F-in' with the Golden Goose...

I figured it out.....

 

Seed 1 gets a bye

 

Seed 2 plays Seed 7 at Seed 2 stadium

Seed 3 plays Seed 6 at Seed 3 stadium

Seed 4 plays Seed 5 at Seed 4 stadium

 

Lowest seeded winner out of round 1 plays at Team 1 stadium. 

 

Here's the best scenario for wackiness. Seeds 5, 6 & 7 all win in round 1. Even though they were on the road in round 1, seed 5 now gets a home game vs. seed 6 in round 2. If seed 7 upsets seed 1 & seed 6 beats seed 5, now seed 6 HOSTS a home Conference Championship game after being on the road for 2 straight playoff games & probably against a team that was 7-9 or 8-8 to get into the playoffs.

 

Yes Goodell....This is fantastic. I say we add 10 teams in the playoffs for each Conference. Why not?!? It'll be great seeing a 6-10 regular season team "get hot" & win the Super Bowl. Can't WAIT! 

Sigh.

I know the owners, and therefore the league, are hell-bent for leather to "find new revenue sources", and it seems they are always trying to come up with a steaming pile of chit that they can sell to the players union, while giving an appearance of placating season-ticket holders.

If they can't sell an 18 game schedule, they go to the next thing, which is apparently increasing the number of teams eligible for the playoffs. Possibly at the expense of losing one preseason game, and it may or may not include 'dropping' this game from the season ticket requirement.

It seems to me they should return to tickets and concession prices that are actually affordable to more people. There's their new revenue source.

And that ties in with the league wanting to "improve the game experience" for more fans.

 

But, in the meantime, they can't cure their problems that prevent HGH testing and discipline, the legal problems that their players have in ever-increasing numbers, or stadium funding woes. Not to mention the constant 'threat' of franchise relocation.

 

NFLFU, indeed.

Top 26 teams need to be in the playoffs automatically. Teams #27 through #30 will enter into a 2 month pre-playoff round robin along with top 2 CFL and BCS teams for 2 more playoff spots. Vikings and Jets will use the expanded 4 month playoff period to get a jump on winning the offseason championship.

The revenue for play-off games on TV must be off the charts for (2) playoff games per year to more than offset the revenue for 16 individual games (even if preseason).

If the NFL allows weaker teams a shot at the playoffs less teams would be willing to trade the present for the future like the Browns did recently.

 

Oh wait, the Brownies were 0-2 with and 2-0 without.  They even beat that playoff bound Bengal team.........

 

One other concern.  How would extra playoff teams and games affect gambling income?

Anyone see the play where Locker gets hurt?

 

 

I can see where that hit may have caused a shoulder injury.

But a fine for it??  F*CK NO!

I'm getting VERY sick and tired of every hard hit either drawing a flag and/or fine even if the hit is delivered completely within the rules.

What the NFL has become...  my ability to be a fan is nearing life support.

Locker hurt his hip on the play. 

 

Link to the play

then the ground should be fined and/or Locker for failing to be able to fall without hurting himself.

Hell no to playoff expansion.

 

NO WAY!!!

 

It is fine right where it's at.  If I were to change anything, I would drop to 10 with Seeds 4,5 playing in the 1st round and Top 3 seeds with a bye.

Refs have NOT been consistent in enforcing the illegal hits is a major part of the problem. Each week guys get fined for a play that was not flagged, conversely some penalty plays there is no fine given. I realize their are some bam-bam plays that the refs go extra cautious on throwing a flag. But it seems even the refs dont fully understand what constitutes a finable play, or they are just making up their decisions based on their own  perception. Refs need to get their act together and be consistently right.

 

I dont really mind the extra playoff game, especially if it reduces the preseason games by 1. Usually (I think) every year 1 or 2 teams with a pretty decent winning record misses the playoffs based on the current format. 10-6 should get a team to the playoffs, but in some years a 10-6 team or 2 misses the playoffs due to a tiebreaker format.

I thought there was a fairly good case made that if the NFL went to an 18-week season by adding a second bye week, they could keep a 16-game schedule, drop one preseason game and the extra week of TV rights would make up the difference. Anyone remember this?

I've thought about this a lot lately. I wonder if and when the tipping-point will come for me. The point where it's just no fun to watch any more. Every year they get a step closer to flag-football.

The NFL is quickly becoming nothing more than a collection of point generators for fantasy football.

Biggest issue I have besides the fact that players will flat out try less and put out less effort in the regular season knowing at 7-9/8-8 or if the cards play out right, even 6-10

gets you in...

