If Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had his way, more than 12 teams would be in the postseason right now.
Jones was asked on 105.3 The Fan (via ESPN.com) whether he would support expanding the playoffs from six teams per conference to eight teams per conference, and he said he likes that idea because it would allow more teams to enter the playoffs and give more fan bases a reason to get excited about the NFL in January.
“From the standpoint of looking at how exciting it is for a city or a community to be involved in the playoffs and the fact that you can have a team that might have literally operated at .500 or in that area . . . you can have that team win the Super Bowl,” Jones said. “That makes a big case for adding a couple of more cities or communities that have NFL teams to the playoffs. It just creates that much more excitement and that much more interest for people in those communities. So I fall on the side of the ledger that would increase the playoffs.”
It might sound like Jones is just saying that because his team barely missed the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, but the Cowboys actually wouldn’t have made the playoffs in any of the last three years even if there had been two more NFC wild card teams. So Jones isn’t necessarily advocating a system that would have benefitted his own team.
What he is advocating is a playoff system that would bring more teams to the party. That would be great for a team like this year’s Cardinals, who missed the playoffs despite going 10-6. But other than the Cardinals, every other team that had a winning record made the playoffs. So if you’re arguing for expanding the playoffs, you’re arguing for more 8-8 teams (and some years 7-9 teams) to make the postseason.
It might make the playoffs more fun for fans in a few cities to add a few more teams, but it might also make the playoffs less special if more 8-8 and 7-9 teams are making it. Is that trade-off worth it? PFT Planet, tell us what you think.
[polldaddy poll=7689224]