Tag: NFL CBA

Redskins would have 0 more playoff appearances had new structure been around last decade

The NFL announced a new playoff structure that would allow one more team from each conference, which has some teams wishing it came sooner.

A new and exciting debate was sparked in the NFL on Wednesday evening, as it was reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter that a new proposal for the CBA includes a shifting of the playoff structure in the NFL.

To briefly summarize the changes, if the new proposal were to be agreed upon, both the NFC and AFC would expand their number of playoff teams from six to seven, and only the top seed in each conference would get a first-round bye. While ensuring that the NFL gets a nice chunk of added revenue that will come from two extra playoff games — Wild Card weekend will now have three games on both Saturday and Sunday, congratulations to us — but middling teams in the league will also have a greater chance to make it to the postseason.

Hooray for the future, but bully for the past. That may be what fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Rams are thinking, as they both would have been in as the No. 7 seed if this change were to have been implemented in 2019. However, even if you implemented this rule a whole decade ago, it wouldn’t have changed things one iota for the Washington Redskins. USA Today’s Touchdown Wire went back and did the math on who would have been granted a playoff spot if this rule was in place over each of the last 10 years, and the Redskins were nowhere in the mix. It wouldn’t have even changed the matchup for the Redskins in either 2012 or 2015 — the two years they did make the Wild Card round — as they were a part of the 4-5 seed matchup. So, no harm, no foul, really.

Whether or not you like the new playoff structure or not, your opinion is probably valid. It may cheapen a trip to the playoffs a bit knowing now that over 43% of the league gets in every year, but it’s hard to argue against it when it’s the dollar figures are obviously driving the NFL to make a decision like this. On top of that, when you really think about it, the fans are better off as well. The four wild card games in 2019 — Texans/Bills, Titans/Patriots, Saints/Vikings, Eagles/Seahawks — were wildly entertaining, and it was one of the better weeks of football in the entire league year.

Who doesn’t want more of that?

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Eagles would have made the playoffs twice under Chip Kelly in newly proposed playoff format

Eagles would have made the playoffs twice under Chip Kelly in a newly proposed playoff system

Doug Pederson is the coach of the Philadelphia Eagles and a Super Bowl champion but history might have turned out differently had Chip Kelly been credited with two playoff appearances instead of just one.

Kelly and the Eagles made the playoffs in his inaugural season in Philadelphia, leading the Birds to a 10-6 record.

The following season, the 2014 Eagles went 10-6 yet missed the playoffs because of the Cowboys 12-4 record. Philadelphia ended up on the outside looking in after the Carolina Panthers won the NFC South with a 7-8-1 record.

On Wednesday, Adam Schefter broke the news that the NFL was set to propose adding a seventh playoff team to each conference while reducing the number of first-round byes to just one team in a new proposal to the upcoming CBA.

If the new proposal had been current for the past five or six years going back, Kelly would have been credited with getting the Eagles to the postseason in his first two-years.

The rest is history, as Kelly’s Eagles teams would go 6-9 and 2-14 in his final two seasons in Philadelphia.

With the new proposal, the yearly crisis of a 10 win team getting excluded from the playoffs could become a concern of the past. Over the past decade, five 10-win teams, nine 9-win teams, and six 8-win teams would have qualified for the postseason.

The Steelers would have benefited the most, gaining four extra playoff births over the past decade and having the bragging rights for making the playoffs every year of the decade.

The new proposal will make for some exciting and interesting football with the NFL season likely hinging on the final week of the season going forward.