In any sport, an increase in the number of games played increases the separation from the best teams and the worst. In baseball, for example, the Baltimore Orioles have fallen 32 games behind the Yankees after 130 games.
In football, a schedule of 16 games results routinely in a team tying up home-field advantage for the playoffs with one or more games left to play. Adding two games will serve only to increase the distance between the first seed and the second seed, creating more — not fewer — meaningless games at the end of the season.
It also will result in more situations in which a team that has locked up a playoff berth can do nothing to improve its place in the seedings, giving the team nothing to play for with one or more games remaining.
And so with Commissioner Roger Goodell apparently finding a way to cut the preseason in half, he’ll be faced with increased instances of the last few weeks of the regular season becoming a preseason for the postseason.
There’s only one way to solve it. As mentioned in the latest PFT Mailbag, we addressed the issue in the PFT Season Preview magazine. And our friends at NBCSports.com have posted the full item for your perusal, at no charge.
If I remember correctly, your article suggests that the hottest team (longest streak) should get the highest playoff seed. It almost seems to make a little sense until you look back over the last few years. When the Broncos imploded and allowed the Chargers to get into the playoffs (not last year), by your scenario the 8-8 Chargers would have been the #1 AFC seed. That makes even less sense than that team having a better seed (div winner) than a WC team that was 2-3 games better. The system is not perfect but it is as good as can be. The 18 game season is bad for several reasons and the potential for rendering some late games meaningless is just another one of many.
Since you are a Lawyer Mr. Florio. I assume you are picking a stance, then trying to justify it by providing arguments both real or hypothetical. But for every team that becomes “irrelevant” earlier in the season, there will also be teams who would have been eliminated in a sixteen week season that have two more games to try to earn a playoff spot. Two more games a year would no doubt increase revenue. Plus, it would give Profootballtalk.com two more weeks of Relevant news to report. Something other than police logs. Some argue that a longer season will shorten careers…Yes… But They will be able to pile up stats faster.. Get compensated more per year.. And Retire a couple years earlier and go on to enjoy the rest of their life, With the exception of Brett Favre who as we know will never retire. Anyways… I may not know much, But I do know that I would rather watch two more weeks of football than picking lint out of my belly button.
Meaningless? Do you know what I could do with 2 more weeks of fantasy football?
No it won’t. Late season games will probably be important divisional games.
No, I dont care what sport it is, there arent gonna be many meaningless games in an 18 game season. It will be the same as it is now, only the last couple weeks will possibly have meaningless games.
This article is idiotic
Horrible idea. There is nothing wrong with the current system.
Some years teams will just pull away from the pack. That is just the way it is. I don’t see a problem to fix.
There is already a tradeoff… teams that rest lose their edge. This has happened often enough to be a deterrent. Also a team that fails to take the oppurtunity to eliminate another team from contention… risks being eliminated by that team in the post-season.
By the way, I hate the idea of an 18 week season. I love it just the way it is. 16 weeks is long enough.
I am against the longer season:
1 – it will occasionally add meaningless games, so the Colts can pull starters for 4 consecutive games instead of 2.
2 – because offenses and defenses are so complex the teams do need extra pre-season time. Shortening the pre-season results in worse quality games early on. Plus, it denies teams a chance to evaluate rookies and other available players
3 – it wont add as much revenue as you think, because most of those tickets are sold anyway – as part of the mandatory pre-season package. Its 2 additional weeks of TV revenue.
And guess what? You’ll also have fewer wild cards determined by retarded tie-breakers like ‘wins against common opponents’ when there are like 2 common opponents.
Statistically, every sport will require a different number of games to differentiate between good and bad teams. There’s a lot of randomness in baseball, so it needs a lot of games. Basketball probably has way too many at 81. Is 16 too many in football? Probably not.
So yes, sometimes teams will have the division (and home field) locked up. But not often, there’s no way that a team will end up with a 4 game lead in terms of overall home field. And if it means that the dumb ties happen less often, it’s worth it.
Not quite as idiotic as using your full real name on a sports blog screen-name
I’m actually on the fence about this subject, because I want more football but at the same time things are great the way they are. They can definately tweak the schedule to prevent meaningless games at the end of the season but if they are going to do the 18 game schedule maybe tweak the playoffs as well. Instead of 6 from each conference make it 7 from each conference and seeds 2-7 play on a wild card game. So the only team with a bye is the number 1 seed. The number 1 seed of course will play the lowest seeded winner of the 3 wild card games. I think it adds more importance and prestige to being the number one seed and makes teams play harder at the end of the season the get the bye.
