A Jerry Jones kind of rule change

[Vtwin]

Some teams (Dallas) don't seem to get an advantage with a bye, anyway.

That's a fact!

It can be as much a disadvantage as an advantage for any team.

 

[817Gill]

I don't know why you guys keep saying this. This doesn't benefit poor teams it benefits the teams who are 10-6 or 11-5 and who miss out on the playoffs for a 8-8 divisional winner.

Not sure how you guys see this as rewarding mediocrity or water down the playoffs.

Plus the NFL is a league built on parity. There’s 18-22 teams each year that can win 9-11 games. The only thing separating most of these teams at the end of the season is injuries, records in close games, how they did in their division.

It’s not hard to find 14 teams worthy of a playoff spot lol. There are plenty teams who were a bad break or two away from a double digit win season.

San Fran, Seattle, Green Bay, Minnesota, New Orleans, Tampa, Philly, Us

There are 2 playoff caliber teams in each division basically every season. Add in teams like Arizona and Pittsburgh who will certainly improve and I don’t really see how you don’t think 7 teams are worthy of a playoff spot.

 

[ItzKelz]

I of the mind set that the extra will make the playoffs for fun for fans. Especially for the fans of teams that get hot towards the end of the season.

 

[BigD5]

Hate it. There’s problems with the playoff system but this isn’t the fix for it

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

Mediocrity about to be rewarded. Jerry will like this a lot. Thoughts on the change?

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/28975474/nfl-playoff-expansion-14-teams-everything-need-know

I hate the playoff expansion policy. It's so stupid. The only reason it makes sense is if they plan to expand teams into the league. And I don't see why they can't expand at least 2-4 more teams. That way, at least it makes more sense to need the playoff spot. I can think of some places for the NFL to expand to.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

I'm more bothered by the odd number of regular season games, which means an unequal number of home and away games each year.

But that one is a Jones move also in that it's all about more money.

I don't see why they can't make one week for each team an international game or make it an 18 game schedule. That'd make more sense. And, like I said, they can afford to expand teams. St. Louis and San Diego should probably get an expansion team in each conference for example. Maybe even expand London and Orlando as well. By doing this, they can get two cities that they obviously want in the NFL (London with how many games they play there annually, and Orlando with how frequently they play the Pro Bowl there) as well as the NFL returning to 2 solid former NFL towns. Thus, 18 games becomes more easily arranged, and the playoff expansion becomes more useful.

 

[Whyjerry]

I hate the playoff expansion policy. It's so stupid. The only reason it makes sense is if they plan to expand teams into the league. And I don't see why they can't expand at least 2-4 more teams. That way, at least it makes more sense to need the playoff spot. I can think of some places for the NFL to expand to.

Just let it not be London or México.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

Just let it not be London or México.

If they're out into the AFC East, I think London is actually doable. Their division opponents, as I said in a new thread I opened, would be the New England Patriots, NY Jets, Buffalo Bills, and the Miami Dolphins. The longest division flight they will encounter would be the Dolphins, but i know quite a few Londoners who enjoy the flight to Miami. British Airways usually is good on that route. Buffalo is a small airport, but could probably use the international route that a London team would bring. Also, it's a quicker way for Europeans to see Niagara Falls. I've done the flight from London to Newark many times. It's a rather nice flight imo. Not terribly long, and quite enjoyable. And then with the Patriots, of course, it's basically London to Boston. Not a terrible flight. So, it'd be doable that way.

 

[DuncanIso]

Hate it.

The #2 seeds are being punished by losing their bye.

They have to earn their way to the Divisional Round now by pummeling some garbage #7 seed that probably finished 8-8 or 9-7.

Way to water down the playoffs, clowns. Fixing what isn’t broken.

gives the #1 seed a real advantage.

 

[Whyjerry]

If they're out into the AFC East, I think London is actually doable. Their division opponents, as I said in a new thread I opened, would be the New England Patriots, NY Jets, Buffalo Bills, and the Miami Dolphins. The longest division flight they will encounter would be the Dolphins, but i know quite a few Londoners who enjoy the flight to Miami. British Airways usually is good on that route. Buffalo is a small airport, but could probably use the international route that a London team would bring. Also, it's a quicker way for Europeans to see Niagara Falls. I've done the flight from London to Newark many times. It's a rather nice flight imo. Not terribly long, and quite enjoyable. And then with the Patriots, of course, it's basically London to Boston. Not a terrible flight. So, it'd be doable that way.

West coast to London is just a killer. Not feasible. The NFL home office loves their Thursday night games so feasibility doesn’t matter. I think it is just a matter of time until they do it.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

West coast to London is just a killer. Not feasible. The NFL home office loves their Thursday night games so feasibility doesn’t matter. I think it is just a matter of time until they do it.

