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NFL Tickets - Playoff Seeding Issue

There's nothing quite like the NFL playoffs. Playoff weekends in the National Football League provide more excitement than in any other major sport. Every game is a win or go home scenario, something that makes NFL tickets some of the most desirable tickets in sports. I do, however, have a problem with the way the playoff seeding is set up.

In an age where the league is full of parity, we find that some divisions have more good teams than others on a rather regular basis. For example, in 2008 both the NFC and AFC West divisions were weaker than all the others. Still, the 8-8 Chargers were awarded the fourth seed in the AFC because they won their division. The 9-7 Cardinals secured the fourth seed in the NFC west, despite having a worse record than either of the wild card teams. Thus, the 11-5 Atlanta Falcons were forced to play a road game in Arizona and the 12-4 Indianapolis Colts were forced to play a road game in San Diego. Both wild card teams lost those games.

What did the Chargers and Cardinals do to earn home field advantage against teams with better records? The Colts and Falcons played in tougher divisions and still managed to earn better overall records than either west division winner; they just happened to have the two best teams in the conference play in their divisions. The logic used to seed the teams is flawed. Why not make it so the team with a better record gets the home game, with the tiebreaker going to the division winner? This seems much more logical to me.

This issue comes up again in the second round of the playoffs as well. In the AFC, the Tennessee Titans earned the number one seed in the conference, which should entitle them to play the worst team still standing in the second round. Yet, because of the seeding, they'll face a Ravens team that went 11-5 in the regular season instead of a Chargers team that went 8-8. The Ravens made the playoffs on a wild card berth, so they were named a lower seed than the Chargers despite winning three more games in the regular season. In the NFC, the Giants battled down the stretch for the number one seed, defeating the now number two seed Panthers in overtime to clinch it.

Now the Giants must face an Eagles team that went 9-6-1 in the regular season instead of a Cardinals team that went 9-7. With the way the playoff seeding is set up, the Giants would have been better off losing that game to the Panthers, which defeats the whole idea of competition. You should be rewarded for winning, not punished.

I understand that this issue does not come up every season, but once is one too many times. I'm not all that ok with an 8-8 team getting into the postseason (especially with an 11-5 Patriots team being left out, but I understand the need for a team from each division), but this playoff seeding issue could be rectified simply by seeding teams by record, as long as each division is represented.

The NBA adjusted their playoff seeding rules to accommodate a similar problem a few years back and I don't see why the NFL shouldn't do the same. Teams that win more games in the regular season should be rewarded in the playoffs.

Seed Newsvine

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