If another below .500 team makes the playoffs...
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LazyWinker
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I think the Saints will finish 8-8 or 9-7.
Irish
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I seem to remember a Rams team finishing 8-8 and making the playoffs once upon a time.
System doesn't need fixing. Divisions need restructuring, the schedule needs a little reworking, but the playoff system is fine as is right now. It penalizes teams for not winning their divisions while putting a priority on record. The best teams get byes, and the worst division winners have to run a gauntlet against better competition, but they get the added perk of a home game.
I really wish the NFL would turn the entirety of divisions on their heads and get rid of some craziness that exists right now. Kansas City and St. Louis have no business in the "west", Dallas has no business in the "East", and on what planet is Indianapolis, Indiana south of anything on a sports map?
Hopefully, once the farce that is relocation is finally put to bed, we can have a meaningful dialogue about leagues and divisions. Its not like the Royals and Cardinals with a Designated Hitter vs batting pitchers: the rules are literally exactly the same. AFC and NFC means nothing.
System doesn't need fixing. Divisions need restructuring, the schedule needs a little reworking, but the playoff system is fine as is right now. It penalizes teams for not winning their divisions while putting a priority on record. The best teams get byes, and the worst division winners have to run a gauntlet against better competition, but they get the added perk of a home game.
I really wish the NFL would turn the entirety of divisions on their heads and get rid of some craziness that exists right now. Kansas City and St. Louis have no business in the "west", Dallas has no business in the "East", and on what planet is Indianapolis, Indiana south of anything on a sports map?
Hopefully, once the farce that is relocation is finally put to bed, we can have a meaningful dialogue about leagues and divisions. Its not like the Royals and Cardinals with a Designated Hitter vs batting pitchers: the rules are literally exactly the same. AFC and NFC means nothing.
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We had a chance if we would have won the last game of the season...and we would have been 8-8. So...
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IMO...a .500 record is good enough. As long as teams with a losing win percentage aren't being rewarded I think the system would make sense.
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If a team wins their division at 7-9 or 6-10 how hard could their schedule really be? They have 6 games against teams that have 6 wins or less...plus 4-6 more teams with losing records, and up to 8. They could have a schedule where 14 of 16 teams they faced had losing records...and most likely no less than 10.
Boffo97
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I do wonder if people would have turned against Spags as quickly as many did if that game wasn't for a playoff spot. I didn't really hear much grumbling before then, but maybe I just missed it.
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It sure seemed at that point that the team was headed in the right direction...but it sure went south the following year.
iced
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Problem is this is all guessing. A Team that plays the NFC West (and we all know the division records last year) and say the AFC East Is not nearly as difficult as say playing the AFC South/West and NFC South (Atlanta leads the south and hasn't beaten a team out of their division).
If you can't win your division, your prize shouldn't be having homefield advantage over a team that did simply because you have a better record. Otherwise, whats the point of divisions? Think about the snowball effect too - if a team with an easier schedule has 1 more win than a "better team" but with a tougher schedule... Wouldn't be right.
playing in a tough division like the NFC West is one thing - playing the NFC East/South and AFC West/South is another. Think about that how effects your schedule - instead of 6 games against the cards, niners, and seahawks, if you were in the afc south you'd play Falcons, Saints, Panthers, or Bucs Twice....
Win your division first, and foremost. Runner ups shouldn't get a better consolation prize than those who did win their divisions
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Umm, exactly...if you win your division against that group and still have a losing record there is no way you are one of the elite teams. I thought the postseason was meant to find who the best of the best is. I hardly find a 6-10 or 7-9 team as elite. Give that team the title as NFC South Champion then award the playoff spot to a team truly deserving.
That's just my opinion...all good if you disagree but I really don't see how that argument is supposed to make me think differently?
iced
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Right but I think if you're supposedly a really good team that deserves home field advantage you wouldn't have finished second in your division..And if you're really that good of a team, playing a "lesser team" on the road shouldn't matter much.
If you want home field advantage win your division - I don't think runner ups should get it.
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iced
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Depends on the schedule.
Look at the rams last season - dominated outside the division but sucked within it.
A55VA6
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I think you MUST have a winning record to make the playoffs. If no one in a division is over .500, the team with the best record not in the playoffs gets the spot.
When I see a 10-6 team miss the playoffs but a 7-9 team make it, it pisses me off. That 10-6 team deserves the spot.
When I see a 10-6 team miss the playoffs but a 7-9 team make it, it pisses me off. That 10-6 team deserves the spot.
Irish
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That's fine, but get rid of the divisions if that is the case, and make it so you play every team in 2 years. Then, the next 2 years, you swap the home and away teams. Best 10 teams make it.
Geographical restrictions should penalize all teams equally. No central time zone teams playing all west coast teams, and vice versa. make the league 100% equal.
If you don't want to get rid of divisions, then you are going to have years where the 7-9 teams make it and the 10-6 teams don't. As for me, I couldn't care less about our division opponents and appreciate it more when I get to see Manning and the Broncos, Romo and the Cowboys, Luck and the Colts, and all the other marquis teams.
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I'd leave it as is. If anything I might take away the home field advantage but.... As others have said, schedules and conferences can seriously affect a team's record. What if your team was... let's say... the Broncos and your schedule had several games with you going against teams like... let's say... the Rams. Are you going to recover every week? Do you get banged up to the point where a team that has no business beating you does exactly that? Does your schedule outside of your division affect your record? Did you lose your QB for the first half of the season, go 0-8 and then win 7 of the next 8 games to take your division?
Too many variables. But I could see that if a WC had a demonstrably better record and an equal strength of schedule when looking at the current season, maybe awarding that other team the home game.
Think about it. The 7-9 shitchickens beat the 11-5 Saints in the playoffs just a few years ago.
In a league SO proud of parity, I think you just have to expect that occasionally a team might make the playoffs with a sub 500 record. I think it has happened once - right? That's not enough IMO to warrant changing the system.
Too many variables. But I could see that if a WC had a demonstrably better record and an equal strength of schedule when looking at the current season, maybe awarding that other team the home game.
Think about it. The 7-9 shitchickens beat the 11-5 Saints in the playoffs just a few years ago.
In a league SO proud of parity, I think you just have to expect that occasionally a team might make the playoffs with a sub 500 record. I think it has happened once - right? That's not enough IMO to warrant changing the system.
As a Wild Card team - yes but not as Division champs. Of course we DID beat the division chumps three times that season.
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I think the Division Champ should always gain automatic entry into the playoffs. That has to remain unchanged.
I wouldn't change anything.
Wild Card teams should always have to suck hind tit. If they don't like it... win the damn Division next time.
I wouldn't change anything.
Wild Card teams should always have to suck hind tit. If they don't like it... win the damn Division next time.
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Same here. Otherwise you've got 4 divisional teams all fighting for draft position in December. Sort of like in fantasy football and the team you're competing with to get to the playoffs has a matchup against the guy who hasn't looked at his lineup in a month.
There has to be a prize at the end, even if those teams are bad teams.