How would you change the NFL playoff format?

[ATL-Eric]

If it all?

First I would do away with 4 team divisions. Being the best team out of 4 shouldn't guarantee you a playoff spot. And are there really any hardcore rivalries in the nfl anymore?

I propose 4 eight team divisions, divvied up geographically. If the nfl wants to create rivalries why not put the 3 Florida team in the same division, not to mention ny and Texas teams.

So 4 divisions, eight teams each, playing a 17 game season. You only play your division opponent once. But,,, Here's we're it gets cool,, week 18 is the division championship game. After that you have a bye then the conference championship then Super Bowl.

It's the same number of weeks in the season and there are actually more games considering teams will play a 17 rather then 16 game season.

Here are the divisions:

Pacific division: San Fran, Seattle , Oakland, San Diego, Denver, Arizona, St. Louis, KC


Great Lakes Division: Minnesota , Green Bay , Chicago, Detroit, Indy, Cincy, Cleveland, Tennessee



Atlantic Division: Buffalo, New England , NYj , NyG, Philly, Washington, Baltimore, Pittsburgh


Southern Division: Houston ,Dallas New Orleans, Miami, Tampa, Jax, Atlanta, Carolina.

[B-Large]

If it all?

First I would do away with 4 team divisions. Being the best team out of 4 shouldn't guarantee you a playoff spot. And are there really any hardcore rivalries in the nfl anymore?

I propose 4 eight team divisions, divvied up geographically. If the nfl wants to create rivalries why not put the 3 Florida team in the same division, not to mention ny and Texas teams.

So 4 divisions, eight teams each, playing a 17 game season. You only play your division opponent once. But,,, Here's we're it gets cool,, week 18 is the division championship game. After that you have a bye then the conference championship then Super Bowl.

It's the same number of weeks in the season and there are actually more games considering teams will play a 17 rather then 16 game season.

Here are the divisions:

Pacific division: San Fran, Seattle , Oakland, San Diego, Denver, Arizona, St. Louis, KC


Great Lakes Division: Minnesota , Green Bay , Chicago, Detroit, Indy, Cincy, Cleveland, Tennessee



Atlantic Division: Buffalo, New England , NYj , NyG, Philly, Washington, Baltimore, Pittsburgh


Southern Division: Houston ,Dallas New Orleans, Miami, Tampa, Jax, Atlanta, Carolina.

Buffalo is literally on a Great Lake..... But I like your idea...

[errand]

I say eliminate two of the preseason games and add them to regular season making it an 18 game regular season, season ticket holders get their money's worth....eliminate the bye weeks, this means depth will be even more important.

Every team will play two (home-away) vs. divisional opponents (6 games) and one game vs. every team left in your conference (12 games) rotating every other season home-away.

Each team's final 3 games will be inside their division which will make the last part of the season more exciting as some of the divisional races will come down to final 3 weeks

No NFC vs. AFC matchups until the SB. This will make for interesting debates as to which is the better conference and who will win it.

This would make the schedule look like this hypothetically -

OAK
HOU
@SD
@BUF
IND
NYJ
@KC
@CLE
MIA
CIN
@TEN
@NE
PITT
@JAX
@BAL
SD
KC
@OAK

Playoff format will remain the same with 6 teams making the playoffs (4 division winners and 2 wildcards)

[Archer81]

I wouldnt.

[OBF1]

I like it as it is. Putting KC in the west? Seattle to KC is quite the haul.

[Bronco]

I like it as it is. Putting KC in the west? Seattle to KC is quite the haul.

did you watch football before 2001? Seattle was in the afc west for a long time

[maher_tyler]

Jets/Giants play in the same stadium. How would that work out?

[GoBroncos DownUnder]

Leave it the way it is!
But cut out 1 or 2 of the pre-season games, ALTHOUGH ... add your preseason game W-L records to the tiebreakers for playoffs and draft picks. At the moment, the NFL would rather toss a coin to decide, once the main tiebreakers are even, while they show total IGNORANCE to games they FORCE season ticket holders to go to and pay for!

[Kaylore]

I would keep the divisions, but have some sort of rule where if any wild card team has a three win advantage over the lower two division winners, they would get home field during the wild card round.

I would add one more regular season game, one more bye week to the season and reduce the preseason to three games. This would make for a 17 game schedule and eliminate any .500 football teams - All teams would have a winning or a losing record when the season ended. I would also make a rule that teams could only play on TNF coming off their bye.

I would also make a rule that the Broncos pick first overall in all rounds in the draft regardless of their record.

[R8R H8R]

I would keep the divisions, but have some sort of rule where if any wild card team has a three win advantage over the lower two division winners, they would get home field during the wild card round.

I would add one more regular season game, one more bye week to the season and reduce the preseason to three games. This would make for a 17 game schedule and eliminate any .500 football teams - All teams would have a winning or a losing record when the season ended. I would also make a rule that teams could only play on TNF coming off their bye.

I would also make a rule that the Broncos pick first overall in all rounds in the draft regardless of their record.

I agree.

[Arkie]

I would switch around a few teams to make geographical sense. Miami (the NFL's most southern franchise) would be in the AFC South, Indianapolis would go to the North, and Baltimore to the East. In the NFC, I would switch Dallas with Carolina.

[BroncoMan4ever]

I wouldn't. The NFL isn't like college football where the entire system is ****ed. Sure there is that rare season where a 10-6 or 11-5 team doesn't make the playoffs due to not winning their division but there should be a reward for winning your division and that is a home playoff game.

[BroncsCheer]

No changes to the playoff structure - i like it the way it is
win your division - host a home playoff game, period

conference realignment is needed though - i like the idea of putting Dallas in the NFC South and moving Carolina to the NFC East

Also, put BAL in the AFC East so ****ing NE has to actually play somebody for their endless goddam division runs

move IND to the AFCN, and put MIA in the AFCS

[WolfpackGuy]

6 teams per conference is fine.

They need to realign some of the divisions though.

[BroncoMan4ever]

I say eliminate two of the preseason games and add them to regular season making it an 18 game regular season, season ticket holders get their money's worth....eliminate the bye weeks, this means depth will be even more important.

Every team will play two (home-away) vs. divisional opponents (6 games) and one game vs. every team left in your conference (12 games) rotating every other season home-away.

Each team's final 3 games will be inside their division which will make the last part of the season more exciting as some of the divisional races will come down to final 3 weeks

No NFC vs. AFC matchups until the SB. This will make for interesting debates as to which is the better conference and who will win it.

This would make the schedule look like this hypothetically -

OAK
HOU
@SD
@BUF
IND
NYJ
@KC
@CLE
MIA
CIN
@TEN
@NE
PITT
@JAX
@BAL
SD
KC
@OAK

Playoff format will remain the same with 6 teams making the playoffs (4 division winners and 2 wildcards)

I think an 18 game season waters down the sport. To go 18 games means rosters have to be increased, probably to 60 active on gameday and roster sizes of probably 70. That totals out to about 550 more players in the league which means a lot more guys making it to the NFL that had no right to play in the NFL. That makes for mediocre performance and boring viewing.

Also at 18 games a bye week would need to be added. Guys need time off playing 16 games there is no way they can go 18 without a break.