I don't think sub .500 teams should be allowed into the playoffs in any sport. If you can't even win half of your regular season games, what business do you have competing for a championship? I'm in favor of switching to 4 divisions of 8 teams because that would drastically limit the possibility of a poor division winner lucking into a playoff spot.
As far as coaching decisions, winning a game as TB did only reinforces the conservative decision making even further. Todd Bowles is probably patting himself on the back as we speak for giving his team the best chance to win even though that's obviously not true. It's pretty clear which teams/coaches use a process based method vs a results based method.
Agree with the Bowles take. The bigger divisions become an issue with traditionally playing each team in the division twice. That would be 14 games against the division in the 8-team scenario, not leaving a lot of room for other matchups. Obviously that could be worked around, but my first though on why it's tough. Plus, I think the NFL prefers having many team, even bad teams, in the playoff hunt later in the season to maintain interest as long as possible.
With bigger divisions, my thought is to play each divisional opponent once plus one extra divisional matchup based on the previous year’s finish. In a league where some matchups only happen once every four years, do we really need the same teams facing each other twice every season?
I don't think sub .500 teams should be allowed into the playoffs in any sport. If you can't even win half of your regular season games, what business do you have competing for a championship? I'm in favor of switching to 4 divisions of 8 teams because that would drastically limit the possibility of a poor division winner lucking into a playoff spot.
As far as coaching decisions, winning a game as TB did only reinforces the conservative decision making even further. Todd Bowles is probably patting himself on the back as we speak for giving his team the best chance to win even though that's obviously not true. It's pretty clear which teams/coaches use a process based method vs a results based method.
Agree with the Bowles take. The bigger divisions become an issue with traditionally playing each team in the division twice. That would be 14 games against the division in the 8-team scenario, not leaving a lot of room for other matchups. Obviously that could be worked around, but my first though on why it's tough. Plus, I think the NFL prefers having many team, even bad teams, in the playoff hunt later in the season to maintain interest as long as possible.
With bigger divisions, my thought is to play each divisional opponent once plus one extra divisional matchup based on the previous year’s finish. In a league where some matchups only happen once every four years, do we really need the same teams facing each other twice every season?