NFL Playoffs May be Expanded Soon

[mudloggerone]

rotoworld,

Goodell wants more teams involved in the playoff hunt so that there are more compelling late-season games, leading to more tickets sold and higher television ratings. The expected proposal that owners will vote on in March will be to add one more Wild Card team in each conference. Under that scenario, only one team in each conference would get a bye while the six-game Wild Card weekend would pit the No. 2 seed vs. No. 7, No. 3 vs. No. 6 and No. 4 vs. No. 5. This year, the No. 7 seeds would have been the Cardinals in the NFC and the Steelers in the AFC.





Source: NFL.com

 

[jjtweeks]

nooooo.
With respect to playoffs
Baseball is too conservative ( but i actually like how it's set up)
Basketball is too liberal
NFL is just right
Even Goldilocks knows this

 

[Phicinfan]

yah, not thrilled with this either. We have just the right amount now.

 

[Arctic Dawgs]

Slippery Slope here

Not sure how I feel about 1 more team/conf in playoffs

Using the NHL as an example, the season is so long and virtually every team makes the playoffs has made the regular season and 1st couple rounds of the playoffs not worth watching to me

This year was the best week 17 I can remember in the NFL. All kinds of important games. Wild Card Weekend was great. How would 1 more team in each conference have effected those 2 weeks?

ARI/SF week 17 wouldn't have mattered
Car week 17, would they have cared

ARI @ Car Wild Card would have been a very good game (3 NFCW in div weekend ??)
PIT @ NEP 2 teams I hate most in NFL (no interest for me)

I think that 3 games on Sat and Sun would just be a bit too much for me to watch. Liver would not take it too well. Never mind work on Mon after a 2 day bender

 

[cctekguy]

After the AFL joined the NFL in 1969, the league was realigned into 2 conferences. The AFC and NFC. Each conference had 3 divisions and, as has been the case since the inception of the NFL, each division winner would meet in the play-offs.

The odd number of divisions in each conference created a play-off schedule problem so in order to keep inter conference play-offs at an even number the league elected to name a "wild card" team (best winning % amongst non-divisional winners) from each division.

This seemed like solid solution to a legitimate problem, but as is often the case, we take a good idea and run it into the ground. In '78 another WC team was added from each conference and in '90 two MORE WC teams were added....Why?

In 2002, the league expanded to 32 teams and realigned the conferences into 4 divisions. PERFECT! Division winners make the play-offs....right? No wild card, no bye week....

WRONG!

For the love of money, the NFL decides to keep the best losers...and the next best losers....and now wants to add the 3rd best losers. All are teams that don't deserve to be in the play-offs, IMO. I don't care if you WERE 15-2 and lost the division to a 16-1 team. YOU LOSE and it doesn't change a thing if the 8-9 team in another division WINS and goes to the play-offs.

If we are just hell bent on breaking the "circle of loyalty" (if your team loses, you root for your division and if your division loses, you root for your conference) then let's do it and SCREW the division champs. Take the best 4 teams...or 6 or 8 or whatever and THEY make the play-offs. Do away with the "2 games in your division" scheduling and play an extra inter league game instead.

We should either play Head-to-Head or Rotisserie but this blending of the two is garbage.

 

[mudloggerone]

I kind of like the way things are set up now myself but that was interesting reading above.