I took a look at how an Interleague playoffs would look!

[mdonnelly21]

z --Kansas City Chiefs

x --Pittsburgh Steelers

z --Green Bay Packers

x --New Orleans Saints

Buffalo Bills

Cleveland Browns

Los Angeles Rams

Tennessee Titans

Seattle Seahawks

Indianapolis Colts

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Miami Dolphins

KC, Pitt, Packers and Saints would all have 1st round byes... 

Then you have 

5: Bills V 12 Dolphins Not an easy win by any stretch for the Bills: We will say Bills win 24-17 on a grind it out game. 

6: Browns V 11: Bucs Browns been playing some really hot football lately meanwhile Brady is the most primed QB for the playoffs really solid game. I'll say Bucs squeak it out 27-24 but not confident on the back of Bradys playoff experience. 

7: Rams V 10: Colts WOW. Talk about two very tough teams going at it. I like the Rams in this one, but Colts wouldn't go down easy.  Rams 17 - Colts 14 

8: Titans V 9: Seahawks. What!? This one is easily the closest pick em game. Edge goes to Russell with the most playoff experience, but if Titans run game gets going quickly they may have enough to keep it out of his hands. In the end Russell finds a way. Seahawks 20 - Titans 17 

Then for the second round we have... 

1: KC V 11: Bucs: Mahomes V Brady nice matchup. But in the end KC is just too good of a team. KC wins. 33 - 20 

2. Steelers V 7: Rams: Steelers have a lot to prove after losing two straight. Not having a run game is going to effect them in the playoffs. Rams win 27 - 17 

3. Packers V Bills wow. Talk about a pick em game. Bills will give GB everything they can handle, but in the end Rodgers gets it done marching them down the field for a last second FG. 30 - 27 

4. Saints V Seahawks: Saints with Brees have been comfortably a better team. It will all be dependent upon his health and if he can get back in sync. I'm guessing he does, and Brees overcomes Wilson in a tight game 31-27. 

Semibowls 

1: KC V 4: Saints will be a really high scoring game, and maybe the best game of the playoffs. As high powered of a Saints offense, Brees makes one two many mistakes and Mahomes capitalizes winning 37 - 30 to g2 the Superbowl 

7: Rams V Packers: This could likely be the actual NFC Championship and a really good one. This is where I'm taking an upset. As good as A-Rods been, this defense is for real led by Aaron Donald. GB gets points down in the 4th quarter airing it out but end up losing in the end 27 - 20. 

Superbowl 

1: KC v 7: Rams 

Talk about a match up. I remember the 51-48 game a few years ago. Best game I've seen in a long time. I don't think Rams offense is as high powered now but their defense should be able to contain KC long enough and end up beating KC in the SB in a huge upset 23 - 20 to shock the world against the high flying offense KC. 

 

 

 

 

[rich homie]

I've always thought that the NFL shouldn't have so many rigid subdivisions. Unlike every other sport I'm familiar with there are no practical reasons for why conferences still exist in the NFL, and why they are so important to playoff seedings.

[mdonnelly21]

28 minutes ago, rich homie said:

I've always thought that the NFL shouldn't have so many rigid subdivisions. Unlike every other sport I'm familiar with there are no practical reasons for why conferences still exist in the NFL, and why they are so important to playoff seedings.

I certainly agree with this. I don't want to see the Redskins or the Giants in the playoffs when as of now either the Ravens or Dolphins deserves 10x more ! 

[Titans_Matt]

No problem with the outcome, but no way as bad as the Seahawks and Titans defenses are, that that game finishes 20-17. That's more of a 42-38 type of game.

[FrantikRam]

I approve

[JAF-N72EX]

Division rivalry is one of the best aspects of all sports. They should never take that away, imo. Otherwise, it turns into boxing and battle rap and that's only fun for promos. 

[Hunter2_1]

That's certainly how they'd do it in Europe. I quite like it!

I do wish the NFL would have proper division rivalries again though

[Tk3]

Cool concept - although I think your 2nd round seeding may be incorrect

Shouldn't the Bills play the Saints?

[bigbadbuff]

Only two teams would get byes now 

[mdonnelly21]

8 hours ago, Tk3 said:

Cool concept - although I think your 2nd round seeding may be incorrect

Shouldn't the Bills play the Saints?

I did this before the Browns Ravens so it likely switched it up. 

[Chargers]

22 hours ago, JAF-N72EX said:

Division rivalry is one of the best aspects of all sports. They should never take that away, imo. Otherwise, it turns into boxing and battle rap and that's only fun for promos. 

