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 Originally Posted by bigspenda73
Going 11-5 doesn't get you in, that's fucking ridiculous
I was thinking about this the other day. It exposes a few stupid quirks about the NFL.
First of all, the divisions are too small from a logistical standpoint. 32 teams in 8 divisions with at least 1 team from each division getting a playoff spot (and at least 1 game at home!!!) is stupid. Of course there are reasons, but it's not in the spirit of good competition.
The two miscellaneous games, for lack of a better term, REALLY suck. For those not familiar with NFL scheduling, each teams plays the 3 other teams in their division twice each (6), lock up with one each of an AFC and NFC division and play all of those teams once (8), and the last two games are played against the team that finished in the same slot the prior year from the 2 remaining divisions in the same conference.
So where the Patriots played the Steelers and Colts (0-2), the Jets played the Bengals and Titans (2-0), the Dolphins played the Ravens and Texans (0-2), and the Bills played the Browns and Jaguars (1-1). Usually the disparity is even greater.. figure in recent memory, the best teams from the 4 divisions have been the Patriots, Steelers, Colts, and Chargers. So focusing still on the Patriots and AFC East, every year the Patriots would have to play the Steelers, Colts, and Chargers, while the other teams in the AFC east would only have to play one of those teams a year (when the entire divisions were locked up). Of course that's not perfectly accurate because those teams don't win the divisions *every* year, but it's close enough for our purposes.
The Patriots lose all my sympathy on the next point.. the AFC east was locked up with the AFC West and the NFC West. El oh el. The Ravens had to play the AFC South and NFC East instead. So sorry Pats fans, I'd argue your team was (ironically) more deserving than the 3 and 4 seeds in the AFC but *NOT* the 5 and 6 seeds.
And most importantly, hopefully the Browns can raid Pioli and McDaniels now. wheeeeeee
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