Games That MATTER Late in 2010 Season

The 2010 schedule was released on Tuesday, April 20th. The first game of the season will be the Superbowl champion New Orleans Saints hosting the Minnesota Vikings in an NFC title game rematch Thursday, Sept. 9. As interesting as this may be, the schedule only gets better.
The last Sunday of the regular season will be filled with 16 intradivisional battles on Sunday, Jan. 2. The NFL stressed this year that they want the remaining games of the season to have meaning. Now, most people would believe that in the NFL every game means something. However, late in the season it is not always the case.
A perfect example is the 16th week of the 2009 season. The Colts and Jets played each other and the Colts pulled their starters halfway through the game to keep them from getting injured. The Jets wound up coming back and winning the game. The next week, the Bengals made the same move and this ultimately gave the Jets a better chance to get into a wild card playoff spot.
Due to situations like this, the NFL has pressured the teams to have divisional games within the last three weeks of the season. So, week 17 will feature divisional showdowns and the final three weeks there will be 28 such match-ups, 13 more than last year.
The NFL is smart for making a decision like this. Fans do not want to watch games in the late weeks that mean nothing. They want to see teams face off and fight for division titles. When second string players come in just because they do not want their players getting hurt it turns the fans off. So thanks so much NFL for encouraging this. It will make mine and millions of other fans happier!
Click here to see the full 2010 NFL schedule.