Schedule & Playoffs

[Chevy]

There's no cream in the NFCE, only sour milk. There's no way that any team should get a "title" just because they had a better record than 3 other teams out of 15. PUH-LEASE.

Another thing this idiotic 4-team division setup does is make it pretty clear who'll be in the playoffs, and we've only finished 3 weeks. Let me throw one together.

Projected Playoffs
1 - KC/GB
2 - Bal/Sea
3 - Ten/NO
4 - NE/Dal
5 - Pitt/LAR
6 - Buf/TB
7 - Ind/Chi
Out
Cle/SF
LV/Ari

Those predictions will probably end up being close. We'll see.

With two 8-team divisions the cream is much more likely to be in the playoffs if you went by each team's record, which is the true value of a team. It's totally unfair to teams or fans of teams that outperformed some team that got in because it had no competition as well as a piss poor record.

The beauty of the NFL Playoff's is the simplicity. Win your division, win the conference, with the Super Bowl.

 

[sb1]

No 6-10 team is making the playoffs, relax.

 

[Kontradiction]

God damnit. The fix is in AGAIN!?

 

[1960Pats]

The beauty of the NFL Playoff's is the simplicity. Win your division, win the conference, with the Super Bowl.

For me the simple and best option is to have the best teams in the playoffs. That won't happen as long as they guarantee playoff spots to teams from weak 4 team divisions.

It's a disgrace that one of the NFCE teams (probably Dallas) will be in the playoffs. If they are they'll have done it because they had a better record than only Washington, the Giants and Philly, three of the worst teams in all of football.

 

[mgteich]

For me the simple and best option is to have the best teams in the playoffs. That won't happen as long as they guarantee playoff spots to teams from weak 4 team divisions.

It's a disgrace that one of the NFCE teams (probably Dallas) will be in the playoffs. If they are they'll have done it because they had a better record than only Washington, the Giants and Philly, three of the worst teams in all of football.

Then lets get of of divisions. Certainly some teams shouldn't be allowed to have their own private divisions that they can dominate for a decade at a time.

 

[1960Pats]

View attachment 28774


Then lets get of of divisions. Certainly some teams shouldn't be allowed to have their own private divisions that they can dominate for a decade at a time.

Sounds great to me, though I'll enjoy it when some NFC Team(s) get burned this year. What makes it even better is that the NFCW is playing the NFCE and will probably rack up a lot of wins, only to have one of the sh!tbums from the NFCE that they beat go to the playoffs.

In the AFC the big advantage is going to the AFCN, who'll also get to play those same sh!tbums as well as the AFCS, the weakest of the AFC divisions. Baltimore is a strong team and would likely earn a spot anyway, but Pittsburgh, a hugely over-rated team, is already reaping the benefits with 3 wins against teams with a combined record of 0-9.

 

[XLIX]

Sounds great to me, though I'll enjoy it when some NFC Team(s) get burned this year. What makes it even better is that the NFCW is playing the NFCE and will probably rack up a lot of wins, only to have one of the sh!tbums from the NFCE that they beat go to the playoffs.

In the AFC the big advantage is going to the AFCN, who'll also get to play those same sh!tbums as well as the AFCS, the weakest of the AFC divisions. Baltimore is a strong team and would likely earn a spot anyway, but Pittsburgh, a hugely over-rated team, is already reaping the benefits with 3 wins against teams with a combined record of 0-9.

There are always going to be teams with a weaker SOS than others. That is unavoidable.

You want to overhaul the entire system for something that happens about once per decade. That’s ridiculous.

 

[borg]

The pity party will be in the NFCW this year when a 7-9 East team gets in while a 10-6 West team doesn't, especially considering that almost half of the teams will make the playoffs.

Should the league revise schedules 2 weeks into the season so certain elements don’t get triggered?

 

[borg]

View attachment 28774


Then lets get of of divisions. Certainly some teams shouldn't be allowed to have their own private divisions that they can dominate for a decade at a time.

“Allowed” ??????

How does the league “allow” a team to dominate?

