Did anyone agree with the NFL alignment in 1970

[neo_prankster]

I dont understand why Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Baltimore were the 3 teams chosen to switch.

The Steelers were losers so that made sense, and the Redskins already had the bealtway in the NFC and that made sence, but the Browns? the AFC already had the Bengals, why could not the AFC get the Saints instead?

If the AFC had gotten the Saints, here's what the alignment would've looked like:

NFC East:

Atlanta

NY Giants

Philadelphia

Washington

NFC Central:

Chicago

Cleveland

Detroit

Green Bay

Minnesota

NFC West

Dallas

Los Angeles

St. Louis

San Francisco

AFC East

Baltimore

Boston

Buffalo

Miami

NY Jets

AFC Central

Cincinnati

Houston

New Orleans

Pittsburgh

AFC West

Denver

Kansas City

Oakland

San Diego

[wdm1219inpenna]

NJ Tank, I too always wondered why New Orleans didn't go to the AFC, but with the whole "Pittsburgh & Cleveland must go as a pair" combo, I now understand why.

What I am about to suggest could not yet have worked in 1970, but would work now, and would also help keep divisions "as is", even if any teams moved.

Remember years back, the NHL had the Adams, Patrick, Smythe, etc? Here's what I would do for the NFL...

The AFC would be renamed the Hunt Conference (in honor of Lamar A. Hunt, owner of the KC Chiefs, a huge factor in the Super Bowl & merger of the AFL & NFL, and the Hunt Trophy is awarded to the AFC winner).

The NFC would be renamed the Halas Conference (in honor of George S. Halas, one of the founding fathers of the NFL, and whose trophy is awarded to the NFC Champ).

AFC East would be renamed the Shula Division in honor of Don Shula, the alltime winningest head coach in league history, a man who took two different teams to the Super Bowl, and the one to make the most appearances as a head coach in a Super Bowl with 6 (1 w/Baltimore Colts, 5 w/Miami Dolphins).

The AFC Shula Division would be exactly the same right now as the AFC East (Miami, New England, NY Jets, Buffalo).

The AFC North would be renamed the Noll Division, in honor of Chuck Noll, the only head coach to win 4 Super Bowl titles, and the man who was responsible for putting the Steelers on the map.

NOLL Division would be Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati & Tennessee. I would move Tennessee out from the South into this division, as they were the old Houston Oilers, and these 4 teams were division rivals for over 3 decades. In my ultimate dream, the Titans would move back to Houston, be renamed the Oilers, and the Texans would move to San Antonio and keep their nickname in tact.

The AFC South would be renamed the Unitas Division, in honor of the late great Johnny Unitas. This would be an obvious choice for me at least because the 4 teams in this division would be Baltimore Ravens (Baltimore where Unitas played), Indianapolis (the Colts, obviously), the Texans (the Colts nickname before moving to Baltimore) and the Jaguars.

The AFC West would be renamed the Stram Division. I seriously considered calling it the Madden Division, but Madden's name is all over the place w/video games, etc. Stram was the first AFL Super Bowl head coach, the only man to be w/the same team throughout the 10 year history of the AFL, and I for one am glad he was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame before he died. Sad to say Buck O'Neil couldn't have been afforded that same courtesy w/the Baseball Hall of Fame, but I digress. The Stram Division would be the same as the AFC West : San Diego, Denver, Oakland & Kansas City, of course.

NFC East would be the same, Dallas, Philly, Washington & NY Giants, and renamed the Landry Division, in honor of Tom Landry, the first head coach to lead his team to 5 Super Bowls, and the long-lasting and first head coach in Cowboy history, not to mention he was an assistant w/the Giants.

NFC North would be the same, Minnesota, Green Bay, Chicago and the Detroit Cowardly Lions (how pathetic have THEY been for the past, oh...50 years?). The division would be renamed the Grant Division, in honor of long time legendary Vikings head coach Bud Grant. I considered calling this the Lombardi Division, but the Super Bowl Trophy is already named after him, and felt ol Bud Grant deserved some kudos.

NFC South would be renamed the Thorpe division, in honor of Jim Thorpe, all-American, and one of the greatest all around athletes in the first half of the 20th century. That he is Native American also would influence my realignment of this division. The Thorpe Division would be Arizona, Seattle, Carolina & Tampa Bay (Seattle I believe was the name of a great Indian chief, Arizona is where sadly all Native Americans were relegated to living, and I put Carolina & Tampa in there too because of wanting to re-unite the old NFC West teams).

NFC West would be renamed the Walsh Division, to honor legendary head coach Bill Walsh, who was the architect of the 49ers ascension into power in the 1980s, after being so bad for more years than not during the previous 20 years. Walsh Division would be San Francisco, St. Louis (although again in my dream world, I'd have them back in L.A.), Atlanta & New Orleans.

So a quick recap....

