JoeMama
12-20-2006, 12:49 PM
This would be very beneficial for Buffalo...
Per TMQ...
Time for a new playoff format
By Gregg Easterbrook
Special to Page 2
Once again the NFL is hurtling toward weak teams reaching the playoffs while strong teams clean out their lockers for next season. This isn't funny -- and the solution is to make the NFL postseason a seeded tournament. What would happen if the NFL postseason was a seeded tournament? Games would be better and public interest would increase, that's all.
Last season 11-5 Chicago enjoyed a first-round bye and then played at home, while 12-4 Jacksonville got no bye and opened on the road. In 2004, three winning teams -- Baltimore, Buffalo and Jacksonville, all 9-7 -- were shut out of the playoffs while two 8-8 teams, Minnesota and St. Louis, were invited. In 1999, two 8-8 teams, Dallas and Detroit, made the postseason while a 9-7 team, Kansas City, did not; also that season 11-5 Buffalo opened on the road while 10-6 Washington opened at home. These examples could go on and on. The NFL playoff structure, with an automatic slot for each division winner and two wild cards per conference regardless of overall records, does not do what the NFL is supposed to be all about -- reward performance on the field. Almost every season, at least one team is rewarded in playoff terms for sheer luck regarding what conference or division it is in, while another that has performed better on the field is told to take off its Ace bandages and turn off the locker room lights until July. A seeded-tournament postseason format would change this.
Consider what we're hurtling toward this season. One or maybe even two 8-8 teams might make the playoffs from the NFC, while from one to several 9-7 teams could fail to advance from the AFC. It's not out of the question that an 8-8 team will reach the playoffs while a 10-6 team is told to disband. And if you're an NFC aficionado, remember this setup is as likely to hurt you as help you: in seasons when the NFC is strong, the current playoff format penalizes that conference while granting favors to weak teams in the AFC. If the season ended today, New Orleans at 9-5 would get a bye, while Baltimore at 11-3 and New England at 10-4 would play in the first round. With two weeks remaining it is possible San Francisco could win its division and play host to a home playoff game at 8-8, while it is impossible for Denver to open at home even if it finishes 10-6. A seeded-tournament format would ensure that the teams with the 12 best records advance to the playoffs, the teams with the four best records get a bye, and the teams with the eight best records open at home. Isn't ensuring that the best teams advance in the interest of the NFL?
Yes, there is tradition and sentiment attached to the league's divisions, and the division winner must receive a playoff slot or divisions lack meaning. But at the very least, the NFL could switch to a league-wide wild-card format. Under such a system the eight division winners would advance as they do now, while the four wild cards would be the four next best teams, regardless of conference. That's what a wild card is supposed to be for, after all -- to find places for teams that played well but were stuck behind a superior club in their division. As it is now, the wild-card format is a quota plan for the conferences: Each is assured of two extra slots regardless of performance. Once the season ends, I'll calculate what the playoffs would have looked like under a seeded tournament and under league-wide wild cards -- and I'll wager in advance that the pairings in either scenario would be more attractive than what we're likely to get from the current system.
(link) (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/061219)
Per TMQ...
Time for a new playoff format
By Gregg Easterbrook
Special to Page 2
Once again the NFL is hurtling toward weak teams reaching the playoffs while strong teams clean out their lockers for next season. This isn't funny -- and the solution is to make the NFL postseason a seeded tournament. What would happen if the NFL postseason was a seeded tournament? Games would be better and public interest would increase, that's all.
Last season 11-5 Chicago enjoyed a first-round bye and then played at home, while 12-4 Jacksonville got no bye and opened on the road. In 2004, three winning teams -- Baltimore, Buffalo and Jacksonville, all 9-7 -- were shut out of the playoffs while two 8-8 teams, Minnesota and St. Louis, were invited. In 1999, two 8-8 teams, Dallas and Detroit, made the postseason while a 9-7 team, Kansas City, did not; also that season 11-5 Buffalo opened on the road while 10-6 Washington opened at home. These examples could go on and on. The NFL playoff structure, with an automatic slot for each division winner and two wild cards per conference regardless of overall records, does not do what the NFL is supposed to be all about -- reward performance on the field. Almost every season, at least one team is rewarded in playoff terms for sheer luck regarding what conference or division it is in, while another that has performed better on the field is told to take off its Ace bandages and turn off the locker room lights until July. A seeded-tournament postseason format would change this.
Consider what we're hurtling toward this season. One or maybe even two 8-8 teams might make the playoffs from the NFC, while from one to several 9-7 teams could fail to advance from the AFC. It's not out of the question that an 8-8 team will reach the playoffs while a 10-6 team is told to disband. And if you're an NFC aficionado, remember this setup is as likely to hurt you as help you: in seasons when the NFC is strong, the current playoff format penalizes that conference while granting favors to weak teams in the AFC. If the season ended today, New Orleans at 9-5 would get a bye, while Baltimore at 11-3 and New England at 10-4 would play in the first round. With two weeks remaining it is possible San Francisco could win its division and play host to a home playoff game at 8-8, while it is impossible for Denver to open at home even if it finishes 10-6. A seeded-tournament format would ensure that the teams with the 12 best records advance to the playoffs, the teams with the four best records get a bye, and the teams with the eight best records open at home. Isn't ensuring that the best teams advance in the interest of the NFL?
Yes, there is tradition and sentiment attached to the league's divisions, and the division winner must receive a playoff slot or divisions lack meaning. But at the very least, the NFL could switch to a league-wide wild-card format. Under such a system the eight division winners would advance as they do now, while the four wild cards would be the four next best teams, regardless of conference. That's what a wild card is supposed to be for, after all -- to find places for teams that played well but were stuck behind a superior club in their division. As it is now, the wild-card format is a quota plan for the conferences: Each is assured of two extra slots regardless of performance. Once the season ends, I'll calculate what the playoffs would have looked like under a seeded tournament and under league-wide wild cards -- and I'll wager in advance that the pairings in either scenario would be more attractive than what we're likely to get from the current system.
(link) (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=easterbrook/061219)