Decoded Blog

The 17th game was not a gift to fans. It came out of the 2020 labour deal, traded for more player revenue and a record TV contract.

As promised, here are my first-ever NFL division picks. I lined up ESPN, FanDuel and Bleacher Report, followed the consensus where it was solid, and backed my own read on four divisions. Tell me where I’m wrong.

Ask which NFL division is the best and you get two answers, both fair, and they can flatly contradict each other. It comes down to one thing: whether you are measuring what already happened, or guessing what happens next. This also then has another added layer to it. You will find fans like me making,…

Divisional rivals meet twice a season, guaranteed. Six of seventeen games against the same three clubs, which is why these five feuds have piled up 680 meetings between them.

In the last weekend of the 2025 season, Tampa Bay went from division leaders to eliminated without playing a game. A third team joined the tie and reversed it. The NFL rulebook explains how, and the reason is stranger than the headlines were.