Jerry Jones didn’t exactly announce a plan on Friday, but he made it clear the idea is on his radar: more games between NFL teams separated by geography, even when they sit in different conferences.
Speaking on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, the Cowboys owner said he’d like to see the Texans more often. The two Texas teams have met only seven times since Houston entered the league in 2002, and their eighth matchup comes today.
“You can add that in the mix, and I’m not saying it’s not in the mix,” Jones said. “It’s just that other things come up and you have a different reason for the scheduling.
We obviously have a rotation involved that is the best as far as fair, complete competition year-in, year-out, around the entire league. But it’s certainly something that I would look at.
“And I wouldn’t just narrow it down to Dallas and Houston. I’d look at the entire league, you saw a game on TV [Thursday] night between Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
They’re in the same division, but those kinds of proximities, those kinds of ‘my town against your town, and who’s the best town?’ Which I think is a fundamental of our game of football.
‘My town against your town. My school against your school.’
That’s a big part of it. It’s hard to emulate anyplace but in the United States to get that rolling.”
The league could have used that kind of setup when it added the 17th game. Instead, it went with an interconference matchup built around a rotation of divisions and a team’s finish from the previous season. A geographic-rivalry format might make more sense if the NFL ever gets to 18 games, or even 19.
There are plenty of obvious candidates. Cowboys-Texans.
Jets-Giants. Rams-Chargers. 49ers-Raiders.
Ravens-Commanders. Steelers-Eagles.
Buccaneers-Jaguars. Titans-Falcons.
But the list wouldn’t solve itself. There aren’t 16 clean matches, which means the league would have to assign one annual rival to every team if it went this route. That could lead to pairings like Packers-Chiefs, Bears-Colts, Lions-Browns and Broncos-Seahawks.
Some teams would create more debate than others. The Bills and Patriots would need answers.
The Vikings and Bengals could wind up as a geographic fit by default. The Dolphins might line up with the Saints or Panthers.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, would be left out in the wilderness.
Even so, the appeal is obvious: a handful of forced matchups would be outweighed by a slate of yearly games that tap straight into location and local pride. The league could even turn it into a recurring event, with the same weekend on the calendar each year, a marketing slogan and special Nike uniforms.
And if it can be packaged as a bigger money-maker, that only makes it more likely the NFL will eventually do it.
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