Two extra weeks of games adds 32 more games. There are not going to be 32 “meaningless” games created because of a longer season. It really is that elementary.
I have no use for people who fail to hold season tickets yet feel the need to assert their opinions when it comes to the length of the regular season.
- Colonel Jessup
Not if they put the divisional games at the end of the season like they are talking about.
People bitched when it went from 12 to 14 game, then people bitched when it went from 14 to 16 now want to bitch from 16-18. Everyone will bitch when they get locked out in March.
This has been tried already and it’s failed miserably. It’s called the BCS.
The two options stated sound awful. Keep it the way it is, best record= best seed. Put most of the divisional games at the end of the season.
mr_snrub says:
“I have no use for people who fail to hold season tickets yet feel the need to assert their opinions when it comes to the length of the regular season.
- Colonel Jessup”
If that was the only way the NFL made their money, the league would have folded in the 70′s. Without the 23523986734897276327 NFL fans who don’t hold season tickets, “Colonel Jessup” would be sitting in the cheap seats of a jai alai stadium.
“Not quite as idiotic as using your full real name on a sports blog screen-name”
______________________________________
Are you serious?
I prefer the idea floated at the Pro Football Reference blog – flexing opponents for the final two weeks of the season.
Re: “more meaningless games”
You mean more tanked games!
Isn’t it obvious Florio is against an 18 week season because it will cut into NBC’s olympic coverage and now that he is an NBC lapdog, he has to protest to toe the company line!
The stink of the quitting Colts still lingers. Shameful.
It also means more meaningful games as well. Stop being the “glass is half empty” type.
I think there will be a lot more meaningless games, as well.
However, there will be teams, streaking at the end of the year that will also have very meaningful games. All those stats on ‘teams never start 0-2 and make the playoff,’ will be meaningless. There will be more time for a run at the playoffs after a slot start (just didn’t want it missed).
I still think the meaningless games will out-do the meaningful ones (300 rush yards for KC against Den last year, anyone?).
there are exactly 33 people in the world who think this is a good idea.
Now we can have more meaningless late season games to complement the yawner meaningless pre-season contests. Maybe the No Fun League is moving closer to making itself meaningless!
Open up the playoff sedes to a voting process? Are you insane? One of the worst parts of college football is their stupid voting process. All sports have meaningless games at the end of the season. There’s enough parity as it stands, if a team performs above and beyond the league standard, then they should be allowed to coast the last couple games.
lil flo…stick to chasing ambulances…leave the solutions to the men
Another unintended consequence of the rule change is apparently more meaningless posts from profootballtalk.
This is a great point and another reason why in my humble opinion the Commish should leave it at 16 regular season games, but still cut the preseason down to two games.
So I guess they should shorten the season to four games so they all will be really exciting.
Another one of my points I made long ago…and now Florio has stolen that one too. Teams that start the season lousy think it is hard filling up their stadiums for the rest of the season? Try tacking on a couple additional games. It’ll just be more games in front of empty seats.
Ha, thanks for the O’s nugget Florio. At least we have the Ravens to be proud of.
and more irrelevant teams making the post season.
for example: the ny jets last season.
VIVA LA CURTIS PAINTER!
Florio is ASSUMING the extra two games will increase the gap – the reality is what will happen is the gap will close up with two extra games.
The reality is it will more than likely be the same just delayed. Weeks 16 and 17 would be much more relevant but weeks 18 and 19 would probably be the same old trick as 16/17 are now. If last season had two more regular season games, and living to Florio’s hype of “more meaningless games” (i.e. Colts and Saints don’t play as hard), both the Chargers and Vikings could have possibly gained home field in their respective conferences. It’s also possible the Eagles would have had a chance to win their division and break the tie with the Cowboys. Or the Packers could have won the North or the Jets the East (especially with how much of a groove that had gotten into at that time). Endless possibilities really. So if everyone played through weeks 16 and 17 to maintain their postions, weeks 18 and 19 would be meaningless, but simply replacing the current meaningless games.
18 games isn’t the worst thing in the world, but I’m against it because of the reasons Carson Palmer stated. The more games, the less meaning each has, however minor.
Sometimes I think I’m psycho-obsessed with the NFL, but if you asked me if I wanted them to play 50 games over six months I’d say that would be terrible. The reason we love it is cause we can never get enough. The reason I can’t watch baseball until the playoffs is largely because each game seems meaningless to me.