I'm not feeling very confident, reassure me.

[Satchboogie3]

In response to Patriots7's LONG post: The 2008 Pats went 11-5 and MISSED the playoffs. I'll repeat that in case you missed it. An 11 win team missed the playoffs.

Regular season wins are NOT meaningless. It's HARD to make it to the playoffs most of the time. Sure, sometimes teams back in, sometimes you get a really weak division for a year or more, but most of the time it's no easy task.

Anyways, the game is just way to physical to have any other playoff format. You can't play more games. There are arguments for having the 6 best records from each conference make the playoffs (or maybe just the best 10 or 12 in the NFL), but then that eliminates a lot of important divisional games and rivalries. I like the way it is, thanks.

Why do the 'best' teams have to always win anways? Why even bother playing the playoffs if you always want the #1 team to win? Just skip the whole thing and hand the team with the best regular season record a trophy and move on. Right? .............end rant......

 

[oldskool138]

I just went through the trouble of logging in to give this thread one star. Nuff sed.

 

[supafly]

In response to Patriots7's LONG post: The 2008 Pats went 11-5 and MISSED the playoffs. I'll repeat that in case you missed it. An 11 win team missed the playoffs.

Regular season wins are NOT meaningless. It's HARD to make it to the playoffs most of the time. Sure, sometimes teams back in, sometimes you get a really weak division for a year or more, but most of the time it's no easy task.

Anyways, the game is just way to physical to have any other playoff format. You can't play more games. There are arguments for having the 6 best records from each conference make the playoffs (or maybe just the best 10 or 12 in the NFL), but then that eliminates a lot of important divisional games and rivalries. I like the way it is, thanks.

Why do the 'best' teams have to always win anways? Why even bother playing the playoffs if you always want the #1 team to win? Just skip the whole thing and hand the team with the best regular season record a trophy and move on. Right? .............end rant......

Exactly, I think this system is just about as good as it's going to be, and I don't see them changing it anytime soon.

We've all seen instances where winning just one more game (vs the Colts with the "4th and 2" situation, or one of the recent other losses in the reg season) have prevented us from having one of the byes, or the head-to-head advantage over them as far as the playoffs are concerned.

The regular season and post-season formats are just fine the way they are.

After all, like I said, the NYG beat BOTH #1 and #2 on the road...they have earned it just as much as anyone. Of course, the reason they had to go on the road in the first place? That's right...the regular season's 9-7 record

 

[reflexblue]

I remember after seeing the Giants earlier this year how I felt someone ripped out my gut. After Brady threw that TD to Gronk, I went into the other room where my dad and grandfather were having dinner and told them "We won." Then we all know what happened. I thought anyway "At least we won't have to see them again."

The Giants remind me of the 01-04 Pats. Great defense, clutch QB play, and a lot of luck on their side. On the right side of the 3 point games, last second drives...**** like Cundiff happens to them all the time. Not to mention, they aren't afraid of playing anyone. Seeing "Tom Brady and Bill Belichick" on the other side means nothing to them.

I keep hearing how much Brady "wants this," but he wanted the Ravens game too and look how he played. He might be hiding a more serious injury than we know that we only hear about at the end of the year.

Not to mention the Giants front four. (Not even talking about the last SB, talking about this year)...they gave Brady fits and he had his worst regular season game of the year other than the last drive.

The Giants basically remind me of the Ravens only with a younger defense and better QB.

I know we CAN win the game and that Belichick can come up with some kind of gameplan, but I'm just not feeling this, and I've never wanted a sports team to win so bad in my life. The Grady Little/Aaron Boone game was erased by the Yankees losing to the Marlins. 2004 was unexpected...when they were down 0-3 I thought they were done and was prepared if they did lose one of the games.

The 07 SB, I remember getting over it pretty easily. I was pissed, but I was more pissed that the Patriots didn't show up. They didn't play a good game. Even Troy Brown admitted recently that they were arrogant and thought they'd just walk over the Giants.

I want Welker to get a ring. I want Brady/Belichick to be the no doubt greatest ever.

Tommy Brady going to Kraft after the game and apologizing for his performance and saying something like "This won't happen in 2 weeks. I promise you that". Kraft patted him saying he played well and nothing to apologize for.

 

[reflexblue]

---Most importantly, if you were able to get over the 2007 season's SB "pretty easily" you have something inside you that we do not understand very well around these parts.

Yeah if he got over that game easily there something wrong. Its been close to FOUR years and i still haven't gotten over that loss.

 

[Bella*chick]

Yeah if he got over that game easily there something wrong. Its been close to FOUR years and i still haven't gotten over that loss.

I've had to accept that I'll never get over it, ever.

 

[Brady'sButtBoy]

I've had to accept that I'll never get over it, ever.

Me neither. Ugh...

 

[102 Pat]

I've had to accept that I'll never get over it, ever.

A win next sunday would personally help me greatly with getting over SB42.

 

[Dutchmaster617]

I agree with the above post. And I'll just re-iterate how flawed this playoff system is.

You know, going 19-0, like the Pats did in 2007 is a huge freaking accomplishment. The fact that you lost the Super Bowl is one thing, but to get beat by an average team, it just sucks, not just for the Patriots, but for excellence itself and for any NFL team that tries to do something great and accomplish greatness. It wouldn't have hurt nearly as bad if they got beat by the Cowboys or Packers that year, who were much better teams.

Getting beat by the Giants basically meant going 16-0, 15-1, 14-2, 13-3 is pointless and meaningless in the NFL. Why bother trying?

It's a result of a flawed playoff system that allows average teams to get through that would have never gotten to the Super Bowl otherwise. It doesn't even allow for true underdog teams who bust their butts, like the 49ers, to get rewarded for their hard work.

It basically says, stop trying to be a winning team consistently, season after season, because it doesn't matter anyway.

No way in hell are the Giants the best NFC team this year. The best NFC teams are at home because of a crappy playoff system. One and done should be for the wild card, semi-finalists and Championship games, not the divisional round. In 2007 the Cowboys and Packers got shafted. Cost a great player his legacy, and Romo, might have a better image.

It seems insane that teams have to work so hard for a playoff spot, but then it's so easy to jump straight into the Super Bowl. Organizations spend too much money and players work too hard to make it that far just to go one and done in the wildcard and divisional rounds because of one bad Sunday, or circumstances that are out of your control, like Green Bay this year.

No doubt the death of their offensive coordinator's son had a huge impact and I don't care what anyone says but I'm not going to be all there if my son just past away two weeks ago. Back-ups would also become more important too. It really would try the best teams all around, and test out the bench too.

Championship game winners would also carry a lot more weight if we had a true playoff system. It would be much more meaningful. Divisional round should be one home, one away and Championship games should also be played on neutral grounds. Not to mention, you could draw in far more money if you got to choose the cities where Championship games would be played.

I wouldn't have to sit here and worry about "luck" and being one and done in the playoffs this year if there was a true playoff system.

What? Are you serious? Not only did they outscore those teams over 4 quarters, but are you implying that we shouldn't have a 2001 championship over that great 14-2 Rams team. The problem here is you ignore how upsets go both ways, when Tom retires we may be on a 9-7 run with an avg QB and catch a few breaks, but according to you we shouldn't be given that opportunity because we are not a 'top' team.

 

[Off The Grid]

You know, going 19-0, like the Pats did in 2007 is a huge freaking accomplishment.

You might wanna recheck your math on that one, Bub.