would have received an expansion franchise to begin play in the 1995 season. Maybe the Rams would have moved to Tennessee. Then, where would the Oilers have moved to for the 1997 season?
a 17th game will make the season too long. we don't want to dilute the value of each game like the 182 games in baseball. i think the current system is perfectly fine. also adding an extra competitive game increases the chances of injury. injuries that could last until next season, thereby potentially damming a team for 2 or more years.