By giving the dominant team the top draft pick in every round?
By allowing the dominant team to ignore the salary cap so their best free agents won’t be raided by other teams?
By giving the dominant team a first place schedule?
—————————————————-
My suggestion to the perpetually sad fan bases whose teams can’t resurrect themselves despite a system designed to level the playing field......

ROOT FOR ANOTHER TEAM

 

[jmt57]

tl;dr: Yes, four-team divisions can and do result in bad teams making the playoffs. But there are valid reasons for the format, and changing to a strictly fair and equitable format is not practical or feasible.


Valid arguments can be made either way in regards to small (four-team) divisions, or larger (eight or 16 team) divisions.

Having a schedule in which you play 15 games, one each against every other team in your conference (with no divisions) would be the most fair, as this would mean that all teams had identical schedules.

In regards to what is fair to everyone, then expand on that point and eliminate playoffs. The more reliant you are on the larger sample size of a full season to determine a winner then the more likely you will truly have the best team crowned champion. Single elimination game tournament style playoffs have the greatest chance of the 'best' team not winning. That could be downplayed by having a 'best of' playoff series the way other pro sports do. That of course is never going to happen due to business reasons. Three weeks of ten (now 12) playoff games generate a tremendous amount of revenue that financially benefits both the owners and the players. Replacing that with a 2 out of 3 or 3 out of 5 championship series would be a horrible business decision - even though the 15-game season followed by 3/5 series would be the most equitable way of determining a champion.

The concept of having four-team divisions accepts the reality that there will sometimes be a division champion not worthy of being in the playoffs, in exchange for other positive ramifications. The example above - an extreme polar opposite with only one playoff team per conference - is essentially what the NFL used until 1967 and the AFL used for most of its existence. The problem was that far too often the second best team in the league missed the playoffs because it was in the same division as the best team. Creating small divisions helped, but did not eliminate that inequity; in '67 two teams finished with 11-1-2 records within the same division - with the loser of the tiebreaker missing the playoffs. That circumstance is why the addition of a wild card team was introduced.

There are other benefits to a small (four team) division. Most notably is the building of rivalries as a result of playing three other teams twice a year, every season. This creates familiarity for fans, which generates more fan interest, which makes it easier for casual fans to follow a team.

The other benefit coincides with the league's desire for parity. Couple small divisions with tools (salary cap; draft in inverse order of won-loss record) that hinder teams from dominating their division for long periods of time, while favoring teams with losing records. The result is (or in theory should be) that fans of every NFL team do not have to wait long periods of time to see their team win their division or go to the playoffs. This generates more fan interest, which again results in more revenue for both the owners and the players.

 

[XLIX]

There are other benefits to a small (four team) division. Most notably is the building of rivalries as a result of playing three other teams twice a year, every season. This creates familiarity for fans, which generates more fan interest, which makes it easier for casual fans to follow a team.

This is an excellent point which I think some in here just don't get.

 

[Triumph]

The pity party will be in the NFCW this year when a 7-9 East team gets in while a 10-6 West team doesn't, especially considering that almost half of the teams will make the playoffs.

A 9 - 7 NY Giants team made the post season and won the Super Bowl. Injuries in the regular season dragged their record down.

Rise to the level of talent in the division or sit home. Pittsburgh is not over rated. They have Ben and a really good defense.

 

[1960Pats]

A 9 - 7 NY Giants team made the post season and won the Super Bowl. Injuries in the regular season dragged their record down.

Rise to the level of talent in the division or sit home. Pittsburgh is not over rated. They have Ben and a really good defense.

The Giants are a totally different situation. Nobody with a better record and a win against the Giants was denied. They had the 6th best record.

It certainly won't be hard for Dallas to "rise to the level of talent" in the NFCE. Dallas beat Atlanta after trailing by 2 TDs, Washington has a win vs Philly, who only has a tie vs the vaunted Bengals. That's two wins and a tie out of 12 games. If you want to go by rankings the NFCE is 17, 24, 27 and 31.

We'll find out about the Steelers when they play a team that isn't a load of crap. The only good team in the AFCN is the Ravens, but all of them will benefit from a far easier schedule than any other AFC division.

 

[Wax Frog]

When hasn’t Goody made things worse?

