Postseason Now 14 Teams

[EDGECRUSHER]

Just approved today. Only the #1 seed will have a bye week now.

I hate this, think it is very stupid, makes the #1 seed even more favored now and will allow a bunch of 8-8 teams to make it. Just stupid, half the league doesn't need to be in the playoffs.

[Pappy13]

It's one more team and one more game per conference. Meh. About the only thing it changes is two more games to watch on the first weekend of the playoffs. Don't see how that changes much at all. If they really want to make me take notice, take the 7 teams with the best record in each conference and not have 4 division winners automatically make the playoffs. That's where you end up with the 8-8 teams in the playoffs, not by adding 1 more wild card team.

From the NFL's announcement:

The expanded format, which was agreed to in the new CBA, added one team per conference, creating six total wild card slots. Per league data, since 1990, when the playoffs expanded from 10 to 12 teams, 44 of the 60 teams that would have claimed the seventh seeds had winning records, including 10 different 10-win teams. Only the 1990 Dallas Cowboys would have made the playoffs with a losing record over that span in a 14-team format.

[Sunstroke]

I am ok with anything that gives me more football...especially playoff football.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I don’t think this was the year to add.

[Phishfan]

Good move.

[Spider-Dan]

From the NFL's announcement:

The expanded format, which was agreed to in the new CBA, added one team per conference, creating six total wild card slots. Per league data, since 1990, when the playoffs expanded from 10 to 12 teams, 44 of the 60 teams that would have claimed the seventh seeds had winning records, including 10 different 10-win teams. Only the 1990 Dallas Cowboys would have made the playoffs with a losing record over that span in a 14-team format.

Based on these numbers, if 44 of 60 7-seeds had "winning records" and only one ('90 DAL) had a losing record, then that means 15 of 60 (or 25%) were 8-8.  Consequently, if that pattern holds, we should expect to see an 8-8 #7 seed in the playoffs every other year.  Not a convincing argument for playoff expansion, IMO.

Of course, that pattern can't hold when they move to a 17-game season.  So the question at that point will be: how many 8-9 teams make the playoffs?

[BuccaneerBrad]

If they really want to make me take notice, take the 7 teams with the best record in each conference and not have 4 division winners automatically make the playoffs. That's where you end up with the 8-8 teams in the playoffs, not by adding 1 more wild card team.

Very good idea.   Or better yet, the division winners are for seeding purposes only.   If the wild card team has the better record, they get home field advantage.

[Pappy13]

Based on these numbers, if 44 of 60 7-seeds had "winning records" and only one ('90 DAL) had a losing record, then that means 15 of 60 (or 25%) were 8-8.  Consequently, if that pattern holds, we should expect to see an 8-8 #7 seed in the playoffs every other year.  Not a convincing argument for playoff expansion, IMO.

If those 8-8 teams don't deserve to be there, they'll be quickly and easily dispatched of by the top seed without a bye who otherwise would not be playing at all. This also means we should see a lot of deserving teams make the playoffs that otherwise wouldn't perhaps making the wild card games a bit more entertaining. It's a trade off and a pretty minor one. Not really any reason to get all up in arms about it.

[EDGECRUSHER]

If those 8-8 teams don't deserve to be there, they'll be quickly and easily dispatched of by the top seed without a bye who otherwise would not be playing at all. This also means we should see a lot of deserving teams make the playoffs that otherwise wouldn't perhaps making the wild card games a bit more entertaining. It's a trade off and a pretty minor one. Not really any reason to get all up in arms about it.

Not so much about an 8-8 team getting in, but it's punishing the #2 seed who goes 12-4 and it gives an even bigger advantage to the #1 seed. It's just a cash grab by the league, doesn't help the onfield play at all.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Not so much about an 8-8 team getting in, but it's punishing the #2 seed who goes 12-4 and it gives an even bigger advantage to the #1 seed. It's just a cash grab by the league, doesn't help the onfield play at all.

For me, the big question is the impact it will have on week 16 and 17 games. 

If the change mean that there is one or two more meaningful games as teams that would otherwise be out of the playoff race are competing for the 7 seed, than that is good.

If the change means that a team that has a shot at the #2 seed, but no shot at #1 and is guaranteed the #4 seed is resting its starters than that is bad.

[Spider-Dan]

If those 8-8 teams don't deserve to be there, they'll be quickly and easily dispatched of by the top seed without a bye who otherwise would not be playing at all.

By this logic, there's nothing wrong with expanding the playoffs to include losing teams, because they'll quickly be eliminated if they don't "deserve" to be there.

[Tenshot13]

Fuck it, make the whole league a playoff bracket, regular season record determines seeding.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

By this logic, there's nothing wrong with expanding the playoffs to include losing teams, because they'll quickly be eliminated if they don't "deserve" to be there.

That is pretty much the NBA and NHL model.  Even with this change the NFL’s regular season will matter.

[Spider-Dan]

The NBA and NHL have 7-game series to determine who moves on in the playoffs.  The NFL has 1.

People talk about the NBA regular season being "meaningless," but in the NBA Playoffs, the higher seeds perform a LOT better than in other sports.  (In contrast, the NHL is a great example of a sport with a meaningless regular season, as their playoffs are basically a coin flip in every round.) Adding additional weak teams to a playoff system which is already very favorable to weak teams has a much bigger effect on delegitimizing the regular season than in a sport where upsets are much less common.

[Phishfan]

Complaints about adding an additional, meaningful game on a football fan site. What is next, complaints about having too much sex?