2 teams should get byes

[uticaclub]

9 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

 

That is true.  But the Bills disadvantaged themselves having to play for their lives for like 9 weeks.  KC had their spot locked up, got a nice rest, and also got a nice draw of a Miami team who quit in the cold.  Buffalo also had all sorts of scheduling nonsense with the snow and were terribly banged up for the game.  

 

I think having 1 team get the treasure-trove of the #1 seed in each Conference is terrible competitive balance, especially with how variable a team's schedule and division may be over #s 2-3.  It doesn't guarantee success, but having the bye/free wild card win, an easier divisional game, and home field for the AFCCG is a huge leg up.

We secured our spot early this year and were healthy going into the game against Kansas City. It all comes down to roster construction and game planning, where Kansas City is vastly superior to us. If we have the 1 seed and KC gets the 7, we are still losing to them in the playoffs. 

[jaybeezee]

55 minutes ago, thenorthremembers said:

Two teams will get byes.  Once the NFL adds an 18th game in the next few years I imagine they will add another wild card to each conference.  It will water down the product and make for useless games but they will make more money.

The NFL will eventually have the same fate as the NBA right now. People are already partially tuning out. Ratings are dropping from previous year, although slightly, but still dropping. The constant additions of games to Europe and now South America, very similar to the NBA adding so many European players and adding European rules, on top of players taking games off for rest has, as well as the officials heavy involvement in games has watered down the NBA to almost unwatchable status and their ratings have been in steep decline.

 

Add 18 games and we will see star players doing the same as the NBA and take games off. 

[thenorthremembers]

35 minutes ago, jaybeezee said:

The NFL will eventually have the same fate as the NBA right now. People are already partially tuning out. Ratings are dropping from previous year, although slightly, but still dropping. The constant additions of games to Europe and now South America, very similar to the NBA adding so many European players and adding European rules, on top of players taking games off for rest has, as well as the officials heavy involvement in games has watered down the NBA to almost unwatchable status and their ratings have been in steep decline.

 

Add 18 games and we will see star players doing the same as the NBA and take games off. 

I agree.   They will eventually add players to the roster making the talent level lower as well.    I love the Bills and football in general but how many games are too many.

[dave mcbride]

2 hours ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

The Chiefs made the SB last year with no bye. 

It's quite rare in the last 10-12 years for this to happen. Prior to the Chiefs run, the Pats had byes from 2011-2018 and made the championship game every year, going to the SB five times. The only that got the SB in the AFC with no bye in that time period was the 2012 Ravens. 

52 minutes ago, uticaclub said:

We secured our spot early this year and were healthy going into the game against Kansas City. It all comes down to roster construction and game planning, where Kansas City is vastly superior to us. If we have the 1 seed and KC gets the 7, we are still losing to them in the playoffs. 

The bye and home field are huge advantages, and the stats show that. Of course, there are times where it doesn't work out for the team with the bye (the Lions this year, Baltimore last year), but going back to 2007, in the AFC a team without a bye has only gone to the SB three times (2012 Ravens, 2021 Bengals, 2023 Chiefs). 15 out of 18 times, a bye team made the SB.  

Edited Tuesday at 07:41 PM by dave mcbride

[skibum]

I don't know why they don't just add one more wild card slot and get rid of bye weeks entirely. That would mean more games in round one, which one would think would make the NFL happy. I think byes are just too advantageous in football. 

[Ga boy]

1 hour ago, skibum said:

I don't know why they don't just add one more wild card slot and get rid of bye weeks entirely. That would mean more games in round one, which one would think would make the NFL happy. I think byes are just too advantageous in football. 

I think the byes are a nice reward for the team(s) that won the regular season, but a bye for the best two teams seems fairer.  Of course, my opinion is influenced by this year’s outcome.

[LABILLBACKER]

4 hours ago, uticaclub said:

We weren't fatigued. We were flat and underprepared.

Completely agree...we were emotionally fatigued during the Hamlin year, but not this year.   Our coaches and most of our players totally underperformed and we're so incredibly out- coached. And that goes for all 4 guys.  McD, Brady, Babich & Smiley were children going up against men.

[Goin Breakdown]

4 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

Not having the #1 seed had nothing to do with outcome.  Top 3 reasons…out coached, out coached & out coached.  
 

Perfect example and difference in the game…Mahomes rushing success and Allen’s lack of rushing success. 

Agree. It was basically this....

"you think you know who we are, well we're this for tonight...surprise"

Buffalo just stuck with what worked and almost figured KC wouldn't be able to stop it. Sorry scrap that. Buffalo did change one thing. Cook was a beast, so in the last drive they chose not to use him. That'll trick KC

[PromoTheRobot]

The proposed 18-game schedule would likely include a second bye week.

