Posted by ESPN.com's Mike Sando
Earlier today we singled out 40 games to watch this season. The challenge was spreading the wealth across numerous teams, to avoid simply listing 10 Patriots games, 10 Giants games, etc.
Tonight I've broken down the schedule more scientifically. After loading all 256 games into a spreadsheet and playing around with the combinations, I stumbled across this: Five games this season feature teams that won a playoff game last season. In other words: Six teams won playoff games last season, and those teams play each other five times in 2008.
Seattle plays in three of these games. New England and Green Bay play in two of them. Jacksonville, San Diego and the Giants play in one apiece.
Expanding the filter, I found 31 additional games between teams that qualified for the playoffs last season, but did not necessarily win a playoff game.
Dallas, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis each play in eight of these games. Tennessee and Washington play in six apiece. Jacksonville and the Giants play in five apiece. Green Bay and Tampa Bay play in four. San Diego and Seattle each play in three. New England plays in two.
But don't take my word for it. Download the spreadsheet and see what combinations interest you. The spreadsheet breaks down every game by week, day of week, date, time, TV network, road team, home team, which teams were in the playoffs last season, which teams won a playoff game last season and each team's divisional affiliation.
