<P> A bye granted in a later round of the tournament eliminates the need for two byes in the previous round . For example, the same 12 - team tournament could grant two byes in the second round instead of four in the first . This would result in six teams in the second round with two advancing automatically to the third . It could also grant a single bye in the third round . </P> <P> In certain tournaments, the byes are somewhat disguised . Since 2012, the Major League Baseball playoffs has included ten teams consisting of six division winners and four wildcard teams (the top - ranked non-division - winners). The first round of the playoffs consists two wild - card games: single - game matches in which the four wild - card teams are reduced to two . The winners move on to the Divisional series with the six division winners for an eight - team, three - round tournament . Although this is billed as adding two extra "one - game showdowns" to the post-season, it could also be viewed as adding a fourth round to the ten - team tournament with six byes for the division winners . The FA Cup also has certain teams compete in up to 6 preliminary rounds to qualify for the first round "proper". Another example is the NCAA Basketball Tournament, which effectively grants 60 byes for its "play - in" round, as eight teams compete for the final four spots in the tournament, though the play - in round and all eight of those teams are officially part of the tournament . </P> <P> "Bye" has a second meaning in sports like gridiron football, as both Canadian and American professional football leagues use the term "bye week" for any week during the regular season in which a team does not play a game . Each NFL team has one "bye week" during a normal season; this is placed on the team's schedule, usually falling between Week 5 and Week 11 inclusive . The NFL has used the bye week since 1990 so as to extend the 16 - game regular season schedule to span 17 weeks . The 1993 NFL season spanned 18 weeks with each team having 2 bye weeks . In the rare case of a game postponement that cannot be made up within the week, a bye week may act as an available date to reschedule the delayed game, with the day of postponement acting as the new "bye week"; although both teams would have to be available on the same bye week; this was done during the 2008 NFL season when the Baltimore Ravens and the Houston Texans had to reschedule their Week 2 matchup in Houston due to Hurricane Ike, which also impacted the Cincinnati Bengals' schedule . Similarly, the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Buccaneers were given a Week 1 bye week due to Hurricane Irma in the 2017 season . </P> <P> During the 1960 and 1966 NFL seasons, the league had an odd number of teams due to expansion . Each week during those seasons, one team had a bye, including one team each in the first and last week of the season . (Thus, because they had to play all their games with no break in the middle, those two teams effectively had no byes .) The American Football League (at the time a completely separate league, but later became the American Football Conference) also had an odd number of teams in 1966 and 1967 following the addition of the Miami Dolphins, leaving each team with two bye weeks . </P>

When do the bye weeks start in the nfl
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