Let's look at the quality of those #7 seeds: 7. (8-8) Steelers: Pretty good team. Would have given Patriots a good game. 7. (10-6) Cardinals: Also pretty good. Could have taken on Panthers in a good one. So this year, the plan works well. Other years you would be scraping the bottom of the barrel for #7 seeds.
Not really Last year The Bears were 10-6 and and missed the playoffs in the AFC the Steelers were 8-8. The year before the Bears were 8-8 and the Titans were 9-7 The year before that the Giants were 10-6 and the Chargers were 9-7 The year before that the Texans were 9-7 and the Falcons were 9-7 So between 09-13 at one team had a winning record and missed the playoffs.
That's not bad then. I like it for the importance of the #1 seed bye and for the extra game Saturday and Sunday. And of course for the extra spot, as it could benefit the Jets.
I'd be OK with it as long as they keep the 16 game season and seed the teams 1 through 7 based on record. If you win you're division you are in but don't be giving these teams who play in an inferior division a home game anymore while the 3 wild cards who happen to be in a strong division never get a home game. Enough of that.
just b/c a team wins 9/10/11 games doesn't make them good. In 2008 when NE won 11 and missed the playoffs they faced a cupcake sched, the Giants blew their chance in 2010 then won a meaningless game to get to 10 the next week. Ari won 10 but a few years ago they benefitted from the NFC West being weak making it at 9-7. the playoff format is basically perfect as it is. if they want to re-seed based on where they finish in conference that would be better so GB at 8-7-1 wouldn't be hosting a playoff game.
1 extra team wouldn't be terrible. It would make the 1 seed even more important. 8 teams would be dumb in football.
This is how it starts.. add another team... then a few years later, best out of 3 for each series... Don't change what works. NFL is trying to squeeze all this money out of this.. Don't let inferior teams into the playoffs...Getting to the playoffs should mean something..
That's true as well, in the NFL an injury, bad call by the ref or just a bad day by one player can result in elimination. Which is also part of the attraction.
The 2010 game was not meaningless for the Giants they needed to win and the Packers to lose in order to get the 6th seed. It isn't AZ's fault that they play in a weak division lol. How was NE bad when they were 16-0 the year before?
The luxury that football has over other sports like hockey and basketball is the 1 game series. You can't have teams on bye weeks if there are best of 7 scenarios. The team on bye would have a huge advantage of having a week+ off while the other team plays 3 to 7 games beating the crap out of each other. Resting vs. playing 1 game wouldn't have much of a toll as resting vs. playing 7 games. Anyway, I don't think having 4 extra teams in the playoffs would "cheapen" it at all. Of course football's playoffs are much more of a crap shoot than any other because of the 1 game series. The best team doesn't always win, but in theory the better team should come out on top. So if the #2 seed has to play an extra game against a 7 seed and they lose, then oh well. If the #2 seed wipes the floor with #7 every year then I guess you would have a point. If the games are close every year, then why would it cheapen it?
they had their chance the week before at GB, they were humiliated. They played a terrible skins team and won w/ no pressure. The chances of GB losing were slim.
The Skins were terrible but it's still any given Sunday. Bad teams beat good teams all the time. How was the Packers losing "slim"? The Bears were the 2 seed that year and they were at home in week 17.
I thought about this the second I thought it would help Jets get in as #7 seed. I thought, no, instead the Jets will be the #2 seed and instead of a bye, they get eliminated in 1st round by a crappy 8-8 team.
Maybe yes, maybe no. Maybe the weekend stays the same and a Thursday (or even Friday) night and a Monday night.
You would have to award the top teams something so they are not so equal to the low seeds. Especially the teams that have a 7-9 record ! It would have to give division winners a week off and conference winners 2 weeks off . Wild card teams are usually close in record so it would not effect the playoff system as bad. It would be all those 7,8 and 9 win teams to have to battle a week for the right to play the wild card weekend we had last week. Why not just add a extra game during the season? Plus it would make it a little harder for these teams like the giants who won the SB with a 9-7 record by giving them another game to have to win.