NFL Seeding Discussion / Other Changes

[SkunkedAgain]

There was a good article in the Press-Gazette yesterday about playoff seedings. You can read it as sour grapes, but the argument has merit. What other changes do folks want to see associated with the playoffs?

I'll toss one idea out there: replace the standard overtime coin flip with the XFL's scramble-for-the-ball system. I liked that way more and it's less random than a coin flip.

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NFL must fix playoff seeding system

By Mike Vandermause • January 5, 2010

The NFL playoff seeding system makes little sense.

The Green Bay Packers (11-5) have a better record than the Arizona Cardinals (10-6), yet instead of enjoying the comforts of home this weekend and hosting a first-round playoff game at Lambeau Field, the Packers face a three-hour flight and hostile dome crowd at University of Phoenix Stadium.

More injustice awaits the Packers if they would meet the Dallas Cowboys down the playoff road. Both teams posted the same regular-season record, and the Packers soundly beat the Cowboys during the regular season. But the No. 5-seeded Packers would travel to No. 3 seed Dallas for the playoffs.

What ever happened to the idea of fairness?

The system is flawed because it throws equity out the window and contributes to the shameful late-season practice of playoff qualifiers tanking games.

It was a sad spectacle when the Cardinals sent in their scrubs in the first quarter against the Packers on Sunday and laid down like dogs in a 33-7 loss. I don’t blame Cardinals coach Ken Whisenhunt for employing that strategy because under the NFL’s wacky playoff structure, his team had no incentive to win.

Thus fans that paid full price for their tickets were cheated out of watching a real game and settled for a glorified scrimmage.

My proposal is simple and sane. Division champions would earn playoff berths, but all postseason qualifiers would be seeded based on their final records.

In such a scenario, the Packers-Cardinals regular-season finale would have carried great significance, with the winner earning the right to host a first-round playoff game.

Since the NFL adopted four-team divisions in 2002, it has insisted on rewarding division champions with home playoff games. That penalizes wild-card postseason qualifiers who compete in tougher divisions.

Why should the Packers, or the 11-5 Philadelphia Eagles for that matter, be stuck with a lower seed just because the Cardinals captured the sad-sack NFC West this season?

If NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is serious about giving late-season games more meaning, this is one place to start. It wouldn’t prevent a team like Indianapolis from going through the motions after locking up the AFC’s top seed this season, but it’s an improvement on the current set-up.

Unfortunately, change in the NFL is about as easy as moving mountains.

“It’s not an easy thing to get changed,” said Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers, a former NFL head coach who participated in rules discussions at league meetings. “Sometimes you think it might, but it normally takes a long time to get something changed like that.”

Oddly, head coaches and general managers might oppose such a move. Their current task of beating out three other teams for a division title increases the likelihood they will win a playoff game at home, which improves their job security.

That’s why Goodell must tune out team sentiment and come down on the side of common sense, not to mention fans, who deserve a better system.

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[Scott K]

Sounds like the Packers are just whinning because they have to play on the road, maybe next year they will be the ones to bennifit to a road game in the same scenario!

[pegleg]

I would have 1 thing to say to the Packers about this... Win the division baby and don't worry about it.

[gundy89]

Always complaining.

I absolutely agree with the current system. With 16 teams in each conference the only other way to do it would be to only play within the conference. But then you have 1 leftover game. You'll get some team complaining becuase they had to play the colts, chargers, saints, etc twice. I personally like seeing an AFC conference every year, and like having the packers and bears twice.

Yes, the cardinals record isn't quite as good as the packers, but their schedule wasn't exactly sad-sacked. They played the AFC South (Indy 14-2, Houston 9-7, Titans 8-8, Jax 7-9) and the NFC North (#2 seed and #1 wildcard).

Other changes:

Overtime - At least give both teams a shot on Offense. Doesn't have to be a full quarter.

Pass Interference - Something needs to be corrected on this. The tic-tac calls are stupid and effecting the game too much.

Late Flags - Come on, if you're gonna call it, call it. Don't wait for the player to complain and then throw them.

QB hits - I'm all for the QBs not to get killed, but call it evenly. Especially the low stuff. It's a flag to touch brady, but VY or Alex Smith can get smacked and it's fine.

Bye Weeks - For pete's sake, why do you have the bye weeks so early? Like a team needs a break week 4. Start them in week 6 and go through 10 or 11.

