Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise

[mcgraw_wv]

Well of course making the playoffs would be exciting, BUT... over the past 5 years or so, the Patriots have had to play 2 additional months of football than most of the NFL.

And although it stinks to not be in the playoffs with an 11-5 record, which one year gave us the bye, it also means that we have a HIGHLY successfull football team by NFL standards that gets an additional 2 months to rest and regroup for next season.

And let's face it, when Brady went down, no one event expected to be in this position, when brady went down we expected to be out of the playoffs...

Now all our aging Defense gets another 2 months of rest, our coaches, and all those connected to the team gets a little extra rest they very well deserve.

Which hopefully translates into a powerful rested team come 2009 season.

 

[Sicilian]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

Well of course making the playoffs would be exciting, BUT... over the past 5 years or so, the Patriots have had to play 2 additional months of football than most of the NFL.

And although it stinks to not be in the playoffs with an 11-5 record, which one year gave us the bye, it also means that we have a HIGHLY successfull football team by NFL standards that gets an additional 2 months to rest and regroup for next season.

And let's face it, when Brady went down, no one event expected to be in this position, when brady went down we expected to be out of the playoffs...

Now all our aging Defense gets another 2 months of rest, our coaches, and all those connected to the team gets a little extra rest they very well deserve.

Which hopefully translates into a powerful rested team come 2009 season.

Not many of these players have been on the Patriots for each of this string of playoff seasons.

Our aging defense also gets a year older on top of this two month rest.

I expected this team was capable of making the playoffs. So I am not part of everyone.

Missing the playoffs is never a good thing. I know you're looking for a silver lining, but there isn't one. This stinks.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

Missing the playoffs is never a good thing. I know you're looking for a silver lining, but there isn't one. This stinks.

I think the 'silver lining', even if it's a somewhat tarnished one, is that there shouldn't be any additional injuries. Even yesterday the Pats had injury concerns.

 

[richpats]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

You better believe this is a blessing in disguise - this team is going to be a juggernaut in 2009, with a mantra of "take care of our own business". We needed help this year and never got it - next year we will help ourselves in a big way.

 

[Sicilian]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

You better believe this is a blessing in disguise - this team is going to be a juggernaut in 2009, with a mantra of "take care of our own business". We needed help this year and never got it - next year we will help ourselves in a big way.

Just like the super bowl loss and "Finish" was going to make us a juggernaut this year?

Look, I'm probably just disappointed, but there's a reason for that. We're only the second team since the merger to win 11 games and not get to play a postseason game. Meanwhile, a Chargers team that went 8-8 gets to HOST a playoff game. And what do we get? A worse draft pick than them to boot.

Call me a Colts fan if that makes everyone feel better. The system is flawed, and there is no reason we shouldn't be able to voice that.

 

[desi-patsfan]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

Once again, other than linebacks, do we actually have an aging defense? D-Line is young and good and 2ndary is young and getting there. I guess Rosie, Junior, Bru, and Vrabs somehow make everyone else collectively old?

 

[Sicilian]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

Once again, other than linebacks, do we actually have an aging defense? D-Line is young and good and 2ndary is young and getting there. I guess Rosie, Junior, Bru, and Vrabs somehow make everyone else collectively old?

My response was more to question the idea that two extra months would mean something to older players. Sure they get less months of wear and tear, but their bodies don't stop aging when they're not playing.

 

[mcgraw_wv]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

I don't feel the system is flawed...

On opening day, the Patriots have a goal, Win the AFC east. That is your first goal on opening day, win your division. And we didn't do that.

The part that I feel may be flawed is the tie breaker comes down the way it does. If we would have lost to an NFC team rather than a AFC team, we might be in the playoffs...

When the tie breaker is basically based on who you've played and who you've lost too, and the strength of schedule is dramtically slanted in Miami's favor based on the schedule.

Miami played bottom dwelling teams, we faced the top of the AFC divisions, we tied them and they get the tie breaker because they lost to an NFC team instead of a AFC team... that part is flawed.

But the playoff system is right... the Chargers won their division, that's their goal, and they did it.

 

[mcgraw_wv]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

My response was more to question the idea that two extra months would mean something to older players. Sure they get less months of wear and tear, but their bodies don't stop aging when they're not playing.

Yeah but 2 additional months every year for the past 5 years adds up to 15 extra games and grind that most other teams haven't had...

This may translate into less injuries, and fresher legs down the season next year. It may translate into Bru coming back instead of retiring...

 

[richpats]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

Just like the super bowl loss and "Finish" was going to make us a juggernaut this year?

Settle down there- Brady's injury threw that whole dynamic out the window. After Week 1 this season came down to one thing- survival. And considering we were technically alive for the playoffs after our last game was played, I'd say we "finished" rather well.

 

[Sicilian]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

I don't feel the system is flawed...

On opening day, the Patriots have a goal, Win the AFC east. That is your first goal on opening day, win your division. And we didn't do that.

The part that I feel may be flawed is the tie breaker comes down the way it does. If we would have lost to an NFC team rather than a AFC team, we might be in the playoffs...

When the tie breaker is basically based on who you've played and who you've lost too, and the strength of schedule is dramtically slanted in Miami's favor based on the schedule.

Miami played bottom dwelling teams, we faced the top of the AFC divisions, we tied them and they get the tie breaker because they lost to an NFC team instead of a AFC team... that part is flawed.

But the playoff system is right... the Chargers won their division, that's their goal, and they did it.

But the problem is rewarding a team that wins a division that contains terrible teams. Oakland and KC were laughable. Denver wasn't much better. We had a better record in a tougher division but we're sitting home while the Chargers move on.

