Reading about the Ravens not wanting to burn their bye week early, I was thinking about how the NFL schedules their bye weeks. There is always a few teams that get screwed with a week 3.

Why can't the NFL schedule an AFC and NFC bye week that are right in the middle of the season? They could market it as AFC/NFC rivalry week and each team would play a divisional rival while the other conference has the week off. These could take place during week 8 and 9 to help divide up the season and provide well-needed rest for players.

The problem comes down to TV deals I guess. But CBS/Fox could have entire Sunday to themselves to really sell the rivalry week. Yahoo, NBC, and NFLN would still get their games, FOX/CBS get full attention from audiences, and the players get a fair bye week.