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AkronSteel
04-20-2010, 10:24 AM
Updated: April 20, 2010, 10:02 AM ET
NFL's final week only division games

The National Football League has exclusively scheduled division games for the final week of the 2010 regular season, commissioner Roger Goodell told ESPN Radio's "Mike & Mike in the Morning" on Tuesday.

The full 2010 NFL schedule will be released on Tuesday night.

Goodell reminded hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic that in a previous appearance on the show, he said he intended to push as many division games as possible into the last three weeks of the season.

"We actually have 28 divisional games in those last three weeks as opposed to 15 for the 2009 season, and all 16 of the final Week 17 games will be divisional games," Goodell said on "Mike & Mike in the Morning."

"We'll see what the impact is as we go through the next season, but we think that's a positive development in keeping the integrity of the game in those late-season games," Goodell said.

At the end of last season. Goodell expressed concerned about teams that already have clinched division titles tanking games at the end of the season to rest their players for the playoffs. The release of this year's schedule was delayed as the NFL considered whether to put more divisional games toward the end of the season.

"We have a responsibility to our fans to put the highest-quality product out on the field," Goodell said Tuesday on "Mike & Mike in the Morning."

"If this doesn't have the kind of impact we want we're going to find three or four other things to try to have the same kind of outcome ... But it is a difficult issue."

My guess is that it will be the Browns in Cleveland for our final game of the year!!! Nothing like a Browns-Steelers game in the snow!!! Woohoo

SteelAbility
04-20-2010, 04:20 PM
I'm not sure about the merits of division-only games in week 17. I do think that making all the games simultaneous on week 17 is a good idea as it produces maximum meaningful play. Unfortunately it takes away prime time games and gouges into ratings and the league will never do it. Sigh!