How does playoff seeding work?

[Franchise408]

Quote: Originally Posted by kpkpkp

Ok, so I did some searching... I can't believe it, but tiebreakers are awarded by alphabetical order of team name. No, That was not a typo. Tie breakers for teams with the same record are awarded by ALPHABETICAL ORDER. There are several posts on OS and EA about this issue going back several years. And EA has never fixed it. That is why the 49'ers got in for OP and the Pats got in over the Giants for purplerat. In alphanumerics numbers come first (so the 49'ers will ALWAYS win a tie breaker) I'm gunna relocate and make a new team... The "123 Aardarks" God, Madden is such a joke. They can't even do simple tiebreaker rules correctly. Its a good thing I promised myself to never buy a new copy of Madden a couple years ago. Now I just gamefly it or wait to buy it used because I know it will have so many bugs. What knuckleheads at EA. Alphabetical tie breakers. *SMH for many years.*

I can tell you it's not alphabetical order, as in the same season my 49ers got in over the Vikings, the Colts lost a playoff spot to the Patriots under the same circumstances.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Quote: Originally Posted by Franchise408

I can tell you it's not alphabetical order, as in the same season my 49ers got in over the Vikings, the Colts lost a playoff spot to the Patriots under the same circumstances.

Quote: Originally Posted by purplerat

I can confirm that is not the first tie breaker used. In my CFM the Raiders and Pats finished 8-8 for the final wildcard spot, with no head to head matchup. I don't now how the rest of the correct tie breakers would have went between those two teams but the Raiders both scored more points and allowed fewer yet the Pats got in over them.

It would seem Madden did correctly account for the Patriots' sweetheart calls.

[rukukqing]

If it's points scored against,

[rukukqing]

If it's points scored against,

[jumo1007]

Does anyone have the answer for this question yet?

[Greencollarbaseball]

If I recall correctly, the trend I saw last year was, fewest losses then points for. Ties were treated as wins.

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[DropkickCleary]

Quote: Originally Posted by Franchise408

Yes, I can confirm that - unless I am misunderstanding how wildcard tiebreakers work - Madden does not calculate tiebreakers correctly. The Vikings won their game, leaving 7 9-7 teams: 49ers, Rams, Cardinals, Vikings, Eagles, Cowboys, Redskins. In head to head, the Rams swept the 49ers 2-0. The 49ers and the Cardinals tied 1-1. The 49ers beat the Redskins. I'm not sure how the other head to heads worked out. I, the 49ers, had 7 conference wins. The other teams, Cardinals, Eagles, and Cowboys, all had 6 or less. However, the Vikings picked up the week 17 win and had 8 conference wins. However, the final playoff spot went to me, the 49ers, with no head to head against the Vikings, and a worse conference record than the Vikings.

Division ties should be broken first... so first you'd compare 49ers/Rams/Cardinals, and Eagles/Cowboys/Redskins to cut it down to 3 teams.

So you'd break the Rams/49ers/Cardinals and Eagles/Cowboys/Redskins tie as thus-
1. Winning percentage against other teams involved... i.e. you'd treat games involving those three teams as a season unto itself. Eliminate the #3 team (if you can, then compare head-to-head of the remaining teams.
2. Eliminate worst divisional record, then return to head to head for remaining teams
3. Winning percentage in common games, then return to head to head for remaining teams, etc.

Once the highest division team is decided, lets say the Cowboys and 49ers won the tie breaker in their division, you're now down to the Cowboys, 49ers, and Vikings.

1. Head-to-head sweep. (Applicable only if one club has defeated each of the 2. others or if one club has lost to each of the others.)
2. Best winning percentage in conference games.

So if you still have the schedule available, you should be able to figure it out.

You said the Vikings won the best percentage, but if the 49ers, for instance, beat the Cowboys and Vikings during the regular season, it doesn't matter. That would constitute a head-to-head sweep and you wouldn't go to conference record. Also, if the Vikings had lost to both the Cowboys and 49ers, they'd be eliminated from the race at that point and you'd start over with the 2-team tie breakers for the Cowboys and 49ers.

[howboutdat]

its a real simple formula madden uses to determine the wildcard spots when teams end up with same record......... here ill post it : no real logic + Magic = which team(s) get the wildcard spots ! there you have it . its just based off luck of the draw. ive seen numerous times it happen and the teams you think gonan get it , dont . i truely believe it just picks a name at random, you would think by now ea would know how it is really picked and do it that way.... but nooo, its kinda like the wind directional flag.... always backwards for some odd reason.... year after year after year after year