Like I said, every sport has this system, so clearly I'm wrong in the sports world. But I've NEVER liked divisions in the modern era determining playoffs. I think they keep it because people like to consider themselves "purists" and it sparks debate. Debate (as long as it doesn't involve scandals) = Interest = Money.

It's the same in baseball where a deserving team is always out because someone like the Cardinals make it in a horrible division. The Cardinals winning it in the crapshoot that is the MLB playoffs (more about hot pitching than quality TEAM) is used to justify the system.

It's a throwback to an era where you couldn't play an even schedule across the nation because traveling was too hard on the players. That's not the case anymore. Let's change it to two divisions per conference, an East and West. Top team in each division get a bye. 3 through 6 is seeded based on record alone. It all but guarantees the top records get in, but you still give a division winner an extra reward for the purists.

 

[upstater1]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

You better believe this is a blessing in disguise - this team is going to be a juggernaut in 2009, with a mantra of "take care of our own business". We needed help this year and never got it - next year we will help ourselves in a big way.

Here's what I don't understand about this thinking. I look at next year's schedule and think, hmmm, we'll be 10-6.

Well, we didn't make the playoffs this year at 11-5.

I think this team came on at the end of the year, just like the 2002-2002 version and the same as the team that lost to the Colts in 2006. This team had a lot in common with those two teams.

Once in the playoffs, I believe this team could have gotten into the AFC CG.

 

[upstater1]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

I don't feel the system is flawed...

On opening day, the Patriots have a goal, Win the AFC east. That is your first goal on opening day, win your division. And we didn't do that.

The part that I feel may be flawed is the tie breaker comes down the way it does. If we would have lost to an NFC team rather than a AFC team, we might be in the playoffs...

When the tie breaker is basically based on who you've played and who you've lost too, and the strength of schedule is dramtically slanted in Miami's favor based on the schedule.

Miami played bottom dwelling teams, we faced the top of the AFC divisions, we tied them and they get the tie breaker because they lost to an NFC team instead of a AFC team... that part is flawed.

But the playoff system is right... the Chargers won their division, that's their goal, and they did it.

I'm not in favor of abolishing the division principle BUT GodinGreyHoodie was on here two days ago and he showed that it could be possible to win your division with a 3-13 record. Clearly then the idea that all division winners should get in has its flaws. I can't remember what year it was, but in the 90s, there was one year in which the NFC Central division winner could have gone to the playoffs with a losing record.

One SIMPLE new rule could be added to the present divisional structure. You have to have at least a 8-7-1 record to get into the playoffs. If the division winner doesn't get in, then the team with the next best winning percentage gets in.

That would solve a lot of the problems.

 

[patsfaninpittsburgh]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

Divisions are not going away because that is what creates rivalries. Since most divisions have geographic aspects, it creates maximum intertest.

We did lose to San Diego

Since 2003, the Pats have played about an extra season of football due to the playoffs. With 5 picks in the first 3 rounds, great young players like Meriweather, Mayo, and Wheatley, and TB coming back; I am looking forward to September.

 

[FreeTedWilliams]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

We can cry all we want, but the truth is the Pats played 4 of the 6 AFC playoff teams and went 1-4 in those games.

 

[upstater1]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

We did lose to San Diego

Yes, but the Titans also lost to the Jets. Doesn't mean the Jets have any more claim to the playoffs than anyone else.

 

[mcgraw_wv]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

I don't like that at all to be honest with you...

I could see a senario where, IF the #6 seed, OR #4 seed have the lowest win total and a team in the AFC not eligible for the playoffs has more wins then #6 or #4, then a challenge game is to be played in order to maintain the playoff position.

So, if the AFC West champ has a 8-8 record, and a Pats team which does not qualify for the playoffs has a 9-7 or greater record, then a one game playoff is played in order to take their position in the playoffs...

That could be fun and exciting...

 

[upstater1]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

We can cry all we want, but the truth is the Pats played 4 of the 6 AFC playoff teams and went 1-4 in those games.

As I said in an earlier post, the same thing happened in 2001-2002 and in 2006-2007.

In the first instance, we won the Super Bowl, and in the second, we were a hair's breath from beating the Colts and going to the Super Bowl.

 

[upstater1]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

I don't like that at all to be honest with you...

I could see a senario where, IF the #6 seed, OR #4 seed have the lowest win total and a team in the AFC not eligible for the playoffs has more wins then #6 or #4, then a challenge game is to be played in order to maintain the playoff position.

So, if the AFC West champ has a 8-8 record, and a Pats team which does not qualify for the playoffs has a 9-7 or greater record, then a one game playoff is played in order to take their position in the playoffs...

That could be fun and exciting...

I totally understand why you don't like my fix, since a 9-7 record against a weak schedule can be thought of as more inferior than a 8-8 record against a tough schedule.

I'm just trying to figure out a way that a clearly superior 11-5 record doesn't get screwed.

Heck, I'd be satisfied if they simply said, "If you go 8-8, then a tem with a 11-5 record goes instead of you," but the fact is, this has only happened once in 18 years, so clearly they will not make a new rule for this one freak occurrence. That's why I'm much more in favor of adding a playoff team.

IMO, only one team should have a bye. So often, that #2 team is closer to #3 than it is to #1. This new system would also have the added benefit of not having teams tank their last games after they secure the 2nd bye with no hope of grabbing the first bye.

 

[Sicilian]

Re: Not making the playoffs, blessing in disguise.

As I said in an earlier post, the same thing happened in 2001-2002 and in 2006-2007.

In the first instance, we won the Super Bowl, and in the second, we were a hair's breath from beating the Colts and going to the Super Bowl.

Bottom line, we're not going to have Belichick forever, and there is NO guarantee of future success in this league. When you miss out on an opportunity to play in the playoffs, it's one more year ticked away on this great era we've seen. I will never think that is a good thing, even if we legitimately did not deserve to go.