The opponents for all 2010 regular-season games have been determined and a complete list of each team’s home and away matchups was issued today by the NFL. The scheduling formula implemented in 2002 with realignment guarantees that all teams play each other on a regular, rotating basis. Under the formula, every team within a division plays 16 games as follows:

• Home and away against its three division opponents (6 games). The four teams from another division within its conference on a rotating three-year cycle (4 games). The four teams from a division in the other conference on a rotating four-year cycle (4 games).
• Two intraconference games based on the prior year’s standings (2 games). These games match a first-place team against the first-place teams in the two same-conference divisions the team is not scheduled to play that season. The second-place, third-place, and fourth-place teams in a conference are matched in the same way each year.

• There is an increased common-opponent emphasis with every team in a division playing against 14 common opponents. All teams play each other on a regular basis, home and away, for a more consistent presentation of attractive games, eliminating the many schedule aberrations of the past. Teams are guaranteed to play all non-division opponents in their conference at least once every three years, and at home at least once every six years. Every AFC team plays every NFC team once every four years, and at home once every eight years. A team’s record from the previous year has less of a bearing on its schedule, with only two (rather than four) opponents being based on the previous year’s standing. Thus, the so-called “easy” fifth-place schedules have been eliminated.

• The division in which a team resides is less of a factor in a team’s won-loss record with 10 of 16 games each year being against non-division teams.