 

Is that it's entirely possible a crap ass team like that will face a legit playoff team at say 11-5 and even if they lose as they should, what if in the course of that game a marquee player from the 11-5 team gets hurt and can't play the rest of the playoffs?

 

That would mean the following week this same 11-5 team now faces another 11-5 or 12-4 team but it's not nearly as competitive as that because the one who beat this sorry excuse for a playoff team lost their starting QB, #1 WR, best defensive player, key OT, etc on some fluke play or say got concussed in a game they should have never played to begin with.

 

Packer fans don't even have to look outside WI to see what a pro sport does when it lets damn near anyone in the playoffs. The Milwaukee Bucks trot out a "playoff" team year in and out only to get thoroughly embarrassed in the first round by a high seeded team who kicks their ass up and down the court. Yet oooh-lala!! The Bucks are a playoff team. It's a complete joke and a waste of time.

 

But thi$ i$n't about that i$ it?

 

 

 

There was a time I'd watch any and all NFL games... that's not true any longer.

 

 

I like how the NFL has this play under "BIG PLAY HIGHLIGHTS"......  Ridiculous.  Don't "highlight" a "big play" and then try to fine the players.  

This!  

Watched about 8 minutes of NFL football yesterday from 10 a.m. until about 10:08 waiting for my daughter to wake up from her morning nap.  Then, since it was a gorgeous day, I loaded up the wife, baby and dogs and went and spent a few hours on the beach. Dream from heaven.

 

After we got home, I worked in the yard for the rest of the day before preparing the grill for our barbecued shrimp dinner.  Dream from heaven once again.

 

The point?  I didn't even think about football until I lit the grill.  At that point I figured I'd check the scores.  10-15 years ago I would never have left the TV even if GB wasn't playing.  If I had to be somewhere else I would've been going insane wondering what was happening.  

 

Yesterday?  Couldn't have cared less.  

 

The product is deteriorating before our eyes.  It took a bye week for me to fully realize and acknowledge that.

The NFL is quickly becoming nothing more than a collection of point generators for fantasy football.

that's really spot on Shoeless.  and think of all the gambling revenue fantasy football presents.  this must be the cash cow they're trying to feed choice alfalfa to for milking.

 

 

I don't know you, but it also might have something to do with you having a (presumably) young daughter, wife, home and different priorities as you get older.

Fair points and that may be somewhat relevant, but I probably should have included the fact that when I have watched NFL football this year that didn't involve the GBP, I found myself relatively bored with it quickly.  Defenses can't play defense, QB's can't be hit, it's obvious that they're trying to keep the video game generation interested and every. freaking. pause. leads immediately to 800 commercials.  

 

As we've seen once again with those classy fans in SF, the stadium experience isn't getting any better either.  

 

I'm just glad I grew up in GB and have been an avid GBP fan my whole life.  Otherwise I wonder how much I'd care about any of this anymore when I see the game I grew up with going the way of the dodo.  

 

Pass the Metamucil.  I'm done ranting.

Let me preface this by saying I agree that the changes are unwanted. However, I don't think for one second that another playoff team equates to ruining the league- at least from a viewership standpoint. It seems a bit over-reactive to proclaim if they do this it somehow ruins the game and thus makes people tune in to watch water polo on Sundays between September and February.

First, another playoff team in each conference only extends the playoffs by one game per day. So instead, wildcard weekend has games from noon to 10pm both Saturday and Sunday, pushing a game into the coveted Sunday night prime time slot.

It seems obvious there is little public support for an 18 game reg season schedule. Adding another Team per conference playoff won't change the fact that we'll watch the games. It just won't, and I think they know it. And if it's the NFLN that picks up the extra game(likely), they make a ton of $$$ and limited backlash from the NFLPA or the public- money they don't have to share with DTV, Fox, NBC, or ESPN/Disney.

My boys are 17, 15, and 12... my boredom with the NFL is fairly recent. For the first time since 1985 I am not involved in a fantasy football league. The past 2-3 seasons I found myself increasingly less interested in non-Packers games.

 

 

My wife loved yesterday afternoon. Mid 80s and sunshine here in Austin. Talapia and bell peppers on the grill. Some Chillean wine, homemade from my SunPrairie BiL...  dream form heaven.

 

 

Just another nail MC, not the final or initial blow.

 

Preachin' the choir.  They reached level at finding parity in the league with the salary cap.  This is a descent into stupid.

All in All its just another Brick in the Wall....

