NFL Could Change How It Seeds Playoff Teams Starting in 2011.

[elgreazy1]

The only real way all of this will fix itself is to return to 3 or less divisions per conference; West - Central - East. There were never issues in the past when the Conferences were divided by thirds, and in this case, the top 3 teams who win their division are promised a home Playoff game with the top 2 having a first round bye, for the rest of the teams it's a dogfight for the remaining 3 spots.

I mean, I'd love to see the Divisional rivalries continue, but if the NFL is really considering switching up the Playoff qualifier format - along with the countless other changes made against the sanctity of the game in the last few seasons - then obviously nothing is sacred to them. I'd love to see the Cowboys in the NFC Central/South as they belong; makes no sense to be playing Philly, NY, & Washington (all east coast teams) as a division opponent from a geographical standpoint.

Edit:
A three way split wouldn't work. There are 16 teams per conference which is not divisible by 3.

[slickdtc]

Who cares? The Super Bowl bound Cardinals were what, 8-8 or 9-7 and hosted an 11-5 Atlanta Falcons team, and beat them. They then went on the road against Carolina, beat them. They then hosted the Eagles in the NFC Championship and beat them. Finally, lost by 4 points on a last minute drive against the Super Bowl champion Steelers.

Overall record means nothing. It's about MAKING the playoffs. And if you want a guaranteed spot, you win your divison. That's always been the rule. So what if every odd year a team with a better overall record then a divisional winner misses out on the playoffs altogether? You're still the 6th best team in the Conference (3 division winners, 2 Wild Cards), whose to say you deserve the playoff spot over a divisional winner who may be the 7th or 8th best team in the Conference? You were 1) in direct competition with your division for an auto spot and 2) in competition with at least 2 other teams for a Wild Card spot. If you failed on both of those counts, you don't deserve a spot.

[bgeno]

Quote: Originally Posted by ImTellinTim

What kind of league plays sudden death OT during the regular season, but then plays sudden-only TD-death with a chance to tie or win if the first team kicks a field goal during the playoffs?

The NHL has a different OT format for regular season and playoffs.

Quote: Originally Posted by elgreazy1

Edit: A three way split wouldn't work. There are 16 teams per conference which is not divisible by 3.

Why do the divisions have to contain an equal number of teams? The MLB has four divisions of five, a division of four and a division of six. The NFL played 1997 to 1994 and from 1999 to 2001 with an un-even amount of teams in a six-division format.

Also, the league wants to expand to L.A., so going to a six-division format may suit 33 teams better than an eight-division format. And, with all the talk of an 18-game season, it wouldn't be hard to have each division member play the others twice per season.



No matter what, with the current NFL schedule and format, it's very hard to defend why an 8-8 team that won a clearly poor division should be seeded higher than a 12-4 team that played in a division with at least one other superb team.

Going to three divisions again might actually help solve this potential problem in more ways than one. First, you'd be less likely to have a team win a division with an 8-8 record. With fewer divisions, that means more teams in each division and a greater chance of quality teams in each division. Also, if a division winner did have a considerably worse record than a wild-card team, that wild-card team would still be seeded fourth and have the opportunity to host a playoff game.

I have always like the six-division format in MLB. I like the idea of division winners advancing and everyone else battling it out for just ONE MORE playoff spot. This wouldn't be the case in the NFL, though, with six teams advancing--and they would never drop to four teams and lose playoff revenue (I like the idea of the best teams rewarded with a bye week anyhow)--so the six-division format doesn't seem enticing in that sense, but it would help to bring together old rivalries , create new ones (could you imagine if Baltimore and New England played twice EVERY year?), and help solve the issue of division-winners being seeded higher than more deserving wild-card teams.

[slickdtc]

And the reward for a division winner, besides the auto spot (and sometimes a better overall record team missing out like the 11-5 Pats of 08), is only a home game. It's not even that big of a deal. In fact, home field advantage can be a disadvantage. With the stakes so high in the playoffs, we've seen home teams choke in front of their own fans (Chargers of the last few years, Eagles when they were losing NFCCG's). I just don't think there should be this much fuss about a home or road game. The 11-5 team missing out on the playoffs while an 8-8 division winner is a bit troublesome but at the end of the day, rules are rules and they've been clearly established. It doesn't happen frequently enough to compell me to want to change it. If this was going down every year, I'd be more for it. But I can only remember the Patriots from recent times as being a victim.

[Evan_OS]

Quote: Originally Posted by Speedy

Seriously...The 12-win team will still have the extra round/game to get to the SB but at least they are rewarded for the regular season with a home playoff game. If an 9-7 NFC West division winner plays @ 11-5 NFC East wild-card team I see no problem with that.

I think this would be the easiest solution for people who complain about .500 teams getting home games.

[ImTellinTim]

Quote: Originally Posted by bgeno

The NHL has a different OT format for regular season and playoffs.

Only because you can't have a tie in the playoffs. Sudden death is still sudden death. They don't say, "well, if the goal deflects off a defensemen's leg, the other team has a chance to tie within 2 minutes."

The only difference is 4 on 4 vs. 5 on 5.

[bgeno]

Quote: Originally Posted by ImTellinTim

Only because you can't have a tie in the playoffs. Sudden death is still sudden death. They don't say, "well, if the goal deflects off a defensemen's leg, the other team has a chance to tie within 2 minutes." The only difference is 4 on 4 vs. 5 on 5.

The NHL doesn't play to ties in the regular season any more. They go to a shootout after a five-minute period of four-on-four play.

[SteelersFreak]

You know what, if the 12-4 team that has to go play a 7-9 team on the road is so much better than the 7-9 team, they should be able to take care of it. It's ridiculous to change something because of one year.