Okay, in one game my two biggest problems with the NFL were revealed:

1) Pittsburgh (12-4) has to play on the road to Denver (8-8). Really???????

2) Lose a coin flip and you don't even get to touch the ball on offense.......


I was glad to see Denver win by all means, but the above two things are stupid... Last year, Seattle should not have even made the playoffs either, it's a joke......

So a division champion should go on the road playing a team that didn't win their division? Really?

You win your division, you host a playoff game. Period. Non-division winners shouldn't get to play at home, that's their penalty for not winning their division. Pretty simple and fair.

You are participating in a "Free For All" forum?!?!?

I'm not the most knowledgeable regarding the game of football. But in the Seahawks case in 2010, they were in a division with three other losing teams, finishing 7-9, 6-10, and 5-11, so the Seahawks must have had a really easy schedule. Yet they won the division with a record of 7-9. If that is all they would manage with the benefit of an easy schedule from a weak division, I really don't think they deserved to be in the playoffs! And in their first playoff game they got to host the 11-5 Saints who not only had to battle the 13-3 Falcons, but the 10-6 Buccaneers as well. (No, the fact that the Penthers were 2-14 doesn't help my argument much. But there were still three teams in the NFC South that were better than any team in the NFC West, as their records proved.)

Looking at the 2011 regular season standings, yes, I think that the Steelers at 12-4 should have been at home to play the 8-8 Broncos. The Steelers proved to be the overall better team by winning four more games, whereas the Broncos won their division due to an accident of geography, being in the same division as three other mediocre teams.

In a playoff game/series, regardless of the sport, and regardless of division standing, I believe the team with the better regular season record should always get home advantage.

The problem with your logic is that the schedules are imbalanced when comparing teams in different divisions. Except within the division where each division team has 14 common opponents in 16 games. Only two different teams, pretty damn close to equal. So you've got all teams within a division playing basically the same schedule and the best team gets to host a playoff game.

You're trying to rank apples and oranges on the same scale and it just won't work. Understanding exactly how the nfl schedule is constructed makes understanding this concept much easier.

I'm aware that schedules, in all sports, are unequal. But the better team should have the playoff advantage, and the best way of determining that would be the regular-season record, perhaps with a tiebreaker indicative of schedule strength.

Because the schedules are imbalanced, there is no way of knowing who the better team is. That's the whole point. And that's exactly why winning your division means something, as it should.

According to your logic, Iona and Middle Tennessee St. are currently better basketball teams than Kansas.

Why has nothing been mentioned about the Falcons (10-6) having to travel and play the Giants (9-7), really????? Or, is this the same East Coast bias bullshit just like in every other sport?

Broncos won their division plain and simple.

All the uproar everywhere about the Broncos shouldn't be there (I think they suck anyway and they are my team), the better record should have a home game, blah blah blah. Why has nothing been mentioned about the Falcons (10-6) having to travel and play the Giants (9-7), really????? Or, is this the same East Coast bias bullshit just like in every other sport?

Okay. The Giants should have played in Atlanta. At least I am being consistent. But then, I'm not a Giants fan!

Upon review of this thread, nobody even mentioned an East Coast team prior to your post. So when you mention "East Coast bias bullshit", just exactly what are you talking about?

Okay. The Giants should have played in Atlanta. At least I am being consistent. But then, I'm not a Giants fan!

Upon review of this thread, nobody even mentioned an East Coast team prior to your post. So when you mention "East Coast bias bullshit", just exactly what are you talking about?

Wrong. The giants are a division winner regardless of record...the Falcons were not. the Giants have a #4 seed and the Falcons #6. Falcons go on the road. And really as anemic as they played, I don't think it would've mattered where the game was played.

By the way, the Falcons were the #5 seed.

-- RWM

So a division champion should go on the road playing a team that didn't win their division? Really?

You win your division, you host a playoff game. Period. Non-division winners shouldn't get to play at home, that's their penalty for not winning their division. Pretty simple and fair.

As far as OT rules go, they gave up an 80-yard TD pass on the first play. They deserved to lose and not get a chance to match.

Personally, I detest the college OT rules. It's totally different from play in regulation time, it's convoluted and silly. In the NFL at least they play the OT period(s) like the rest of the game.

And last year the Seahawks won their division, they deserved to be in the playoffs. Unlike the BCS where a team who didn't even play in their conference championship game, a team that didn't even win their division within their conference, gets a bye through the conference championship and a berth to play for all the marbles.

If you're truly wanting to avoid sudden death, it shouldn't matter if the first team gets a FG or a TD. You get your downs and if you can't get it done then the game is over.

Cheers,
--Tony

OT should have regular "NON-sudden death" 15 minute periods.
Repeat as needed until one of these periods ends untied.
That's how they do it in soccer. And if those flopping pansies can do it, I see no reason NFL guys can't.

I think soccer should be sudden death as well. The purpose of OT is to break the tie.

No, no, no.
The purpose of overtime is to air more commercials during the broadcast and sell more food and merchandise at the venue.
Silly goose...