NFL Will Look Again At Playoff Re-Seeding

A lot of people are up in arms over the 7-9 Seahawks automatically getting a home game against the 11-5 Saints this weekend because of the NFL's playoff seeding rule that mandates each division winner gets a home game regardless of record. Roger Goodell has heard those complaints, and said Wednesday that the league will consider changing that rule in the offseason. "This is something that we'll look at again," Goodell said in an interview on ProFootballTalk Live. "We looked at it a few years ago. The strong view of the clubs was that you should win your division and if you win your division, you should be rewarded with a home game. There is another view that winning your division should automatically get you into the playoffs and into the postseason but that it should not automatically reward you with a home game. That is something that will continue to be debated. We will look at that this offseason. Let's let the playoffs play out here a little bit and try to understand what the ramifications are rather than reacting to a specific circumstance." The Seahawks aren't the only team playing host to a team with a better record. The 10-6 Colts will play at home against the 11-5 Jets, and the 12-4 Ravens have to travel to play the 10-6 Chiefs. The issue took life when the Seahawks became the first team to make the playoffs with a losing record.

Source: NFL Fanhouse

 

I hope this goes through......this needs to be changed.

A 7-9 team in no way, shape or form deserves a home playoff game against a far more superior team in the defending Super Bowl champion Saints just because they won their division.

Re-seeded 3-6 and the playoff structure will be far better for it. My belief is that teams with 10 or more wins should have the privilege of getting a home playoff game.

 

Realign the division then but I say if you win your division you go no matter the win-loss record. If the Saints wanted home field they should have won their division.

 

If the Seahawks pull an upset against the Saints, I won't say another work on this. I feel that the division winner should finish at least at .500. If no team in that division finishes with a minimum of .500, then there would be no division winner in that division and it would open a third wild card spot, with the highest seed wild card team hosting a playoff game.

It just doesn't seem right to me that one team has an 11-5 record and misses the playoffs (I am referring to the 2008 Patriots) and that a 7-9 team is in the playoffs.

 

Keep it the same, re-align the division if anything. Division winners should be rewarded somehow.

 

I would put the Falcons back in the NFC West and switch the Rams to the NFC South.

 

I don't think the Rams should have to pay for Arizona and San Francisco's incompetence.

Plus what would that achieve? Just have the Saints do what what the Cards do for the last two years and what the Seahawks did the two years before that?

I would be for a rule where if a team wins with a record that is 50% and below, but there are other teams that would miss out despite having 2 more wins, then the 10 win teams would get in.

Otherwise, leave the seeding system as it is, otherwise they might as well get rid of the divisional format and just have teams play against all the teams in their conference and one game against an AFC team that finished the same position.

 

I'm thinking more geographically than anything.....although the Cardinals would be another candidate even though there on the west coast....they can be considered a "southern" state since there in the southern part of the U.S.

But I do see the Rams being competitive with the Buccaneers every year and seeing two good young QB's in Bradford and Freeman battle one another would be exciting to watch.

Putting the Falcons back in the West would give every division in the NFL an elite and competitive team.

 

The third wild card team idea kenman brought up wouldn't be a bad idea.

 

BBB, the NFC South has 4 teams with natural rivalries built in. There's no way the NFL is going to break up that division.

I think the NFL should change nothing. This is the FIRST TIME this has happened in the 45 year history of the Super Bowl.

This is exactly what is wrong with the entire country. People overreacting to something that rarely EVER happens.

At the end of the day Saturday the better team (Saints) will win and move on regardless of the location of the game.

 

Having a losing team in the playoffs leaves a bad taste in my mouth.....regardless of the occurrence.

I don't see the NFC East or NFC North broken up.....those are two historical divisions in the NFL that have rivalries that have lasted for over 50 years.

Rich McKay....who's with the Falcons.....has been a big supporter of playoff re-seeding and could have a strong argument after the Seahawks get thrashed in the Wild Card.

 

Would you be saying this if the Giants got in?

 

Yes.....the Seahawks would still be in regardless.

Having a losing team in the playoffs is a joke imo.....what should the NFL expect in terms of ratings for that game? That could be another factor.

 

I like the idea of nobody under 500 makes it. Giants or Bucs in Seahawks out is how it should be this year. Realligning divisions is crazy because teams abilities naturally change so a random sampling of 4 sucky teams today could all be great in 5 or 10 years and keeping division encourages rivalry even in down times when everyone in it sucks.

 

Somehow I doubt you'd have that same opinion if the Giants were in the playoffs and opening against the Hawks. But, whatever.

Again this is the FIRST time this has ever happened in the history of the Super Bowl. There's no need to jump the gun and start messing with a system that already works.

 

It doesn't work though. It didn't work this year. Seahawks are proof. It almost works because losers rarely make it BUT a loser has made it and that is wrong so it should be fixed.

 

So a system that has a 44-1 record is a flawed system? Since when?

 

You don't know I think and I don't know how you think. We'll leave it at that. But I'm also thinking about the integrity of the game....the NFL is one of the few major sports leagues that never had a losing team in the playoffs until this year.

The Giants wouldn't have played the Seahawks in the Wildcard.....they would've played in Philadelphia. But you and I both know that with Goodell in charge....he'll eventually get what he wants.

 

Since forever. That's what that 1 part is. It's a flaw. We should strive for perfection. In a way that doesn't heck with anything about the system we have when it doesn't screw up

 

Bingo.....

45-0 is flawless mush.