I'd like to see a little deeper rosters or practice squads. It would allow teams to groom players more.

And PLEASE get the CBA done so there's no lockout!!!!

[zepman]

A Packer writer must have wrote that. To those of you Packer Backers who have said winning the division means absolutely nothing...maybe you should re-read that article.

[Big Dave2]

I agree with the current system. I feel that a team should be rewarded for winning a division.

Overtime, on the other hand, should be done like college does it. They could start out another 10 yards further to make it harder but that method is way more exciting.

I'm for NO coin tosses at all. Make the opening kickoff be the home teams choice or just make it that the Visitor always kicks first. We don't flip a coin in baseball to see who bats at the top of the inning.

[9joey1]

The Cardinals would have actually tried last weekend if the record mattered. They played barely any of their starters... Who knows if the fpackers would even have won if the Cardinals played everyone and cared about the outcome.

[TR21HP]

If everybody played the exact same schedule, I agree, you take the 6 best teams and do a playoff. Unfortunately this isn't possible or feasible so the current system will have to do.

[SkunkedAgain]

There is a reward for winning the division: automatic inclusion in the post-season playoffs. Now let's say that you have an 8-8 team that won their division. Is it fair to reward them with home field advantage as well as an automatic playoff berth? That's the point of the article. The NFL has a zillion ways to determine who wins the division in the case of a tie, those same criteria could be used to determine playoff seeding.

I think that the inconsistency in refereeing should be smoothed out. You seem to be able to get away with more stuff in the playoffs versus the regular season. As a former referee myself, I have no problem with letting teams play but the league has to set the bar a little better.

In general, I'd like to see the league simplify some of the rules. Fumbles should not be so hard to determine. You need to stand up with the football, none of this "the ground can't cause a fumble" stuff. It also seems like refs are calling "in the grasp" a little more by blowing plays dead, even though that was eliminated. The tuck rule needs to go. Just tell QBs that the ball needs to cross the line of scrimmage if you are actively being tackled, or else it's a fumble.

[gundy89]

There is a reward for winning the division: automatic inclusion in the post-season playoffs. Now let's say that you have an 8-8 team that won their division. Is it fair to reward them with home field advantage as well as an automatic playoff berth? That's the point of the article. The NFL has a zillion ways to determine who wins the division in the case of a tie, those same criteria could be used to determine playoff seeding.

Life isn't Fair. Everyone knows the rules going in and has control of their own destiny from day 1. You can't sit and complain at the end of the season. If the packers wanted a home game, beat the vikings at home and don't lose to a horribleTampa team. I'm sick of the steelers fans whining about the pats and bungals tanking the last game so they couldn't make it in. You DON'T deserve to be in the playoffs if you lose to Oakland, KC, and Cleveland in the same season. Philly got the 6th seed, should they complain that their record is better then than the cards? no, take care of business in 1 of the 2 games against the boys or beat the stinking Raiders and you had the division.

Sorry it got long, but the fact of the matter is if you take care of business, you won't be complaining at the end. It's the teams to take a week or 2 off and run into trouble that are always complaining.

[lawdog]

Late Flags - Come on, if you're gonna call it, call it. Don't wait for the player to complain and then throw them.

Now you hit one of my pet peeves. As an official you are trained from the day you start to have slow flags and even slower whistles. In fact you should slow everything down so you process it thoroughly and make sure you have the right call before you make it. Throw the flag a second earlier with the wrong call and it will be WAY worse than waiting 1/2 second and getting it right, the timing of actually throwing the flag means absolutely nothing. One of my biggest announcer pet peeves is, "oh and a flag comes in late". Actually, 99.99% of the times its coming in just when it is supposed to! NFL refs are the best, they have more rules and know them better than anybody, that's just a fact. I've been to clinics with NFL refs teaching and they were all great guys.

[Rick]

If you want to do a truly fair seeding then you have to let each team play every team in their conference and 1 Non-conference homer game that doesn't count towards seeding. Take the top 6 teams and you have a play-offs set.

Otherwise a case can always be made that the seeding is unfair.

Just to be clear, I'm ok with the play-off format as is.

[SkunkedAgain]

"Just to be clear", I agree that most of us are okay with the system as is, but it never hurts to talk about improvement. Those of you reading this as a Packer rant, don't. The article was meant to spur discussion about what people think about possible changes.

[zamboni]

I agree with Dave, college does OT right, both teams should get the ball at least once.