Zero2Cool
15 years ago
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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.


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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 😃
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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