 

Didn't watch, didn't check scores yesterday and didn't miss it one bit

 

I turn on the Packers game 3 minutes before kickoff, turn it off 3 minutes after the final whistle. I don't watch any NFL- related material during the week.

Zippo, nada - because it doesn't add to my enjoyment of the Mighty Green Bay Packers

 

The NFL doesn't care about us dinosaurs; they want to win over the next generation

And that's OK too, we all have better things to do with our non-Packer time

 

Like re-arranging mom's basement?

Bad luck for Locker as it looks like damage was done when he crashed into the other D just basically standing there. No fine-able play there.

 

Overall, I'm seeing the NFL product start to deteriorate as it is mimicking college ball more and more. The ping-pong offenses, etc., are just not part of the NFL tradition. To top it off, toss in refs who can't be consistent and it's a crap shoot who's going to win or lose. NoFunLeague.

The proposal from Roger Goodell that bothers me is his obsession with having a team based in London. Good grief! Is there anyone who thinks this is a good idea? (besides Goodell and his greedy owners?)

No. And there's talk of 3 games being played there in 2014. Eventually, Im guessing the Packers will have to go. The US fans get nothing from it, the teams are jet lagged, and depending on the schedule it can F your season up.

 

Jags who are horrid will have to travel some 8 hours to get their ass handed to them later this year. And London "fans" get to see one team beat the crap out of another that doesn't belong in the NFL. Yippy.

 

I would think if the Packers would have to go, that it would be as the away opponent. The loss of a home game would put a dent in the Green Bay economy.

@AdamSchefter

The US fans get nothing from it, the teams are jet lagged, and depending on the schedule it can F your season up.

not to mention with the volatile climate/world we currently live, teams could get stranded over there and/or worse.  not that those things couldn't happen here but why add 4 extra hours and an ocean to the variables.

Ask Vic on Packers.com

 

Chris from Ely, England

Vic, I was at Wembley on Sunday, proudly in my green and gold, but I wanted to say it was a privilege to watch Adrian Peterson run the ball in person. The reaction when he went the distance was electric. I know there’s a financial incentive for the NFL to do this but hope everyone in the U.S. understands how much these international series games mean to us. We are grateful to the league, the players, the coaches and especially to the fans who lose a home game.

 

Eighty-four thousand people were in attendance. Anyone that doesn’t think the NFL is going to eventually put a team in London is not paying attention.

 

 

 

Ryan from Menomonie, WI

I know the NFL loves the idea of a team in Europe, and the games selling out over there are only helping the argument, however, couldn’t it be something that they only see once a year over there so everyone goes? If they had it all the time, it might not be so popular. NFL Europe did fail.

 

First of all, NFL Europe did not fail. It did exactly what it was intended to do, which is to say expose the sport in Europe and identify potential hotbeds for expansion. Saying NFL Europe failed is the same as saying minor league baseball is a failure because it doesn’t sell out every game. NFL Europe was minor league football; London is getting the real thing and they’re selling out for games between teams with whom the fans don’t have a connection. Are we sure a team in London will meet with the same success on a steady basis? No, but there’s only one way to find out and you can rest assured the NFL will eventually test the market.

 

 

 

Bring back the Concorde and it's all good.

 

New York to Heathrow probably isn't any longer (flight-wise) than NY to San Diego, but San Diego to London would be a biznitch.

Jake needs to stop defusing IEDs.

I feel the same way.   There is just some really really bad football being played out there, and when you add in some awful refereeing, it takes away from some of the fun of watching the NFL.

 

And I will be kind to the refs and say that the directives the league has given them has made their jobs much more difficult than it was even as recently as 10 years ago.   My personal attitude is that if there's a borderline personal foul type penalty, keep the flag in your pocket.  The league's directive is just the opposite of what it should be. 

 

Their attitude is "If it's questionable or in doubt, throw the flag" and that has just killed what the game used to be.   We don't want to watch football and see yellow flags being thrown every other play.  I so badly wish the league would change their attitude on this, but I don't think it will ever happen.  Lawyers and Accountants now run that league, not good football minds. 

great post

 

Currently the refs are told to err on the side of caution... but there is no recourse or replay available when they are inevitably wrong.That seems one -sided and potentially unfair

 

And that's what makes it even more egregious- they acknowledge that they are guessing sometimes and yet there is no way to fix it. Those calls impact the outcome of a game just as much as a TD/no TD call, yet its off- limits to scrutiny or replay...

 

Why ?

 

Who came up with that plan and who would benefit from such a situation ? 

 

makes it harder to watch/enjoy a game; you lose the emotional investment in it because it all seems so arbitrary at times.