(12-06-2022, 11:28 AM)Mikey Wrote:

(12-06-2022, 08:43 AM)imtheblkranger Wrote: I do agree, the divisions make no sense. Indy in the AFCS? Dallas in the NFCE?

Dallas was tied to Iggles/Redacteds/Giants due to ages of divisional history.

Both southern divisions were the leftovers, either expansion teams with little history, relocated franchises, or otherwise teams that didn't quite have the same ties that the other teams had when delineation occurred.

Prior to realignment, due to relocations and expansions we had other head-scratchers like ATL and NO in the NFC W, PHX/AZ in the NFC East, JAX in the AFC Central, Tampa in the NFC North, etc.

You can see that the NFCS has taken to their division, for years it seemed they rotated the crown from one team to the next, and it cemented new rivalries among 4 preexisting franchises. Unfortunately, the AFCS has had some real lopsided races (indy and Manning early on, and more recently the tacks) with no real contention. That lack of contention has hurt the divisional sense of rivalry. Heck, I'd even say in the early years of the division when we were chasing indy, they still had more focus on competing with Brady's Pats, Ben's Stillers way more than they worried about us unseating them.

We need a good number of years where multiple teams are competitive and the divisional games to mean more than darft positioning for the rivalries to really take hold.