NEW YORK (REUTERS) — The National Football League is extending the regular season to the first weekend in January to accommodate a 16-game schedule, the NFL said on Tuesday.

The end of the regular season will now be the weekend of Jan. 5-7.

No decision has been made whether to retain the entire post-season, which includes six division winners and six Wild Card teams.

The second week of the season, which was supposed to have taken place last weekend, was postponed following the air attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

“We believe that a full 16-game regular-season schedule is vital to our fans and the integrity of our season,” said NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue in a statement.

“Each team needs to be guaranteed the same number of home and away games plus an equal number of divisional games. The NFL Competition Committee was unanimous on that point,” Tagliabue said.

“If we cannot resolve our entire post-season lineup in a satisfactory fashion, we then will go to a system of six division winners and two Wild Card teams for this one season only,” he said.
The Super Bowl is scheduled for January 27 in New Orleans.

A tentative Week 2 schedule, with the specific times and dates remaining to be set, follows:
Sunday, Jan. 6: Arizona at Washington, Buffalo at Miami, Cincinnati at Tennessee, Dallas at Detroit, Denver at Indianapolis, Green Bay at NY Giants, New England at Carolina, Philadelphia at Tampa Bay, San Francisco at New Orleans, Atlanta at St. Louis, Jacksonville at Chicago, Kansas City at Seattle, NY Jets at Oakland, Cleveland at Pittsburgh .

The final game of the season will then feature the Monday, Jan. 7, Minnesota at Baltimore matchup. San Diego will receive a bye weekend.