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Article: The big three: thanks in part to realignment, the AFC West, AFC East, and NFC South have produced some of the best playoff races in years. (2002 Postseason Preview).
- Article from:
- Football Digest
- Article date:
- February 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Century Publishing Co. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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IN RECENT SEASONS, IT OFTEN was easy to spot the NFL's power divisions: the NFC Central and AFC East. But this year the league was realigned due to the inception of the Houston Texans--and everything got jumbled:
Although realignment didn't completely change the makeup within the divisions--there are eight of them now instead of six, with the Central morphing into the North and South districts--it certainly played havoc with the rankings.
In breaking the Tampa Bay Buccaneers away from the Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, and Minnesota Vikings and moving them into the NFC South, the league unwittingly destroyed the competitive balance of ...