Zero2Cool
15 years ago
Web Page Name 

The NFL playoff seeding system makes little sense.

The Green Bay Packers (11-5) have a better record than the Arizona Cardinals (10-6), yet instead of enjoying the comforts of home this weekend and hosting a first-round playoff game at Lambeau Field, the Packers face a three-hour flight and hostile dome crowd at University of Phoenix Stadium.

More injustice awaits the Packers if they would meet the Dallas Cowboys down the playoff road. Both teams posted the same regular-season record, and the Packers soundly beat the Cowboys during the regular season. But the No. 5-seeded Packers would travel to No. 3 seed Dallas for the playoffs.

What ever happened to the idea of fairness?

The system is flawed because it throws equity out the window and contributes to the shameful late-season practice of playoff qualifiers tanking games.

It was a sad spectacle when the Cardinals sent in their scrubs in the first quarter against the Packers on Sunday and laid down like dogs in a 33-7 loss. I dont blame Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt for employing that strategy because under the NFLs wacky playoff structure, his team had no incentive to win.

Thus fans that paid full price for their tickets were cheated out of watching a real game and settled for a glorified scrimmage.

My proposal is simple and sane. Division champions would earn playoff berths, but all postseason qualifiers would be seeded based on their final records.

In such a scenario, the Packers-Cardinals regular-season finale would have carried great significance, with the winner earning the right to host a first-round playoff game.

Since the NFL adopted four-team divisions in 2002, it has insisted on rewarding division champions with home playoff games. That penalizes wild-card postseason qualifiers who compete in tougher divisions.

Why should the Packers, or the 11-5 Philadelphia Eagles for that matter, be stuck with a lower seed just because the Cardinals captured the sad-sack NFC West this season?

If NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is serious about giving late-season games more meaning, this is one place to start. It wouldnt prevent a team like Indianapolis from going through the motions after locking up the AFCs top seed this season, but its an improvement on the current set-up.

Unfortunately, change in the NFL is about as easy as moving mountains.

Its not an easy thing to get changed, said Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers, a former NFL head coach who participated in rules discussions at league meetings. Sometimes you think it might, but it normally takes a long time to get something changed like that.

Oddly, head coaches and general managers might oppose such a move. Their current task of beating out three other teams for a division title increases the likelihood they will win a playoff game at home, which improves their job security.

Thats why Goodell must tune out team sentiment and come down on the side of common sense, not to mention fans, who deserve a better system.


Rockmolder
15 years ago

My proposal is simple and sane. Division champions would earn playoff berths, but all postseason qualifiers would be seeded based on their final records.



Exactly what I'd like. I didn't mind that the 8-8 Chargers got into the play-offs over the 11-5 Patriots. I like how tht works. What I don't get is, that once in the play-offs, the seeds don't get shuffled towards the teams' records.

If you ask me, we should be the 3rd or 4th seed. Not just because I'm a homer, but because it'd be more fair.

Division winners get into the play-offs, 2 wild card teams and the seedings get decided from there on out.
GermanGilbert
15 years ago
I don't like the rules, too, but unfortunately that are the rules. And if you're a hot team, you don't care about playing at home or not. The Steelers (#6) made it to Vince, so will the Packers 😃
blank
wamj2008
15 years ago
This season I'm glad they're on the road. All these warm environments are great for the passing game. The only cold game they'd have to play is the NFC Championship in GB against Philly, and I don't see that being a huge probability.
blank
Greg C.
15 years ago
I've never cared about this issue, but Vandermause convinced me. There would still be a reward for winning a division, as it would assure a team of a playoff appearance. But at the same time, it would increase competition between teams in separate divisions. Something would be gained, and nothing would be lost.
blank
Nonstopdrivel
15 years ago
I think the most compelling argument he makes is that it would reduce, if not eliminate, the incentive to tank toward the end of the season. I had never considered that possibility before, but I think he's right. At least, it would postpone the tanking until someone had clinched homefield advantage throughout.
mi_keys
15 years ago
"Whatever happened to the idea of fairness?"

That is one of the central premises of his argument, that the NFL should be "fair." That there should be "equity." I do not know how you can use that as a basis for an argument when you suggest that the division winning teams should still get a berth in the playoffs.

Last year New England was 11-5 but sat at home and watched as San Diego got to play January football despite finishing 8-8. How is that fair? They won three games more than San Diego, and the same amount as what Green Bay won this year. The difference is they had no chance of competing in the playoffs. Green Bay does. Honestly, who cares if you have to go on the road in the playoffs, do your job and you can still win and advance. You do not have that choice if you're sitting at home. New England's case last year was grossly more unfair than ours is this year.

