The only acceptable way to expand the NFL Playoffs

So, writers across the country are trying to fill space between playoff games by deriding Roger Goodell’s idea for expansion of the playoffs solely because of this weekend’s particularly sucky games.  Granted, it’s an over-reaction, but any time anyone gives Roger Goodell shit for being a National Disgrace, it’s also a good thing, so I have mixed feelings.

The reality is that until someone tries to impress an actress by actually killing Goodell, we are stuck with him and the expansion of the playoffs will probably happen.  That doesn’t, however, mean that it needs to be particularly shitty.  In fact, and I have brought this up before, the best way to implement the eight-team-per-conference playoffs is to adopt/adapt the Australian Football League’s (AFL) Double Chance system.

It’s very simple to comprehend once you get used to it.  As an example, I will use last year’s AFL Finals series bracket:

Here is how the teams finished the regular season last year:

1- Sydney Swans

2- Geelong Cats

3- Hawthorn Hawks

4- GWS Giants

5- Adelaide Crows

6- West Coast Eagles

7- Western Bulldogs

8- North Melbourne Kangaroos

There are no First Round Byes.  Everyone plays.  Higher-seeded teams always host.  The key difference is that the top 4 teams get a Double Chance.  #2 plays #3 in the First Qualifying Final while #1 plays #4 in the Second Qualifying Final.  The Winners get a bye past the next round directly to a Preliminary Final. The Losers play again the next week.

But wait, there’s more!  The #6 plays #7 in the First Elimination Final while the #5 plays #8 in the Second Elimination Final.  The flipping of the seeds with the “First” and “Second” will make sense, just stick with me. The Winners of the Elimination Finals play the Losers of the Qualifying Finals in Week Two, otherwise known as the Semi-Finals.

The Winners of the Semi-Finals play the Winners of the Qualifying Finals in what is known as the Preliminary Finals.  As you can see in the bracket above, the system is set up so that playoff re-matches will only happen once, in the Grand Final.

Bringing this back to the NFL, we can maintain the Division system and give the Division winners the top four seeds.  The four best remaining teams get playoff berths (Wild Cards, if you want to keep calling it that) based on the existing NFL tie-breaking procedures.  Using this year’s final standings, we would get the following playoff fields:

AFC

1- New England Patriots

2- Kansas City Chiefs

3- Pittsburgh Steelers

4- Houston Texans

5- Oakland Raiders

6- Miami Dolphins

7-Tennessee Titans

8- Denver Broncos

NFC

1- Dallas Cowboys

2- Atlanta Falcons

3- Seattle Seahawks

4- Green Bay Packers

5- New York Giants

6- Detroit Lions

7- Tampa Bay Buccaneers

8- Washington Redacteds

The Qualifying Finals would be exactly the same as this next weekend’s games:

Houston at New England

Pittsburgh at Kansas City

Green Bay at Dallas

Seattle at Atlanta

The Elimination Finals would be much more competitive and worth a watch:

Tennessee at Miami

Denver at Oakland

Tampa Bay at Detroit

Washington at New York

That’s two division rivalries in Elimination games!  You’re telling me that wouldn’t be a lot more fun?  Granted, it wouldn’t happen every year, but the likelihood of divisional matchups in the Elimination Finals is much greater under this system.

The Semi-Finals would be highly compelling as you have matchups of teams that lost against teams that won.  Who would have the momentum?  Can the losing team rebound well against an allegedly inferior opponent?  I could see some upsets in this round as well.

Then we are on to the Preliminary Finals which lead to the Conference Grand Final and then the NFL Grand Final (Or Superb Owl, if you want to keep calling it that).  This system is supposed to give an advantage to those that finish in the top four (i.e. division winners) which maintains the integrity of the divisional system.  It makes the regular season mean MORE as it is now highly important to win the division.

At the same time, it’s not impossible for lower-seeded teams to succeed.  You remember who won the Grand Final last year, don’t you?

#7 Western Bulldogs
#7 Western Bulldogs

What say you?  I think it makes a lot of sense.  So much so, of course, that it will never happen, but I still hold out hope that somewhere some NFL intern will see this article, rip out the part where I say Roger Goodell has no dick, present it to his higher ups, and get a promotion like in those Michael J. Fox movies from the 80s.

What can I say, I’m an optimist.  Yours in the comments.

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ballsofsteelandfury
Balls somehow lost his bio and didn't realize it. He's now scrambling to write something clever and failing. He likes butts, boobs, most things that start with the letter B, and writing in the Second Person. Geelong, Toluca, Barcelona, and Steelers, in that order.
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Senor Weaselo

I’m expecting the NFL Football Cup, made up of NFL, college, HS, pee-wee, and the like. Homestar’s Knees Tech taking on the Browns would be a classic!

Spanky Datass

When I first saw this bracket I was confused so I printed it, penciled in the team names and seed #’s and it all became clear in my alcohol addled mind. GO SWANS!!!!1!
http://68.media.tumblr.com/a3f9af7f824eae9daac1e55f88865f93/tumblr_oczvx4bwjP1syvjuco1_500.jpg

litre_cola

Yes, and yes.

