The NFL Playoffs Are Fine

So, it turns out, the Giants-Dolphins practice thing wasn't really that big of a deal at all.  It was simply Craig Carton being a whiny little superfan who was trying to talk crap.  Why is this guy even on the radio?  He's not a sports "expert."  All he is is a fan.  I think the only reason he has a job in sports talk radio is because WFAN decided that since Chris Russo is gone, they still need someone to be annoying and whiny while making "points" simply for the purpose of making them.

Why am I bringing this up?  Because this afternoon I read an ESPN.com story by LZ Granderson (who is normally pretty good) suggesting that the NFL playoff system is "broken" because somebody has to win the NFC West.  This is one of the most ridiculous articles I've ever read on ESPN.com.  His basic argument is that it's "unfair" the Packers/Giants could finish 11-5 and miss the playoffs, while the Rams/Seahawks could finish 8-8 and get a home game.  My response is "So What?"

The NFL playoff system is set up perfectly.  There are eight divisions and eight games in the first two rounds of the playoffs.  If you win your division, getting the opportunity to host a playoff game is your just reward.  That's why you play every team in your division twice.  If you're the best of those four, you go to the playoffs.  Plain and simple.  Two wild cards are added to make sure all of the best teams are in the playoffs.  So what if you have a 9-7 team hosting an 11-5 wild card!  It's happened before, and it'll happen again.  Likewise, although rare, you'll have the occasional 8-8 division champion or 11-5 team that gets left out.  Just because this is one of those years, it doesn't mean the system is broken.  This guy suggests an NBA style format where the six teams get in, but are seeded 1-6 regardless of division.  Yes, let's use the NBA, the league where every team (except the Knicks) make the playoffs, as our example!  And I'm now implored to ask, Why have divisions at all then?

The four best teams in football might be the Patriots, Jets, Steelers and Ravens, who all happen to be in the same two divisions.  Thus, winning those two divisions and getting the home game (and bye) instead of going on the road (and playing the extra game) as a wild card.  This is why the system that's in place puts such a premium on winning your division.  That's the way it should be.  And you're an idiot if you think that being a wild card team makes the Jets or Ravens any less of a Super Bowl contender (the 2005 Steelers and 2007 Giants both won three road games en route to Super Bowl titles as wild card teams).  Along those same lines, the idea that the winner of the "mediocre" division doesn't belong in the playoffs is ludicrous!  Remember the 8-8 Chargers (the AFC West winner) beating the 12-4 Colts in a wild card game two years ago?  And what about those 9-7 Cardinals who won the NFC West that season?  Oh yeah, they came within 20 seconds of winning the Super Bowl!  Man, that team really sucked!

It's also funny that nobody (other than seemingly our friend LZ) has a problem with the fact that the NFC West winner has to make the playoffs.  Everybody knows what they've got to do, and for the Giants and Packers, that means fighting for the other wild card spot (assuming the Bears and Eagles win the divisions).  Oh, and the Giants and Packers play in Week 16.  Look at that!  And even if we did take LZ's suggestion and take the top six teams regardless of division, the one good team in a crappy division still usually ends up among the top six.  Obviously that's not the case with the NFC West winner this year, but the basic point remains.  And he kept dwelling on the fact that the Patriots went 11-5 and missed the playoffs the year the Cardinals went to the Super Bowl.  I'm not really sure what one has to do with the other, seeing as the Patriots are in the AFC and the Cardinals are in the NFC.  Does he propose some sort of stupid CFL-like "cross-over" system where the seventh-best team in one conference replaces the second wild card in the other if they have a better record?  Yeah, that would go over well.

The NFL playoffs are fine.  Now, the new playoff overtime format is a differnet story.  Don't get me started on that one.