Getting the #1 Seed in AFC playoffs is critical now

[Inigo Montoya]

1 hour ago, The Red King said:

Remind me again, which of last year's conference champions were the #1 seed?

 

Important, yes.  Anytime you have to play one less game (where anything could happen from injury to fluke loss) and a week to rest banged up players is an amazing advantage, as is home field the whole way to the big game.  But it is not critical.  Teams have won the Super Bowl as Wild Cards.  Let's not overstate it.

 

Getting the #1 seed won't be critical, but it will provide an "amazing advantage"?   My point is that the "amazing advantage" is even larger now because there isn't going to be an easy out for whoever sits in the 2nd or 3rd seed in the AFC now.  There isn't going to be a scrub team like the Steelers last year backing into the playoffs in the AFC anymore.

 

I think our opinions are actually pretty close on this.

 

🍻

 

 

Edited March 19, 2022 by Inigo Montoya

[Bobby Hooks]

12 hours ago, Inigo Montoya said:

 

With the continued stockpiling of elite talent in the AFC, it will make running the gauntlet to the Super Bowl even more difficult.  Getting the #1 seed in years past was always looked at in the context of your team getting an extra week to heal up before the start of the playoff push.  Now with Allen, Mahomes, Herbert, Jackson, Watson, Wilson, and Burrow all in the AFC, there isn't a single easy out to be had.  That's a real Murderer's Row.  Derek Carr with Adams, Waller, and Renfrow won't be an easy out either.  

 

Getting an automatic ticket to the Divisional Round means one less game against one of these QBs and that has to be the focus of the Bills this season.  We can't have another Pittsburgh or Jacksonville game this year.  The Bills will have the big advantage of playing in the weakest division in the AFC and they need to run the table or go no worse than 5-1 in division play.   

 

Josh and company need to come out of the gate strong and start stacking wins.  Getting that #1 seed and first round bye in the playoffs is going to be critical for the next decade in this crazy deep AFC if the Bills are going to win a championship.  

 

I’d certainly prefer it. The way things look now, there’s going to be some really good teams in the wildcard round. 
 

But either way, I expect a dogfight the entire playoffs. 

[The Red King]

55 minutes ago, Inigo Montoya said:

 

Getting the #1 seed won't be critical, but it will provide an "amazing advantage"?   My point is that the "amazing advantage" is even larger now because there isn't going to be an easy out for whoever sits in the 2nd or 3rd seed in the AFC now.  There isn't going to be a scrub team like the Steelers last year backing into the playoffs in the AFC anymore.

 

I think our opinions are actually pretty close on this.

 

🍻

 

 

 

They are, but I think it comes down to wording.  Critical suggests it almost has to happen, and the odds of succeeding are terminally low otherwise.  For example, the way the divisional round was going, it was critical to win the OT coin toss.  The Bengals and Rams proved it's not critical to get the top seed.  Critical suggests that if we don't get the top seed it will be near impossible to win the conference, and I simply can't back that.

 

But yes, I think our opinions are quite close, just a niggling lil disagreement on wording.  I got this round.

 

🍻 (Hmm...no idea how you made the emoji bigger.  These are more like shot glasses now. >.>)

Edited March 19, 2022 by The Red King