You Know, It's Not That It's Hard to Beat a Team Twice...

I don't know why everyone is talking about how tough it is to beat a team twice in a season. I feel like, in the past at least, experts only talk about how it's tough to beat a team three times in a season - that is, when division rivals play in the playoffs.

This season, good teams have happened to split most of their games against tough division opponents (Giants-Eagles-Cowboys, Panthers-Bucs-Falcons, Pats-Dolphins-Jets), but that's not what usually happens.

Even this year, PIT swept BAL, ARI swept their division, and SD would have swept DEN if not for Hochuli's blunder.

But in 2007,
NE obviously swept their division
PIT swept 2nd best 10-6 CLE
IND swept 2nd best 11-5 JAC and only lost to playoff-bound TEN in a meaningless Week 17 game
SD swept 2nd best 7-9 DEN
DAL swept 2nd best NYG (and then lost to them in the playoffs, because it's tough to beat a team THREE times in a season) and only lost to playoff bound WAS in a meaningless Week 17 game
GB swept 2nd best 8-8 MIN
TB swept tied for 2nd best 7-9 NO and only lost to 7-9 CAR in a meaningless Week 17 game

In those playoffs,
NE beat SD a second time
JAC beat PIT a second time
SD beat TEN a second time
SD beat IND a second time
GB & NE failed to beat NYG a second time

In 2006,
BAL swept t-2nd best PIT, but not CIN
SD swept t-2nd best DEN, but not KC
PHI swept 2nd best playoff bound DAL
SEA swept 2nd best STL

In those playoffs,
IND beat NE a second time
CHI beat SEA a second time
NO beat PHI a second time

In 2005,
NE swept their division except 9-7 MIA in a meaningless Week 17 game
IND swept their division including 12-4 playoff bound JAC
DEN swept 9-7 SD but not 10-6 KC
SEA swept their division

In those playoffs,
DEN beat NE a second time
TB failed to beat WAS a second time
WAS failed to beat SEA a second time
CHI failed to beat CAR a second time
IND failed to beat PIT a second time

So, of the past 24 division winners, only the '07 Seahawks, '06 Pats, '06 Colts, '06 Bears, '06 Saints, '05 Bengals, '05 Broncos, '05 Giants, '05 Bears, and the '05 Bucs (10/24) didn't sweep their toughest division rival. In the playoffs, the previous winners lost only 6 of 14 (less than 50%) rematches. And three of those revenge wins were by teams that went on to win the Super Bowl. Point is, good teams can beat a team twice. The old adage is that it's the third time that's tough.

If we're a good team, we're going to beat Arizona. They don't play us often and it's certainly not a disadvantage that we happened to beat them way back in week 8.