Yes, and they've been egging on about moving a team like the Jaguars to London anyway. This saves the Jaguars from having to leave Jacksonville while also giving London a team that the NFL clearly wants in London with how much they play the London games. So, ironically, it'd save the NFL the trouble, and the AFC East is the most feasible division imo for a London team. Plus New England vs England would be quite a funny matchup.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

Yes, and they've been egging on about moving a team like the Jaguars to London anyway. This saves the Jaguars from having to leave Jacksonville while also giving London a team that the NFL clearly wants in London with how much they play the London games. So, ironically, it'd save the NFL the trouble, and the AFC East is the most feasible division imo for a London team. Plus New England vs England would be quite a funny matchup.

The West Coast games would be brutal, but, there is a way around it. If you plan to have the London team travel to the West Coast, have them play all their West Coast games consecutively, then give them a bye. Thus, they dont actually have to leave the West Coast to play those games, and they get an extra week to rest after returning to London. As for the West Coast teams that would travel to London, what you do is you give each of them a bye week after they play the London team.

 

[blueblood70]

this rule is to make the last 2 games of the season MUCH more competitive and count, it also it gives team say like the rams who were buried in a good division and squeaked out 9 wins but missed the playoffs, maybe they could have made a run in the playoffs, we wont know but every now and then a team gets hot late but falls short , like 11-5 NE with Matt castle would this have allowed them to go in? , they are making all 16 games more important and no free pass for 2nd seed which may or may not make WC weekend more competitive..

who knows we shall see.. less PS games , now more Playoff teams, it just might make more real football happen,, soon 17 games as well..NFL is changing..

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

this rule is to make the last 2 games of the season MUCH more competitive and count, it also it gives team say like the rams who were buried in a good division and squeaked out 9 wins but missed the playoffs, maybe they could have made a run in the playoffs, we wont know but every now and then a team gets hot late but falls short , like 11-5 NE with Matt castle would this have allowed them to go in? , they are making all 16 games more important and no free pass for 2nd seed which may or may not make WC weekend more competitive..

who knows we shall see.. less PS games , now more Playoff teams, it just might make more real football happen,, soon 17 games as well..NFL is changing..

Which is why I think the NFL ought to expand teams, and they've had unbalanced divisions before.

 

[gjkoeppen]

Mediocrity about to be rewarded. Jerry will like this a lot. Thoughts on the change?

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/28975474/nfl-playoff-expansion-14-teams-everything-need-know

I'm opposed to expanding the playoffs. Now almost half the league will make the playoffs and that's getting pretty close to awarding participation trophies. I was against having wildcards from the very beginning. It should have remained just divisional winners. This goes back to when all there was were an eastern division and a western division and they played for the NFL championship. A team had to be good enough to be a divisional winner or they didn't get to play for the championship.
.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

I'm opposed to expanding the playoffs. Now almost half the league will make the playoffs and that's getting pretty close to awarding participation trophies. I was against having wildcards from the very beginning. It should have remained just divisional winners. This goes back to when all there was were an eastern division and a western division and they played for the NFL championship. A team had to be good enough to be a divisional winner or they didn't get to play for the championship.
.

Which use why I think they should expand teams. It gives a good reason to have that many, and it helps fill voids left by past relocations. Plus, it makes it easier to expand to 18 games.

 

[fairviewfarmer]

People just hate change. Idk how this can be seen as bad. What’s wrong with a extra game? As a football fan I love this.

Agree, personally I would like a 20 game regular season. Followed by a 6 week play off system. More games the better. Jmo

 

[Nav22]

I don't know why you guys keep saying this. This doesn't benefit poor teams it benefits the teams who are 10-6 or 11-5 and who miss out on the playoffs for a 8-8 divisional winner.

Not sure how you guys see this as rewarding mediocrity or water down the playoffs.

How about a year in which every divisional winner is 10-6 or better and the 7 seed is 8-8 or 9-7?

It’s not like there’s a 8-8 division winner every year. It’s actually pretty rare.

EDIT: Take a look at the AFC standings from last year. The 7 seed would’ve been the 8-8 Steelers. Every division winner won 10+ games.

And in the NFC, the 7 seed would’ve been the 9-7 Rams. It’s generally pretty rare for a 10-win team to miss the playoffs.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

How about a year in which every divisional winner is 10-6 or better and the 7 seed is 8-8 or 9-7?

It’s not like there’s a 8-8 division winner every year. It’s actually pretty rare.

EDIT: Take a look at the AFC standings from last year. The 7 seed would’ve been the 8-8 Steelers. Every division winner won 10+ games.

And in the NFC, the 7 seed would’ve been the 9-7 Rams. It’s generally pretty rare for a 10-win team to miss the playoffs.

Its rare but it does happen. Not even a 10 win team. Even a 9-7 team. The point is a team 8-8 shouldn't be in the playoffs over a team with a better record than them. Everyone complained about the NFC East taking a playoff spot over teams with better records than them. This is a way to avoid that.

 

[Kaiser]

Some teams (Dallas) don't seem to get an advantage with a bye, anyway.

That was my reaction, a lot of teams have a letdown when they get a bye week to start the playoffs. There are plenty of examples but the most recent for Dallas was their first 2015 Playoff game where they really played flat for most of the first quarter.