HUNT CONFERENCE

Shula Division - Dolphins, Patriots, Jets, Bills

Noll Division - Steelers, Titans, Browns, Bengals

Unitas Division - Colts, Ravens, Jaguars, Texans

Stram Division - Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos, Chargers

HALAS CONFERENCE

Landry Division - Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins, Giants

Grant Division - Vikings, Packers, Lions, Bears

Thorpe Division - Cardinals, Seahawks, Buccaneers, Panthers

Walsh Division - 49ers, Rams, Saints, Falcons

This way, should ANY team move, it won't screw up the current "geographically correct" alignment currently in place. And not using North South East & West is not unprecedented, not even in the NFL, when they used to be the Coastal, Century, Capital and Central division.

Awesome topic! Thanks for allowing us to contribute!

Regards,

Bill McD.

[cappital92]

HUNT CONFERENCE

Shula Division - Dolphins, Patriots, Jets, Bills

Noll Division - Steelers, Titans, Browns, Bengals

Unitas Division - Colts, Ravens, Jaguars, Texans

Stram Division - Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos, Chargers

HALAS CONFERENCE

Marshall Division - Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins, Giants

Grant Division - Vikings, Packers, Lions, Bears

Thorpe Division - Cardinals, Seahawks, Buccaneers, Panthers

Walsh Division - 49ers, Rams, Saints, Falcons

Instead of Tom Landry I thought George Preston Marshall,the first owner of the Redskins and NFL innovator,

should have his name grace the division.Or,Instead of Marshall,George Allen would be fine,too.

[OMMF]

Thorpe Division - Cardinals, Seahawks, Buccaneers, Panthers

Geeze. Thank goodness there isn't a 5th corner to the country or you might have worked that in, too.

[Mac the Knife]

Actually only one of the plans had Dallas in the NFC East(the one that was actually chosen). The others had them in either the Central or West. It was the Minnesota Vikings who were stuck in the East for most of those plans, as i'll post here now:

Good find, Buzz. I have this from the Don Weiss book but was too lazy to post it.

Dallas in the NFC East, then and now, baffles me, particularly now with Carolina in the NFC.

[BB61]

Actually, this may have something more to do with it...

Prior to the addition of the Saints in 1967, the NFL had two undivided conferences -- Eastern and Western. There were no playoffs unless there was a tie for first, and the team with the best record in each conference played in the championship game.

The alignment for the 14 team NFL (1961-1965) was as such:

EASTERN -- Dallas, Cleveland, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Washington, Pittsburgh, and the NY Giants.

WESTERN -- Baltimore, Green Bay, Minnesota, Detroit, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco.

These conferences had remained unchanged since 1953, excepting the addition of Dallas into the East in 1960, and Minnesota into the West in 1961. When Atlanta joined in 1966, they were put in the East, and then moved West in '67 with the addition of the Saints.

When the 16-team NFL realigned for the 1967 season, they divided the eight team conferences into somewhat non-geographical divisions, at least by name. The plan called for the Saints and Giants to switch divisons for 1968 only, but the alignment that year (shown below) was the blueprint for what became the post-merger NFC.

EASTERN - Capitol Division: Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington, NY Giants

EASTERN - Century Division: Cleveland, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, St. Louis

WESTERN - Coastal Division: Los Angeles, Baltimore, San Francisco, Atlanta

WESTERN - Central Division: Chicago, Green Bay, Minnesota, Detroit.

And yes, those were the real names, I'm not making this :censored: up.

Anyway, It appears that the Central Division and '68 Capitol Division were kept intact after the merger, and with the Century Division being diluted by the loss of Pittsburgh and Cleveland, put St. Louis in the East and New Orleans in the West to replace Baltimore (which is highly illogical in and of itself, but I'm not arguing logic here, just pointing something out.)

Now, in case anyone anyone is wondering about the AFC, well... the AFL's 1968-69 alignment was:

EAST: Buffalo, Miami, New York, Boston, Houston

WEST: Kansas City, Oakland, San Diego, Denver, Cincinnati

Alas, it seemed pretty obvious to put an east coast team with the rest of them, and move the two new NFL teams in the central and move the two mismatched teams into this new division.

And now that I've wasted 20 minutes writing that, I'm going to walk away from the computer... My brain hurts...

[The_Admiral]

I like those names. THE CENTURY DIVISION.

[Dilbert]

I dont even agree with todays alignment

Miami belongs in the AFC South

Baltimore to the AFC East

Indianapolis to the AFC North

Dallas does not belong in the NFC East. Their freakin west of the Mississippi River.

[The_Admiral]

Who cares? Their rivals are the Giants, Eagles, and Redskins, and always have been. What good would it do to put them in another division after 40some years just because of some arbitrary direction names? Just call it the Century Division again.

[Pharos04]

Same reason the AFC East will never be altered. all 4 of the teams are traditional AFL Rivals. Baltimore was clumped into the East when it jumped Conferences. Tradition dictates all especially with the two Eastern Divisions

[Mac the Knife]

EASTERN - Capitol Division: Dallas, Philadelphia, Washington, NY Giants

EASTERN - Century Division: Cleveland, New Orleans, Pittsburgh, St. Louis

WESTERN - Coastal Division: Los Angeles, Baltimore, San Francisco, Atlanta

WESTERN - Central Division: Chicago, Green Bay, Minnesota, Detroit.

