The New York Giants and New York Jets both play home games at MetLife Stadium, and it makes for an interesting scene when the teams meet in the regular season. The teams play in the preseason every year, and they alternate who the home team is each season.
The teams play at least once every four years during the regular season, with the possibility of an extra game squeezed in with the addition of a 17th regular-season game. Outside of having a few minor inconveniences, there is a great benefit to being the road team in the game against the team you share a stadium with. The biggest advantage is not having to travel for a road game and being able to use your own locker room.
Let’s take a look at how the home team is determined. The same scheduling philosophy applies to the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams, who share SoFi Stadium.
How Is the Giants-Jets Home Team Determined?
The Giants and Jets are scheduled to play once every four years, and the home team rotates with each meeting. The teams play twice in an eight-year period, and each team will be designated as home one time.
MORE: How Many Season-Ending Injuries Have There Been at MetLife Stadium?
Each division plays an entire division from the other conference each year, and that rotates each year through the four divisions. This ensures a team plays every other team in the league at least once every four years and plays in every NFL city at least once every eight.
How Is the Schedule Determined?
The NFL schedule is set up for each division to mostly play the same teams. There are six games against division opponents, four games against a division in the same conference, and four games against a division in the other conference.
The final standings from the previous season determine each team’s opponents for the remaining three games. Two games are against opponents against teams from the other divisions in the team’s conference.
The opponent is determined by where a team finished the year before. For example, first-place AFC teams from last season play each other this season.
The 17th game is against a non-conference opponent from a division that the team is not scheduled to play. The matchups are based on a team’s division finish from the season before. For example, this season, the NFC East plays every team in the AFC East and then one game against the AFC West based on last year’s finish.
This would open the possibility for the Jets and Giants, or Chargers and Rams, to play an additional time outside the scheduled once every four years meeting. Home teams for the 17th game rotate between conferences each year.
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