yamchargers says:
Jan 13, 2012 1:32 PM
I love the current format with Saturday games! Please dont change it. If Sat night is so bad make it Sat day games.
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Exaaaaaactly.

Instead of having one game start after 8:00 on Saturday, why not have the games at 3:00 and 6:30 EST?
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No freaking way! Start more games at 8:00pm est. Love the late night games. For some reason it is easier to get way more drunk at night.

Now this! This is a great idea. I am suprised this has not happened yet.

Hard pressed to clear a schedule for THREE football games in one day, and then one during the work week. They haven’t done it yet becuase it wouldn’t INCREASE ratings.

The only reason this would get big ratings is from all the artificial hype that is been created for this game.

A fan of real football would much rather either of the NFC games before caring at all about Bronco’s Pats.

I hope the ratings are poor so we can stop getting both over hyped teams shoved down our throat.

Le’s remember the Bronco’s were 8-8 and the Patriots did not beat a team with a winning record.
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I know you are bitter because the cowboys couldn’t make it to the playoffs. The Pats are anything but overhyped. They have been one of the best teams this last decade and consistently win. And you act like the pats not beating a team with a winning record is such a travesty. It’s not their fault they only played two teams with winning records. Part of the reason the other teams didn’t have winning records was because the pats were kicking their ass.

Smacklayer don’t take this the wrong way. You suck! Just come down w/ a nasty virus 45 minutes before kickoff.

…because some of us fans will be showing up at the NFL’s main office with torches and pitchforks.

Leave well enough alone. The playoff format is fine the way it is. It’s makes for a great weekend. Firing up the smoker all day Saturday, having brews with friends while watching football is a tradition for many. Sunday games make for a great wind-down with one final rolling of meat over the coals and a few last beers before gearing up for the weekly boring grind of work. There’s no need to change a thing.

The hard part is figuring out some way to make the Monday night game not be a huge disadvantage in the next round. Somebody else pointed this out already, but I’d like to posit potential solutions rather than just point out the problem. I only see one way to prevent the “short week/long week” issues, and that’s to guarantee that the Monday night winner would play on the next Monday night game, no matter what.

First off, in order to make it fair, you’d have to alternate the MNF game between the conferences every other year. One year the NFC has it the next the AFC, etc. It would need to be predictable.

Second, they’d probably also have to be able to figure out the divisional schedule in advance BEFORE the wild-card MNF game was played. And in order for this to work, the MNF game in the wildcard round would HAVE to always be a #5 @ #4 game. This would allow the #6 @ #3 from Sunday to have already determined where the #4 or #5 will be going next week. That game would then automatically become the MNF game in the divisional round. So even before the winner is known, the destination would be set and the host city/stadium/team/etc would have the full amount of time to prepare for what day they are hosting a game. (For example, if #6 won on the wild-card Sunday they’d play @#1 on Divisional Sunday, otherwise #3 would play @#2 on Sunday. #5 or #4 would in turn always play again the next Monday. This way both affected stadiums would be sure of the maximum notice to be fully ready.)

Third, the divisional MNF game would either be the #1 or #2 seed in the appropriate conference. But then what happens for the championships? You either have to make those on two days as well (which would work, there’s a solid two weeks before the Super Bowl after all) or you have to make the same conference have the LATE Sunday Championship game. This would still be a “short week” but at least LESS of one.

Oh, and in instances where a shared stadium and changeable fields would matter (currently only Jets/Giants but could be others in the future) and both teams are hosting a playoff game, they would need the maximum time possible to work on the field. If the other rules aren’t violated by doing so, one should be Sunday and one Monday. If not, one is the early game on Sunday and the other is the late game, and if there’s no way to swap out the endzones in time then use one from each team.

It’s quite a lot of work to rewrite the rules to plan this all out, but it would be doable. And let’s face it, it would actually be better than the current system. If the Lions had won last Saturday night, they would have had eight days to prepare to visit GB, while the Giants would have had only 6 days to prepare for San Fran. And right now the Broncos have had only 6 days to prepare for New England while Houston has eight days to prepare for Baltimore. In addition, whomever wins either of the Saturday games this weekend will have 8 days to prepare for their conference championship, while the Sunday games will only have seven days.

The current system really does need to be improved, and if it can improve TV money all the more, so much the better.

Exaaaaaactly.

Instead of having one game start after 8:00 on Saturday, why not have the games at 3:00 and 6:30 EST?

Its 2012….the Myans were right.

Peter King @SI_PeterKing 1m Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Fisher to the Rams.

Though I think your idea about having the confernence title games is prime time is a good one. I would prefer Having one Saturday and one Sunday. Your idea about eliminating the Saturday night game altogether is absurd.

For wildcard round

Saturday: 2, 5:30, 9 EST

Sunday: 1, 4:30, 8

Don’t like the idea of Monday postseason football.

Next season, expectations will be higher and the division will be much more competitive. The Chiefs, Raiders, and Chargers will be healthy, and the AFC West will be playing tough divisions (the AFC North and NFC South), so once again, most likely only one team from the division will make the playoffs – so it’s probably win the division or die for the Broncos.

None of which means the team and Tebow can’t have success again next year. But the odds will be stacked higher against them next year, and they already needed a lot of luck to make it to the playoffs this year, even with an injury-decimated division. The math doesn’t support a repeat of Tebowmania next year.