TheGodInAGreyHoodie
Experienced Starter w/First Big Contract
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There has been some chatter about two possible oddities of our current playoff system. The possibility that an 11-5 team could be left out of playoffs while an 8-8 team makes it. And the possibility that the team with the second best AFC record could be the #5 seed and travel to play an 8-8 team they beat.
While I personally like the current format and am okay with those possibilities, I thought it would be interesting to play with the systems and see how theoretically odd it could get, even though all these possibilities are extremely remote.
Here is what I found:
A 3-13 team could win their division, go to the playoff, and host a game. This would require that all four teams in the division split the division games and lose all non-division games this would set up a four way tie. The tie breaker would be strength of schedule.
A 16-0 team could play the conference championship game on the road. This would require two teams in the same conf both go 16-0 in a year in which they don't play each other (say the Bills an Colts this year). The tie breaker would be SoV, which in this case is the same as strength of schedule.
A 15-1 team could be a wildcard team. This would require two teams in the same division spliting against each other and winning all the rest of their games. The tie breaker would be SoV.
A 14-2 team could miss the playoff all together. So I am going to just do this by example:
Pats (14-2) win all except one to Jets and Dolphins
Jets (14-2) win all except one to Pats and Dolphins
Jax (14-2) win all except Huston (and one other)
Huston (14-2) win all except Jax and Dolphins
Dolphins (14-2) win all except Pats and Jets.
Depending on tiebreakers one of the 14-2 teams misses the playoffs.
Not only that but the 14-2 missing the playoffs or the 15-1 being the wildcard could occur in the same season as a 3-13 team making the playoffs.
Once again I am not complaining about the system, just thought it would be fun to test its limits.
While I personally like the current format and am okay with those possibilities, I thought it would be interesting to play with the systems and see how theoretically odd it could get, even though all these possibilities are extremely remote.
Here is what I found:
A 3-13 team could win their division, go to the playoff, and host a game. This would require that all four teams in the division split the division games and lose all non-division games this would set up a four way tie. The tie breaker would be strength of schedule.
A 16-0 team could play the conference championship game on the road. This would require two teams in the same conf both go 16-0 in a year in which they don't play each other (say the Bills an Colts this year). The tie breaker would be SoV, which in this case is the same as strength of schedule.
A 15-1 team could be a wildcard team. This would require two teams in the same division spliting against each other and winning all the rest of their games. The tie breaker would be SoV.
A 14-2 team could miss the playoff all together. So I am going to just do this by example:
Pats (14-2) win all except one to Jets and Dolphins
Jets (14-2) win all except one to Pats and Dolphins
Jax (14-2) win all except Huston (and one other)
Huston (14-2) win all except Jax and Dolphins
Dolphins (14-2) win all except Pats and Jets.
Depending on tiebreakers one of the 14-2 teams misses the playoffs.
Not only that but the 14-2 missing the playoffs or the 15-1 being the wildcard could occur in the same season as a 3-13 team making the playoffs.
Once again I am not complaining about the system, just thought it would be fun to test its limits.
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