That said, why should the NFL be fair. If it was always fair we'd remove human error from referring and make the weather the same for everyone (only way to do that is have domes all around). Being screwed from time to time is part of any sport and it is part of what gets fans so heated about games. Personally, I value the rivalries in football far more than I value fairness. If you take away rewards for winning the division you devalue the rivalries and the competition between division teams. If Green Bay wins just one game against Minnesota this year we're the number two seed and they're the number six I think. Rivalry games should have an inherent importance to them and making division winners get home field advantage in the wild card round is a way to do that.

I'm not sure I buy the argument that this creates more chances to force teams to compete in the final weeks either. In some cases it will but in others it will not. If you compare it to a situation in which no spots are given to division winners then last year when Denver and San Diego played in the final week it would have been irrelevant. But what if division winners are just given playoff spots. Well consider the following:

Let's say NFC West division winner and NFC South division winners finish 14-2 and get get the 1 and 2 spots, so we'll just focus on potential wild card game teams. Two NFC North teams enter the final game of the season at 11-4 and two NFC East teams enter the final game of the season at 9-6. No other team in any NFC division is competing for a playoff spot. If you have division winners get home field, those games matter. If you have division winners just get a playoff berth, then they don't. In this case, the final week is more interesting with home games going to division winners.

I also disagree with the argument that having a division winner with a lower record than that of another division automatically makes that division weaker. What if, for example, you have one division with one team at 10-6 and three teams at 3-13. Is that division stronger than one with four 9-7 teams? What if the 10-6 team got 6 of their wins in the division and all four of the 9-7 teams went 3-3 in their division? Or how about if two teams in one divison have a better record than that of another? Well again if one division had two 10-6 teams and two 1-15 teams while another had four 9-7 teams, I don't think you can say the division with four 9-7 teams is weaker.

In short, I don't agree with any of his major claims.
Born and bred a cheesehead
bboystyle
15 years ago
i think the playoff system is just fine...Division winners should get a home field game reguardless of their record because they have to battle 3 other teams for that spot instead of one or two wild card teams...
Greg C.
15 years ago
mi_keys: You've obviously put a lot of thought into this, but you lost me right at the beginning by saying that fairness should not matter. If you throw the idea of fairness out the window, then you can justify any playoff system.

The situation you describe in your second-to-last paragraph seems pretty rare to me. At any rate, I would expect that in the system that Vandermause proposes, if two teams have the same record and one of them won the division, the division winner would get home field. So those games would still matter.
blank
flep
15 years ago
Thems the rules and until the NFL change them we have to deal with them.

We won't be bothered when we win it all in February anyway.
Formed Merseyside Nighthawks. British Champions 1992. Packer fan for 32 years



