Good article about this: http://espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/201...nclude-14-16-teams-various-seeding-strategies Basically breaks down the whole thing and shows that the 7th seed has been on par with the 4 seed in terms of quality. Like this year the Eagles would have been the 7th seed and they are probably better than the 4 seed Panthers so the dip in quality of play won't change. I am all for it, I think it would set up for the best weekend in football. Currently divisional weekend is the best but if you give me three full games on back to back days, that would be like football heaven. I also believe that this would not water down the regular season, the playoff races would be even tighter because now teams now there would be more meaningful games, even for the bad teams down the stretch. Hopefully the owners approve (I really do not see it getting voted down anyway).....
There are enough playoff teams already. Maybe I'm old school but 44% of the league making the playoffs is too much. Makes the regular season worth even less. I don't watch the NBA or NHL (Where half the league or more make the playoffs) regular seasons as much for this reason. Why fix what isn't broke? Oh yeah, more revenue for the league.
This, this is the only change I want to see. Divisional winners still make the playoffs but seeding is done by record. Carolina deserves their spot for "taking care of the south", if you can actually call it that, but that is every teams first goal of the season. Win the division, you deserve a reward for it. You shouldn't automatically get a home game. I feel like adding 2 more teams to the playoffs, while not many on the grand scale, still lessens "specialness" of the playoffs, it would make just under 50% of the NFL become playoff teams every season. Thats too much in my eyes. While I also like the #1 seed being the only team to get a bye, I do think that HFA is a big enough reward and have no issue with 2 bye teams per conference as it is in the current format. Edit: Nice post and timing CJ, lol.
Carson Palmer doesn't tear his acl and its not beyond the realm of belief the Cards hold the #1 seed in the NFC
I also would love to see 4 more expansion teams. Total 36 teams. Divided into 6 team divisions. 3 AFC divisions and 3 NFC divisions. Total 18 weeks of regular season games with 2 bye for each team. 7 teams out of each conference makes the play offs. Total 14 play off teams out of 36. Regular season is extended into February and Superbowl played in March. Okay now you can go ahead and hate me
I don't mind more playoff teams with more teams. I don't want more playoff teams of the 32, 14 of 32 is too many in my eyes, 14 of 36 is far more reasonable. How would you enter the playoffs? #1 and #2 from each division + WC team? 3 winners + 4 WC?
I would go 3 division winners and 4 WC for the play offs. Best record is bye, remaining 6 teams are seeded based on the record. When adding more teams, I would pick cities that would support and NFL team. Like Oklahama, Alabama, Portland etc. I also would give Los Angeles 1 team and be done with the Los Angeles drama.
The idea of an 18-week season has been brought up before and I absolutely hate that idea. I could get behind a 14-team playoff system although I don't see a 12-team system as an issue either
Wildcard weekend always sucks. It's always made up with teams you know you won't make it all the way, and then 1, maybe 2 that have a chance. Adding a 3rd game to both days of this weekend would at least get me more excited for more football.
How so? You had an 11-5 team lost to an 7-8-1 division winner. I don't want expansion but I don't see how todays game was a reason for it being a bad idea.
I heard a stat on NFL radio (sirius) today that 7 of the last 14 superbowl winners played on wildcard weekend.
That may be so, but my point is still valid. Nobody cared about the last game. This game should be a good game, but outside of fans of those teams, does anybody really care who wins? Then tomorrow, nobody will really care about the Bungals Colts game. The Colts will stomp them. Then finally, in the last game, we get an awesome game to watch. That's about 1.5/4
If you didnt know the record of each team today would you think they were teams with those records? Im not saying that they didnt belong but imagine the level of competition if 4 other teams similar to what Carolina and Arizona are right now playing against each other. It would just water it down. Would a San Fran/Philly or San Diego/Houston matchup this week be very appealing? Wouldnt to me.
If the Cardinals weren't on there 3rd string QB that game would have been much better. Your response doesn't explain how todays game showed something?
How did nobody care? I sure as hell looked forward to it and watched and I know a lot of others who did. Here's an article about the TV ratings from last years wildcard playoffs. http://mmqb.si.com/2014/01/08/nfl-tv-ratings-nbc-cbs-espn-fox-playoffs/