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No changes appear to be coming in the way NFL teams are seeded in the playoffs.
Adam Schefter of NFL Network reports that owners today tabled the proposal for re-seeding the playoffs, deciding not to bother taking a formal vote on the issue because the clear consensus of the NFL executives in the room was that it had no chance to pass.
The NFL’s Competition Committee had proposed a change in the way the six playoff teams from each conference are seeded. Instead of guaranteeing all four division winners of at least one playoff home game, the proposal would have allowed a wild card team to host a first-round game if it finished the regular season with a better record than a division winner.
The thinking in some corners was that such a rule change would have created a greater incentive for teams to play hard in Week 17, when many of the best teams rest their best players, and games begin to look like exhibitions. But the proposal would have needed a three-fourths majority to be adopted, and well over one-fourth of the owners were skeptical about any rule change that would have made a division title less important.
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:54 am
I find it funny that a team like the Bucs have the nerve to be against this yet they have no problem drafting before a team that didn’t win their division and lost to them durring the regular season (Redskins).
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April 2nd, 2008 at 11:01 am
There is no guarantee that 11 wins in a different division has earned you more than 10 wins in a division that plays a completely different schedule. Of course, that’s the one flaw in the wild-card system anyway - but teams that miss out on the wildcard were not “unfairly” kept out–next time, win your damn division!
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April 2nd, 2008 at 11:11 am
As a fan I am against this change. I believe there has to be some sort of prize for winning your division and rule changes such as this ignore things like competitive balance amongst divisions. In the end I believe it has the potential to penalize teams who come from stronger divisions while rewarding those playing in a weaker divisions.
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April 2nd, 2008 at 11:20 am
The NFL and its owner’s go on and on about competitive balance but can’t get this straight. The Bucs were clearly the worst team of the 6 NFC playoff teams in my opinion. The NFC south was clearly the worst division in the NFL. The argument is that team will get punished for being in a strong division but the opposite was true last year. The NFC East and AFC South were the 2 strongest divisions by sending 3 teams each into the playoffs but the Jags and Giants got screwed out of home playoff games.
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April 2nd, 2008 at 12:17 pm
there already is a prize for winning a division….its called clinching a playoff spot.
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April 2nd, 2008 at 12:42 pm
I thought that’s why there are wildcard teams in the playoffs now.
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April 2nd, 2008 at 12:46 pm
the difference in the jags (11-5) and colts (13-3) record was 2 wins the colts had over the jags. if the jags want a home playoff game, beat the colts twice and have the tiebreaker, and make the colts a wildcard.
they didn’t get screwed out of a home playoff game, they lost the reward by losing to the colts twice.
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April 2nd, 2008 at 1:00 pm
How did home field advantage work out for the Steelers and Bucs?
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April 2nd, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Im glad they kept it like it is. I think a team has earned the right to rest their starters for the playoffs if they have clinched their division. It did mess up my fantasy stats a bit!
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April 2nd, 2008 at 1:32 pm
But the Jags did beat the Steelers IN pittsburg and had a better record then they did. The Steelers got a reward for being in the crappy AFC north with the 7-9 Bungles and the 5-11 Ravens. So if they are going to give the steelers reward with a home game then the Jags should get the better draft pick. Not the Steelers.
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April 2nd, 2008 at 1:47 pm
quote “How did home field advantage work out for the Steelers and Bucs? ”
It worked out great since those team got the revenue from hosting those games.
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April 2nd, 2008 at 2:32 pm
BigMeeks365: “I think a team has earned the right to rest their starters for the playoffs if they have clinched their division.”
They would still get to rest their starters for winning the division. They would just be resting for an away game.
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April 2nd, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Thank god!!! There would have been nothing worse than the NFL attempting to artificially control late season games by creating some bogus new rule.
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April 2nd, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Would help the conspiracy theorist.
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April 3rd, 2008 at 1:40 pm
I don’t think this year can be a true test of if the rule will eventually pass. In the NFL generally it takes a couple of times on the floor before it’s got a real shot at happening.
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