I feel very wrong now!!!!!!!!!
Fan Shout
Zero2Cool (7h) : Packers coach Matt LaFleur hires Luke Getsy as senior assistant, extends Rich Bisaccia's deal
Zero2Cool (14h) : Chiefs again huh? I guess another Super Bowl I'll be finding something else to do.
Mucky Tundra (27-Jan) : Chiefs Eagles...again...sigh
dfosterf (27-Jan) : Happy Birthday Dave!
Mucky Tundra (27-Jan) : happy birthday dhazer
TheKanataThrilla (26-Jan) : Exactly buck...Washington came up with the ball. It is just a shitty coincidence one week later
buckeyepackfan (26-Jan) : I forgot, they corrected the call a week later. Lol btw HAPPY BIRTHDAY dhazer!
buckeyepackfan (26-Jan) : That brings up the question, why wasn't Nixon down by contact? I think that was the point Kanata was making.
buckeyepackfan (26-Jan) : Turnovers rule, win the turnover battle, win the game.
packerfanoutwest (26-Jan) : well, he was
TheKanataThrilla (26-Jan) : Eagles down by contact on the fumble....fuck you NFL
Mucky Tundra (26-Jan) : I think this games over
beast (26-Jan) : Eagles sure get a lot of fumbles on kickoffs
Mucky Tundra (26-Jan) : This game looks too big for Washington
packerfanoutwest (26-Jan) : that being said, The Ravens are the Browns
packerfanoutwest (26-Jan) : Browns, Dolphins have longest AFC Championship droughts
packerfanoutwest (26-Jan) : As of today, Cowboys have longest NFC Championship drought,
beast (26-Jan) : Someone pointed out, with Raiders hiring Carroll, the division games between Carroll and Jim Harbaugh are back on (who can whine more games)
beast (26-Jan) : I'm confused, Pete Carroll and Brian Schottenheimer? When Todd Monken, Joe Brady, Kellen Moore, Kliff Kingsbury and Zac Robinson are availab
Zero2Cool (25-Jan) : Any reason I'm catching a shot here about my intelligence?
Martha Careful (25-Jan) : thank you Mucky for sticking up for me
Martha Careful (25-Jan) : some of those people are smarter than you zero. However Pete Carroll is not
Mucky Tundra (24-Jan) : Rude!
beast (24-Jan) : Martha? 😋
Zero2Cool (24-Jan) : Raiders hired someone from the elderly home.
dfosterf (24-Jan) : I'm going with a combination of the two.
beast (24-Jan) : Either the Cowboys have no idea what they're doing, or they're targeting their former OC, currently the Eagles OC
Zero2Cool (23-Jan) : Fake news. Cowboys say no
Zero2Cool (23-Jan) : Mystery candidate in the Cowboys head coaching search believed to be Packers ST Coordinator Rich Bisaccia.
beast (23-Jan) : Also why do both NYC teams have absolutely horrible OL for over a decade?
beast (23-Jan) : I wonder why the Jets always hire defensive coaches to be head coach
Zero2Cool (22-Jan) : Still HC positions available out there. I wonder if Hafley pops up for one
Zero2Cool (22-Jan) : Trent Baalke is out as the Jaguars GM.
dfosterf (22-Jan) : Jeff Hafley would have been a better choice, fortunately they don't know that. Someone will figure that out next off season
Zero2Cool (22-Jan) : Aaron Glenn Planning To Take Jets HC Job
dfosterf (22-Jan) : Martha- C'est mon boulot! 😁
Zero2Cool (22-Jan) : Thank you
wpr (22-Jan) : Z, glad you are feeling better.
wpr (22-Jan) : My son and D-I-L work for UM. It's a way to pick on them.
Zero2Cool (22-Jan) : Thank you. I rarely get sick, and even more rarely sick to the point I can't work.
wpr (22-Jan) : Beast- back to yesterday, I CAN say OSU your have been Michigan IF the odds of making the playoffs were more urgent.
dfosterf (22-Jan) : Glad to hear you are feeling a bit better.
Zero2Cool (22-Jan) : I've been near death ill last several days, finally feel less dead and site issues.
Zero2Cool (22-Jan) : It is a big deal. This host is having issues. It's frustrating.
Martha Careful (22-Jan) : just kidding...it was down
Martha Careful (22-Jan) : you were blocked yesterday, due to a a recalcitrant demeanor yesterday in the penalty box for a recalcitrant demeanor
dfosterf (22-Jan) : Was that site shutdown on your end or mine? No big deal, just curious
beast (21-Jan) : That way teams like Indiana and SMU don't make the conference championships by simply avoiding all the other good teams in their own confere
beast (21-Jan) : Also, with these "Super Conferences" instead of a single conference champion, have 4 teams make a Conference playoffs.
beast (21-Jan) : Also in college football, is a bye week a good or bad thing?
Please sign in to use Fan Shout
2024 Packers Schedule
Friday, Sep 6 @ 7:15 PM
Eagles
Sunday, Sep 15 @ 12:00 PM
COLTS
Sunday, Sep 22 @ 12:00 PM
Titans
Sunday, Sep 29 @ 12:00 PM
VIKINGS
Sunday, Oct 6 @ 3:25 PM
Rams
Sunday, Oct 13 @ 12:00 PM
CARDINALS
Sunday, Oct 20 @ 12:00 PM
TEXANS
Sunday, Oct 27 @ 12:00 PM
Jaguars
Sunday, Nov 3 @ 3:25 PM
LIONS
Sunday, Nov 17 @ 12:00 PM
Bears
Sunday, Nov 24 @ 3:25 PM
49ERS
Thursday, Nov 28 @ 7:20 PM
DOLPHINS
Thursday, Dec 5 @ 7:15 PM
Lions
Sunday, Dec 15 @ 7:20 PM
Seahawks
Monday, Dec 23 @ 7:15 PM
SAINTS
Sunday, Dec 29 @ 3:25 PM
Vikings
Sunday, Jan 5 @ 12:00 PM
BEARS
Sunday, Jan 12 @ 3:30 PM
Eagles
Recent Topics
1h / Green Bay Packers Talk / wpr

6h / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

14h / Green Bay Packers Talk / packerfanoutwest

15h / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

25-Jan / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

25-Jan / Green Bay Packers Talk / Martha Careful

25-Jan / Random Babble / Martha Careful

20-Jan / Green Bay Packers Talk / Martha Careful

20-Jan / Green Bay Packers Talk / bboystyle

20-Jan / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

20-Jan / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

19-Jan / Random Babble / Martha Careful

18-Jan / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

17-Jan / Green Bay Packers Talk / bboystyle

17-Jan / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

Headlines
Copyright © 2006 - 2025 PackersHome.com™. All Rights Reserved.