Taking their cue from the multitude of angry fans, upset about the decisions by several teams not to play their starters late last season, the NFL has announced that this season’s schedule will make all 16 games during the final week of the season a match between division rivals.

The league is hopeful this will prevent clubs from having to make the decision of whether they should rest their starters, with their playoff seeding already wrapped up.

Given the competitive nature in most divisions, this move could turn the final week of the season into the most exciting portion of the schedule, as teams will be gunning for their division crowns and a playoff spot, instead of playing a relatively meaningless contest against a non-divisional opponent.

Much of the discussion surrounding this decision came from the Colts, who chose to pull their starters in the second half of their week 15 game against the Jets, preferring to rest their top level players instead of making a run for perfection on the year. New York summarily defeated Indianapolis in that match, and then made a surprising run through the remainder of their schedule and the AFC Playoffs to force a rematch in the conference championship. The Colts won that contest, 30-17.

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