I know exactly who we could ask

 

[Triumph]

The Giants are a totally different situation. Nobody with a better record and a win against the Giants was denied. They had the 6th best record.

It certainly won't be hard for Dallas to "rise to the level of talent" in the NFCE. Dallas beat Atlanta after trailing by 2 TDs, Washington has a win vs Philly, who only has a tie vs the vaunted Bengals. That's two wins and a tie out of 12 games. If you want to go by rankings the NFCE is 17, 24, 27 and 31.

We'll find out about the Steelers when they play a team that isn't a load of crap. The only good team in the AFCN is the Ravens, but all of them will benefit from a far easier schedule than any other AFC division.

I dont get all the complaining.

If the Giants and Washington win this weekend and the Pats lose all 3 teams are 2 - 2.

Where is the crystal ball that tells us which team is going to be good or bad? There is nothing wrong with the schedule format the way it is. The NFL decides only 2 opponents based on the previous seasons record. Best record wins the division. Pittsburgh is very real. Ben is a good enough QB to go all the way.

 

[A Defiant Goose]

Before we start talking about bye weeks, lets worry about beating OAKLAND (i'm not calling them Las Vegas) and staying over .500

I'll talk about whatever the **** I want biiiiiiiiiiiiitch

 

[jah]

I don't think these are problems caused by the scheduling formula but rather the playoff system. It might be a good idea to ignore divisions for seeding, or at least not automatically give division winners a home playoff game.

 

[borg]

The only “fair” schedule that would mostly satisfy the perpetually triggered is:

-15 week regular season schedule
-Teams play every intraconference member once
-Super Bowl would be only interconference game

Of course the perpetually triggered would get all twitchy if one qualifying NFC playoff team had a worse record than a non-qualifying AFC team.

So to be fair, the only solution is:

-31 game season
-Teams play every NFL member once
-Best records qualify for post season

Of course the perpetually triggered will get all twitchy because half the teams will play 1 extra road game.
They will also moan about when their team played a particular opponent. “It’s unfair that my team played the Steelers in August when that team was healthy and dominant and your team played the free-falling Steelers in March when half their roster was on IR or in jail.”

Final trigger-free solution:

-Lombardy’s for everyone after the ceremonial kneel down

 

[1960Pats]

I dont get all the complaining.

If the Giants and Washington win this weekend and the Pats lose all 3 teams are 2 - 2.

Where is the crystal ball that tells us which team is going to be good or bad? There is nothing wrong with the schedule format the way it is. The NFL decides only 2 opponents based on the previous seasons record. Best record wins the division. Pittsburgh is very real. Ben is a good enough QB to go all the way.

The only way that Washington, Philly or the Giants will win games is when they play each other or other NFCE teams. They all suck.

As I posted upstream, you can accurately predict the playoff teams already.
Baltimore and Pitt are locks, while crappy Cleveland (another over-rated team) has a chance to sneak in. That's because 10 of those teams' 16 games are against the two worst divisions in football, the NFCE and AFCS, and the Bungles.
KC's a lock and the Raiders have a slight chance, though I did put a curse on them that will last until 2026. They aren't that good anyway.
Tennessee and Indy are likely the AFCS reps but one may be out.
Buffalo and NE are the teams from the AFCE but one of them may be out.

We're only three games into the season and the playoffs are just about set. That wouldn't happen with a balanced schedule that has the AFC teams playing each other more often.

Here's my realignment;

AFCE
Bal
Buf
Cin
Cle
Mia
NE
NJ
Pitt
AFCW
Den
Hou
Ind
Jac
KC
LV
LAC
Ten

 

[1960Pats]

I don't think these are problems caused by the scheduling formula but rather the playoff system. It might be a good idea to ignore divisions for seeding, or at least not automatically give division winners a home playoff game.

That would definitely be an improvement. That way a 7-8-1 team may get into the playoffs but at least they wouldn't get a home game.

The reason this bothers me is because of the fans as much as the teams. Why should the fans of say, the 10-6 Cards, sit at home while the fans of 6-10 Dallas be rewarded with a game that their team didn't earn?