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New home? Look South

By RICK STROUD

© St. Petersburg Times, published March 25, 2001

TAMPA -- This season will be the last time the Bucs contend for the NFC Central title.

Relax. Their window of opportunity to reach the playoffs is not being nailed shut. It's just moving to another division.

Realignment will be the main topic at the NFL owners meetings that begin today in Palm Desert, Calif.

With the Houston Texans entering the league in 2002, the league will have eight four-team divisions.

Most of the best rivalries will remain intact. But the Bucs have agreed to become one of the teams on the move, fleeing the NFC Central for warmer climates in the new NFC South, a division most likely to also include New Orleans, Carolina and Atlanta.

"You'll feel it," coach Tony Dungy said. "You'll say, "Boy, we don't get to play Minnesota, we don't get to play Green Bay.' But in five years, you'll develop rivalries. We hadn't played the Rams before, and all of a sudden we play them in the NFC Championship Game and on Monday Night Football, and those games become pretty hot."

Some of the divisions will be similar to current ones in that little consideration will be given to geography. The most obvious example would be the NFC East, which is expected to remain relatively unscathed with the Giants, Eagles, Redskins and Cowboys.

But geography will play a role in other switches, such as moving Seattle from the AFC to the NFC West.

"Having teams that are not necessarily geographically aligned is attractive," said Roger Goodell, the NFL executive vice president in charge of realignment.

"We heard that from the networks. We believe we're a national game, and there's been less focus on geography than many people think."

Most potential groupings make sense. Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Cleveland are guaranteed for the AFC Central. Expansion Houston probably will be the fourth member.

But that would create a so-called super division in the AFC South, possibly Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Baltimore and Tennessee. The Ravens and Titans have represented the AFC in the past two Super Bowls, and the Colts and Jaguars have been perennial playoff teams.

But owners are not worried because of the cyclic nature of the NFL.

No final vote will be taken on realignment until probably just before the league's self-imposed June 1 deadline, most likely at the next owners meeting, in Chicago in May.

"I know the last time they went through this, it was a long, drawn-out process," Dungy said. "It was like pulling teeth because no one wants to move."

The meetings also might end the annual debate about instant replay. George Young, the league's vice president for football operations, says he senses the owners' willingness to extend the current system beyond one year.

The league also plans to invoke harsher penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct and will come down harder on taunting. All bandanas and headdresses will be outlawed.

There also will be discussions on outlawing inactive players and allowing all 53 on the roster to dress each week.

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