Chargers sign CB Chris Harris

[Bolts223]

1 hour ago, Chiefs FTW said:

Very odd he’d pick the Chargers of all teams. No chance to win with Mahomes in the division(with no established QB) and also chose the worst team for support from fans in the NFL. It’s like 17 road games. 

I mean if you really think about it being in the same division as a behemoth doesn't hurt you nearly as much now with the new playoff format. The reason being that in cases like 2018 the Chargers being in the same division as the Chiefs directly prevented them from getting a Bye. Instead a team with a worse record than them that was a division winner (The Patriots) got it instead. We all know how important a Bye is to postseason success.

But now since only one team gets a bye, the Chargers and every other AFC team have to be able to beat out the Chiefs record wise to get a Bye. Obviously the Chargers have to play them twice a year but drop off between a 2-seed and a 5-seed isn't nearly as big now. A 5-seed could in theory host a divisional round and conf championship game (Although it's extremely unlikely to happen)

Point being - this new playoff format severely devalues the 2-seed, bumps up the value of 3/4/5/6 (And obviously 7).

Edited March 19, 2020 by Bolts223

[Dr LBC]

9 hours ago, Bolts223 said:

I mean if you really think about it being in the same division as a behemoth doesn't hurt you nearly as much now with the new playoff format. The reason being that in cases like 2018 the Chargers being in the same division as the Chiefs directly prevented them from getting a Bye. Instead a team with a worse record than them that was a division winner (The Patriots) got it instead. We all know how important a Bye is to postseason success.

But now since only one team gets a bye, the Chargers and every other AFC team have to be able to beat out the Chiefs record wise to get a Bye. Obviously the Chargers have to play them twice a year but drop off between a 2-seed and a 5-seed isn't nearly as big now. A 5-seed could in theory host a divisional round and conf championship game (Although it's extremely unlikely to happen)

Point being - this new playoff format severely devalues the 2-seed, bumps up the value of 3/4/5/6 (And obviously 7).

If anything (not that I'm saying anyone should interpret this as I'm favoring the Chargers to beat the Chiefs in a head-to-head), the new playoff format actually favors teams with powerhouses in their conference, because it gives them more opportunities to directly affect the record of said powerhouse (which yes, in many cases then still may not go much further than "any given Sunday..." but still).  In those case, the head-to-head cases, it's not just a case of being able to add another win to the win column, it's also having an extra opportunity to hang a loss on the powerhouse while also adding a win to the win column.