TIME TO SACK PLAYOFF FORMAT
NFL division champs with losing records don’t deserve to host first-round contests
Should the NFL reconsider automatic home-field advantage for all division winners?
Yes, it should.
But will the league alter or eliminate this cherished principal element of its playoff structure?
No.
Ask any owner, general manager or head coach, and to a man or woman, they will praise the current system. Every team’s overriding annual goal is to win its division, as it’s the surest path to a Super Bowl championship because of the attendant home field advantage for at least one game.
Even better, if you win your division and gain a first-round bye, your road to the Super Bowl becomes 33 per cent easier, as you require only two playoff wins to get there rather than three.
And if you’re ranked as the No. 1 playoff seed in your conference — as New England so often is — and thus win home-field advantage through the conference playoffs, your road is easier still, as you have to win only two home games to reach the Super Bowl.
But there have been times when a team won a division with a losing record.
It has happened twice this decade with Carolina (7-8-1) in the NFC South in 2014 and Seattle (79) in the NFC West in 2010.
I would mandate that any time that happens, the division champ in question should forfeit the right to play host to a first-round playoff game, so long as there is a wildcard team with at least two more victories.
When such clear record discrepancies exist, home-field advantage for that first-round game ought to be reversed.
Indeed, no 9-7 team or 10-6 team or 11-5 team or 12-4 team should have to play on the road against a 7-9 team in the first round of the post-season.
That said, if the 7-9 division champ wins its first two playoff games on the road and faces a wildcard team in the conference championship game, then by virtue of its two road playoff victories the division champ would have finally earned the right to be the home team, no matter how many more wins the wild-card team might have.
As it is now, each of the NFL’S eight division winners automatically plays host to at least its first playoff game. The top two seeded division winners in each conference get a first-round bye, then play host to a first-round winner in the second round. The bottom two seeded division winners play host to a first-round playoff game against one of the two wild cards.
The whole reason for this discussion is that this year the eventual NFC East winner in all likelihood will play host to a wild-card team with a much better record.
The NFC East is the worst division in pro football this season. The 6-6 Dallas Cowboys lead it followed by the 5-7 Philadelphia Eagles, 3-9 Washington Redskins and 2-10 New York Giants.
It’s possible Dallas could win the East with a 7-9 record, then play host to the highest seeded of two rock-solid NFC wild-card teams: the West division runner-up (either San Francisco or Seattle) or North runner-up (either Green Bay or Minnesota). None of the latter four teams had more than three losses entering Monday night.
Philadelphia has a ridiculously easy remaining four games, on paper anyway: versus the New York Giants; at Washington; versus Dallas; at Giants. If the Eagles beat Dallas and split their remaining four, they’d finish at 7-9.
Dallas plays Thursday at Chicago; versus Los Angeles Rams; at Philadelphia; and versus Washington. A 1-3 finish is not only possible for the Cowboys, but maybe even probable, given how they’re playing.
Should it come to pass that the NFC East winner finishes 7-9 and plays host to a wild-card power with something like an 11-5 or 12-4 record, we won’t hear the end of it for a full week starting Dec. 30.
Maybe that outrage would compel league owners to tweak their beloved playoff format to what I propose above.
No 9-7 team or 10-6 team or 11-5 team or 12-4 team should have to play on the road against a 7-9 team in the first round of the post-season.
We might not have seen the last of J.J. Watt this season. Even though the Houston Texans placed the three-time NFL defensive MVP on injured reserve in October with a torn pectoral muscle, NFL Network reported Monday that Watt might return by the playoffs.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have benched Nick Foles for Gardner Minshew. Jags head coach Doug Marrone said rookie Minshew will start this week versus the visiting Los Angeles Chargers.