Skilly Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 As I see it, losing the first game of the year to a divisional opponent is like starting the year 0-2. The winning team now has a game up on the loser in the standings as well as the tiebreaker advantage. Of course, the season is long and things can change, but I can't help but feel that the losing team is at more of a disadvantage than say another team that loses to a conference opponent. A non-conference loss, especially on the road, generally won't hurt that team (ie Chicago will be fine). I don't have any prior year's stats to back up my claim: sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cdrudge Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 Statistically speaking, how is losing game one any different then game 8 or game 16? A win is a win and a loss is a loss. I can understand in college football where a early season loss fscks you out of the polls forever, but not in the NFL. It's purely in the players head that they are any more behind after a first game loss then if that same loss came at some other point in the season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skilly Posted September 10, 2007 Author Share Posted September 10, 2007 I know. Statistically, maybe it means nothing. Although maybe one of these days I'll spend some time to see if there is any correlation between losing the first game to a divisional opponent (my main variable) and say, making the playoffs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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