I am so fucking excited for AFL season. Go the Saints.

I will run the tipping challenge for DFOers again if anyone is interested.

The Right Reverend Electric Mayhem

Normally I would be all supportive of this, over-complicated structure be damned. But it goes against the prevailing national zeitgeist of Trump’s America: you can’t lose a playoff game and then play the next week, or else we run the risk of a Loser winning the championship.

Unless, of course, you are the Patriots, Giants or Cowboys, in which case you just declare Playoff Bankruptcy and get to start over fresh.

montythisseemsstrangetome

comment image

“It’s cute how you think I would listen to an intern.”

Rikki-Tikki-Deadly

“No, Mr. Goodell, that was an internist. And you really should have listened to him; your rectal cancer has progressed to Stage IV and you only have two weeks to live, the duration of which will be spent in excruciating pain.”

– Rikki-Tikki-Deadly’s NFL Fantasy #6

blaxabbath

Man that was a great comment.

comment image

But I sure hate returning to reality.

Don T

Or, the top seed in each Conf. chooses its Round 2 opponent. That top seed would announce it a coupla hours after its Conf.’s WC Sunday game ends. The ensuing drama over pick / snub / buck-buck-buuuuck would be succulent, though my guess is top seeds would just opt out of the option and announce beforehand they would go per seeding.

Don T

UNPOPULAR OPINION ALERT: Leave it the way it is. Six out of 16 per Conf. is dandy. My only tweak would be have the team with the best record % (including playoffs) host the Conf. Championship. All division winners get their home game, but playoff wins would reward an outstanding division runner up on a hot streak. The “worst” scenario: WC team with two playoff wins could host its division’s winner. I have ZERO problems with that.

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

UNPOPULAR OPINION ALERT: Leave it the way it is.

Reseeding the way it is fine.

Expanding the playoffs is just fucking stupid. “We are rolling in money and ratings; let’s expand, increase advertising revenue and time, and tweak the game until we are not rolling in money any more.”

“Oops.”

blaxabbath

You know I was just thinking, if there are four things this year’s playoffs are missing, it’s:

Denver Broncos (9-7), Point Differential = 36 (respectable)
Tennessee Titans (9-7), Point Differential = 3
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9-7), Point Differential = -19
Washington [*Redacted] s (8-7-1), Point Differential = 13

I do sincerely like this idea though. Unfortunately, the need to ‘reward’ division champs with weak opponents (or byes) so they can get through to the Conference championships with little resistance seems to be the purpose of the NFL playoffs.

Besides, if you’re the Browns, you already have an Elimination Final. It’s called Week 9.

blaxabbath

comment image

Now to simply turn on CNN and enjoy….

LemonJello

Obligatory* “That cow? MOOOOooooo, 2/10 would not bang**.”

*it’s in the by-laws, look it up

**totally would, best/worst 35-50 seconds of my/her life

Moose -The End Is Well Nigh

I look at her now and just think of her idiotic fucking tweets…… I’ve moved on, the imaginary motor-boating in over.

It’s her fault that we can’t continue the imaginary relationship any more.

Same thing happened with me and Racheal Hunter…..ROD FUCKING STEWRAT!!

Doktor Zymm

More playoff games means more playoff losses, which apparently means more trashed airplanes.
http://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2017/01/10/sore-losers-nfl-team-trashes-united-767-400/#_ga=1.241227658.983003418.1474994303

LemonJello

Dok,
Completely off-topic, but what are your opinions on Civ 6? Is it worth getting? I’ve been playing since the original, and this is the first version I haven’t been in a rush to get. (Also may have some graphics card issues with my current laptop that makes me hesitate to get it.)

Thanks.
Nerdy in the Nation’s Capital.

Doktor Zymm

I’m really enjoying Civ 6, though it did take a while to get into it and figure out the changes. They’ve also patched a couple things that were annoying at the beginning, so it’s really starting to come together now. The biggest difference is the way cities work, but there are some pretty significant changes to every aspect of the game. I worked my way through playing as each leader, and by the time I was about halfway through I feel like I was as comfortable with IV as I was with V. For sure a game I’ll end up spending way too many hours on, just like all the other Civs 🙂

blaxabbath

OBJ would be happy with a participation trophy. He just needs something to pose with for Instagram pics.

Beerguyrob
BrettFavresColonoscopy

How is an NFL intern going to find this post without any child porn in it?

montythisseemsstrangetome

As long as one of the NFL teams has to change its name to The Kangaroos, I’m all in.

sunrisesunrise

Dean Spanos is going to have to rebrand when he moves to LA. Something like the Southern California Kangaroos? Then when they put the shortened name on the scoreboard it can read SCK because the Spanos family sucks.

/not bitter at that family at all
//is a North Melbourne supporter

LemonJello

“Is that ballot in Cyrillic on her screen?”

LemonJello