Not really. Watching two bad teams play is always bad regardless of rivalry. I'd rather see great teams go at it regardless of rivalries thru cities.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Chargers

[N4L]

On 12/14/2020 at 3:48 PM, rich homie said:

I've always thought that the NFL shouldn't have so many rigid subdivisions. Unlike every other sport I'm familiar with there are no practical reasons for why conferences still exist in the NFL, and why they are so important to playoff seedings.

@Shanedorf has told me that its partly due to the fact the NFL wants different regions to host playoff games. By having divisions based on geographic area, and then having those division winners host playoff games, the NFL ensures that it will be able to have games in every time slot. Think about it, if there were only west coast home games in the playoffs then the NFL would have to start not one but TWO of them at 10am. This is avoided by ensuring you have two home games in the east (afce and nfce), and two in the west (nfcw and afcw). 

It also gives fans that live in different parts of the country an opportunity to attend a playoff game without getting on a plane. 

It makes sense, but its also annoying being the 5 seed going 13-3 or whatever and not getting a home game. 

I think they should make a rule you need to be 500 to host a playoff game. That way it eliminates a bad team from hosting a playoff game but doesnt change the normal set up when its unnecessary to do so  

[rich homie]

7 hours ago, N4L said:

@Shanedorf has told me that its partly due to the fact the NFL wants different regions to host playoff games. By having divisions based on geographic area, and then having those division winners host playoff games, the NFL ensures that it will be able to have games in every time slot. Think about it, if there were only west coast home games in the playoffs then the NFL would have to start not one but TWO of them at 10am. This is avoided by ensuring you have two home games in the east (afce and nfce), and two in the west (nfcw and afcw). 

It also gives fans that live in different parts of the country an opportunity to attend a playoff game without getting on a plane. 

It makes sense, but its also annoying being the 5 seed going 13-3 or whatever and not getting a home game. 

I think they should make a rule you need to be 500 to host a playoff game. That way it eliminates a bad team from hosting a playoff game but doesnt change the normal set up when its unnecessary to do so  

I very much doubt the NFL cares about fans from different regions being able to attend playoff games. If they had their way all four NFC East teams would host a playoff game every year.

[Shanedorf]

8 hours ago, rich homie said:

I very much doubt the NFL cares about fans from different regions being able to attend playoff games.

Its more a TV thing and the attendance is second. The NFL is all about money and having playoffs in each time zone is important to them for a variety of reasons, especially TV. Regionalism is a real thing and the regional interest is what fuels the biggest college and pro football ratings. You can say it doesn't matter or doesn't make sense - but you'd be wrong.

The divisions are so important to the NFL that they moved the divisional games to the last 3-4 contests of the season because they know that even in a down year, divisional opponents will fight like hell all the way until game 16. That boosts ratings. Whereas if its some meaningless inter-conference game, teams are more prone to resting their starters and fans are prone to tuning out.

Look at how the NFL handled opening weekend: one MNF game in NYC and another in Denver. One NFC match-up that impacts NFC fans and one AFC match-up that impacts AFC fans

The divisions aren't going away and neither are the conferences, so you might as well accept and embrace them.

 

On 12/14/2020 at 3:48 PM, rich homie said:

Unlike every other sport I'm familiar with there are no practical reasons for why conferences still exist in the NFL, and why they are so important to playoff seedings.

I am confused by this comment -
The  NFL, NBA, NHL, NCAA and MLB all have divisions and/or conferences and they all do it for the same reasons - to take advantage of the built in regional rivalries to generate passion & interest... and ultimately to make more money. These are multi-billion dollar enterprises, its been studied intensively and the results are that divisions/conferences matter to their bottom line -  and spreading them across all time zones is a part of that calculation.

[ronjon1990]

20 hours ago, Chargers said:

Not really. Watching two bad teams play is always bad regardless of rivalry. I'd rather see great teams go at it regardless of rivalries thru cities.

Not like most rivalries are REALLY that important to players in this age of patty-cake football and jersey swaps anyway. 

The Pats-Colts-Steelers three-way rivalry through the mid-2000s and 2010's was exponentially more riveting than the obligatory twice-yearly Bills-Dolphins or Raiders-Chiefs snore fests. 

I live in New Orleans currently and theoretically the Saints biggest rival is Atlanta. Know how many people considered that this year? Not many. It was Tampa. And looming games with Green Bay. And potentially duking it out with the Rams in the playoffs again. Atlanta was pretty much an afterthought when it was clear they weren't a threat to win the division.