And yes, those were the real names, I'm not making this :censored: up.

And today, my flag football league has Century, Capitol, Central and Coastal divisions in homage to this brief period in NFL alignment history...

[leopard88]

Instead of Tom Landry I thought George Preston Marshall,the first owner of the Redskins and NFL innovator,

should have his name grace the division.

That would be unlikely to happen because Marshall was a pretty well known racist.

[Mac the Knife]

The NFC East will never be changed, NEVER! The rivalries between the Cowboys, Giants, Eagles and Skins are huge money for the teams and the NFL.

Uh, it was changed - remember the Cardinals?

[The_Admiral]

Same reason the AFC East will never be altered. all 4 of the teams are traditional AFL Rivals. Baltimore was clumped into the East when it jumped Conferences. Tradition dictates all especially with the two Eastern Divisions

I think the AFC West is similar. They weren't going to break up Chargers/Raiders/Broncos/Chiefs even if something made more sense to some anal-retentive.

[DrBear]

One big reason the Colts were lumped into the AFC East was because of Super Bowl III - a chance for the two teams in that game to meet twice a year. That, in my understanding, was Carroll Rosenbloom's reason for finally jumping - a chance to beat up on the Jets on a regular basis.

It's also worth noting that the 1967 Central Division, with only the temporary stay of Tampa Bay, has reamined the same even as the NFC North into its 40th season. THAT'S how you build rivalries!

[Telemundo219]

It doesn't make sense naming a division by a geographical preference and not having the teams in that order. This whole rivalry/history thing can still be kept in place. If you notice, the Cardinals formerly of the NFC East, still play the Eagles, Giants, Redskins, and Cowboys every season that they've been apart of the NFC West and so do the Colts playing those current AFC East teams which they were members of before 2002. Having teams like Atlanta, Carolina, and New Orleans in the same division as Los Angeles/St.Louis and San fran made no type of sense at all. Scheduling can keep rivalries in place.

If I had to re-align the NFL divisonal system now, it would look like this:

AFC

East- Bills, Jets, Patriots and now Ravens (Isn't Baltimore closer to Washington than Cleveland or Cincinnati. Washington would never be considered a central or north team so why do that to Baltimore)

North- Steelers, Browns, Bengals, and now Colts. (Indianapolis not Anapolis. Indiana neigbors Ohio, and Illinois.)

South- Texans, Titans, Jags, and now Dolphins. (How can you have two teams from the same state, in the same conference, but in different divsions.)

West- SAME

NFC

East- Eagles, Giants, Redskins, and now Panthers (they are more eastern than Dallas will ever be geographically.)

North-SAME

South-Saints, Falcons, Bucs and now Cowboys (Louisiana is neighbors to Texas.)

West-SAME

[leopard88]

If you notice, the Cardinals formerly of the NFC East, still play the Eagles, Giants, Redskins, and Cowboys every season that they've been apart of the NFC West and so do the Colts playing those current AFC East teams which they were members of before 2002.

That isn't correct. Under the system in place since Houston joined the league, the teams in each division play the teams in the other divisions in their own conference every 3 years and the teams in each division in the other conference every 4 years, with the matchups rotating each year. Those games account for 8 games each year. In addition to the 6 intradivision games, that leaves 2 games each year, which are played against the teams finishing in the same place in the other divisions in their own conference.

Example -- This year the Ravens (and every other AFC North team) play each of the teams in the AFC West and NFC South as part of the rotation. They also play Tennessee and Buffalo, as they were the 3rd place finishers in the AFC South and AFC East (i.e., the non-rotation divisions) last year.

The Cardinals and Colts will play at least one NFC East or AFC East team, respectively, each year. However, they only play those divisions as a whole every 3 years (thus at most twice since 2002).

[Telemundo219]

I'm sure if they wanted the teams to still play each every year, they could find a way.

[The_Admiral]

It doesn't make sense naming a division by a geographical preference and not having the teams in that order. This whole rivalry/history thing can still be kept in place. Scheduling can keep rivalries in place.

So can keeping the teams in the right divisions, you knob. Just because it's not geographically perfect doesn't mean it has to be fixed.

Indiana neigbors Ohio, and Illinois.

AW CRAP, HE'S RIGHT. This could send shockwaves through the league offices.

East- Eagles, Giants, Redskins, and now Panthers (they are more eastern than Dallas will ever be geographically.)

I liked this. It's as if Dallas aspires to be eastern, but they'll never do it! They'll never be eastern! MORE THAN YOU'LL EVER BE!

(Louisiana is neighbors to Texas.)

We're just getting lessons all over the place.

[leopard88]

I'm sure if they wanted the teams to still play each every year, they could find a way.

Of course they could. They can do anything they want because they are THE NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE.

Seriously, the league considered a type of "rivalry" scheduling to be included in the new schedule wherein each team would be assigned a rival in the other conference that they would play every year (ex., Baltimore/Washington, Jets/Giants, Raiders/49ers). Ultimately, however, the owners voted against it. I would love to see that happen, but I understand why the symmetry of the current schedule was preferred by the owners.