Month: December 2004

This year, the NFL is a little messed up. There are tons of teams that are really not good, who stand a great chance of making the playoffs! AND, to top that, perhaps there will be a team (or two?) who DOES NOT make the playoffs at 10-6… (INCLUDING our beloved Bills.)

I was reading an article that made me think… isn’t there a better way? And, I think I have come up with one!

(Hopefully someone from the NFL reads my blog…) 🙂

WHAT IF…

We keep our AFC and NFC conferences for season play, rivalries, etc, etc… BUT, for the playoffs, it’s more like the NCAA tourney. There are brackets, and teams are selected by their overall record. This year, 10 of the top 14 teams (records) are from ONE conference… the AFC. SO, in my scenario, the BETTER teams would be in the playoffs, because conference does not matter.

What I propose is to take the top 14 teams, giving the top 2 a one-week bye, and home-field advantage in their bracket throughout the playoffs. Then, the others are spread out to play according to their season record, not by conference.

Here’s what it might look like this year… (if we take the current top 14 teams, in order of alphabet if tie-breakers are unknown)

NFL Top 14

1. Pittsburgh (14-1)

2. New England (13-2)

3. Philadelphia (13-2)

4. Indianapolis (12-3)

5. Atlanta (11-4)

6. San Diego (11-4)

7. NY Jets (10-5)

8. Buffalo (9-6)

9. Green Bay (9-6)

10. Denver (9-6)

11. Baltimore (8-7)

12. Jacksonville (8-7)

13. Minnesota (8-7)

14. Seattle (8-7)

THE BRACKET

Click Here for the Bracket (in a new window)

That scenario has some great games in it that would never (can’t) happen in the current playoff structure… allows for the best “final four” … especially if seeded right. Seems like a winner to me. Would be fun to see the Bills with the 8th best record in the league get a home game against Green Bay in the first round. And the Superbowl would be (hopefully) the best two teams. (If I wasn’t such a homer, it would be Pitt/NE, the 1/2 teams in the SB)…

Wouldn’t that be better?

Hopefully Paul Tagliabue is reading this…

🙂

If you are a Buffalo Bills fan, you have to be excited! We haven’t had a winning team since 1998, but this year we are already 8-6… with a fairly good shot at 10-6! Wow!

Unfortunately, they could still very well miss the playoffs!

There are five teams fighting for the last 2 playoff spots. 4 division winners get a spot, and 2 teams get into the playoffs as a “wild card”. New England has clinched our division, and Pittsburgh theirs. Indianapolis and San Diego have clinched theirs as well. Then you have the Jets (10-4), Ravens (8-6), Jaguars (8-6), Broncos (8-6) & the Bills (8-6). Unfortuately, we lost to all of those teams, and the only team we could end up tied with, but ahead by virtue of a tie-breaker would be the Jets. So we need to win both of our last two games, and they would need to LOSE both. Even then, at least two of the other teams would have to lose at least one game.

SO, it’s certainly not certain… but it’s been fun anyway! They have won 5 in a row, and 7 of their last 8. (The one loss was in New England.) They have scored over 33 points in the 5 wins. And a bunch of points have come from “trick” plays and special teams plays.

They’re just FUN! 🙂

So… watch out NFL… here come the Bills!