This is wacky wild stuff, Rog
TWO YEARS ago, the Giants won the NFC East on the final Sunday of the season by beating the Cowboys in a winner-take-all game. They finished 9-7, the worst record for an NFC East champion since the division was formed in 1970. Then in the playoffs, the Giants beat the Falcons at home and the Packers and 49ers on the road and upset the Patriots in the Super Bowl for the second time in five years.
They went into the books as the team with the worst regular-season record ever to win a Super Bowl. But at least they won their division to earn their way into the playoffs. Now that Roger Goodell said the NFL is seriously considering adding one wild-card team per conference — you can count on another team with an even worse record to win it all.
How about an 8-8 team winning the Super Bowl? The good news is, had there been three wild cards since the current divisional alignment was adopted in 2002, 8-8 would have been the worst record of any No. 3. Not one 7-9 team would have qualified as a wild card.
Even so, expanding the playoffs is a bad idea.
What makes the Super Bowl tournament special is it’s so hard to get in. The four weeks of playoffs are compelling. There is no need to increase the field for the sake of creating additional revenue with two more games on wild-card weekend. But with the insatiable appetite of football fans, and the networks’ willingness to pay big bucks in return for guaranteed huge ratings, it’s inevitable the playoff field will be expanded.
If the day is coming when there are seven playoff teams per conference, only the No. 1 seed would get a bye. Goodell said the six wild-card games could be scheduled with three on Saturday and three on Sunday — there is a spot open for a 1 p.m. game on Saturday and a night game on Sunday — or they could be spread out by placing games on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Giants co-owner John Mara, a member of the powerful competition committee, has always been opposed to playoff expansion. He said he is “not terribly enthusiastic’ about playoff games on Friday and Monday nights and likes that only 12 out of 32 teams make the playoffs.
“Right now, it’s a meaningful achievement to make the playoffs in the NFL,” he said. “The more watered down, the less meaningful it becomes. You run the risk of 8-8 teams getting in. I don’t think it would be the end of the world if we go to 14 playoff teams. It’s still only 14 out of 32. I like the system the way it is now. I’m willing to listen to contrary points of view.”
There are years when good teams get left out. The Cardinals were 10-6 this season, but finished in third place in the loaded NFC West and finished a game behind the Saints for the second wild-card spot. The Patriots were 11-5 in 2008 in the season they lost Tom Brady in the opener to a torn ACL. They lost tiebreakers for the AFC East title and the second wildcard spot. But quality teams getting left out of the playoffs are rare. Teams with 8-8 records getting into an expanded playoff won’t be.
And there are years when bad teams get it. The Seahawks won the NFC West with a 7-9 record in 2010 and won a home playoff game against the 11-5 wild-card Saints. The Packers won the NFC North this year at 8-7-1.
Ever since the divisions were reduced to four teams i n 2002, a team has gone from last place to first place each yea r. Goodel l noted that 13 of the 16 games on the final weekend this season had playoff implications.
“We have such a competitive league. We want to keep that,” Goodell said. “If we could increase that, this is about believing in better, can you make it better? Can you make those races even more exciting by adding two more teams? That’s compelling. That is what we are looking at. Would this make it even more exciting and more dramatic?”
Goodell doesn’t have a problem with an 8-8 team making the Super Bowl.
“Frankly, because the league is so competitive, you can come into the playoffs at 8-8 and win the Super Bowl if you’re playing your best football then,” he said. “There are a number of teams that finished 8-8 and were playing pretty well and I know other teams, said, ‘Boy, I hope we don’t have to play them in the playoffs, they are dangerous.’ You get on that roll and you can win it.”
Right now, 38% of the teams get in the playoffs. If it increases to 14 teams, it goes up to 44% compared to 33% in baseball (10 out of 30) and 53% in the NBA and NHL (16 out of 30).
Sometimes keeping things the way they are isn’t such a bad thing.
JOHNNY BE GOOD
Johnny Manziel declared for the draft last week and with so many teams at the top needing quarterbacks, he figures to go really high. With the Texans (1), Jaguars (3), Raiders (5), Bucs (7) and Vikings (8) needing quarterbacks, he won’t make it out of the top 10. “I think he can be really good,” said one scout. “I think he’s special. His brain doesn’t lock when things are not going the way they are supposed to. He’s got a little bit of Joe Montana in him. He always feels like he can do something with his legs, fake a run or throw it. His brain never stops.” Johnny Football has a reputation as a party guy. “Brett Favre turned out okay,” the scout said. “They figure it out. He’s not an idiot. He was under such a microscope, he couldn’t do normal stuff.”