[uticaclub]

4 hours ago, Bferra13 said:

If we were the #1 seed and that game is in Buffalo, I'm almost sure we win. We don't make those bonehead mistakes at home. But we'll never know now. Agree though that fatigue or whatever else from them resting is a non factor. 

We didn't make bonehead mistakes against Cinci or KC when he lost at home?

[Buffalo Barbarian]

4 hours ago, Ga boy said:

The #1 seed gets too much advantage.  KC had more time to rest and heal.  I know this is obvious, but Bills were hampered by the game the previous week.  No Rapp and Benford was skating on thin ice.  The first half we looked like we were fatigued.  Like we had concrete shoes, which resulted in being out played.  We were the better team and 2 weeks rest would have been huge.  The consequences of losing those regular season games bit us in the butt.  Maybe NFL should grant byes to 2 teams.  KC has gotten an easier path and I don’t like it.

 

Right after they go to a 16 team playoff.

 

 

[Chandler#81]

I’ve been screaming for this since they added an extra regular season game 

[C.Biscuit97]

4 hours ago, dave mcbride said:

It's quite rare in the last 10-12 years for this to happen. Prior to the Chiefs run, the Pats had byes from 2011-2018 and made the championship game every year, going to the SB five times. The only that got the SB in the AFC with no bye in that time period was the 2012 Ravens. 

The bye and home field are huge advantages, and the stats show that. Of course, there are times where it doesn't work out for the team with the bye (the Lions this year, Baltimore last year), but going back to 2007, in the AFC a team without a bye has only gone to the SB three times (2012 Ravens, 2021 Bengals, 2023 Chiefs). 15 out of 18 times, a bye team made the SB.  

Dave, within the last 5 years, the Bucs, Rams, Bengals, and Chiefs have made the SB playing wild card games. 

[dave mcbride]

27 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

Dave, within the last 5 years, the Bucs, Rams, Bengals, and Chiefs have made the SB playing wild card games. 

4 of those who made it didn’t have byes and 6 who made it did. 12 teams had byes in those five years; 58 didn’t. I like my odds with the bye given that basic math. It’s hard to argue against that math.

Edited yesterday at 12:36 AM by dave mcbride

[Alphadawg7]

7 hours ago, Ga boy said:

The #1 seed gets too much advantage.  KC had more time to rest and heal.  I know this is obvious, but Bills were hampered by the game the previous week.  No Rapp and Benford was skating on thin ice.  The first half we looked like we were fatigued.  Like we had concrete shoes, which resulted in being out played.  We were the better team and 2 weeks rest would have been huge.  The consequences of losing those regular season games bit us in the butt.  Maybe NFL should grant byes to 2 teams.  KC has gotten an easier path and I don’t like it.

 

For those who don't agree or are laughing at you, let me remind them we play a 17 game season now, and many teams are still playing that 17th game for seeding reasons.  So a one team bye is a pretty hefty advantage for the one team.  

 

The issue is, you either have to go back to 6 teams and the NFL is never going to take money off the table, they are trying to milk these guys for a penny they can.  

 

So I am guessing the 1 team bye is here to stay...unfortunately.

Edited yesterday at 01:10 AM by Alphadawg7

[Ga boy]

2 minutes ago, Alphadawg7 said:

 

For those who don't agree or are laughing at you, let me remind them we play a 17 game season now, and many teams are still playing that 17th game for seeding reasons.  So a one team bye is a pretty hefty advantage for the one team.  

 

The issue is, you either have to go back to 6 teams or expand to 10 teams in order to do a 2 team bye.  And the NFL is never going to take money off the table, they are trying to milk these guys for a penny they can.  At the same time, there are only 16 teams per conference, to let more than half of them into the playoffs completely diminishes the product in the playoffs and demeans the significance of even making the playoffs.

 

So I am guessing the 1 team bye is here to stay...unfortunately.

If it went to 10 teams qualifying, is it possible that wildcard teams would play each other.  If so, I don’t have a problem with this since the cream will rise to the top.  Sometimes, the best teams don’t gel until the second half of the season, with several loses in the first half.  Wasn’t there a wildcard weekend before?

[Alphadawg7]

12 minutes ago, Ga boy said:

If it went to 10 teams qualifying, is it possible that wildcard teams would play each other.  If so, I don’t have a problem with this since the cream will rise to the top.  Sometimes, the best teams don’t gel until the second half of the season, with several loses in the first half.  Wasn’t there a wildcard weekend before?

 

That wouldn't work either as there would be 6 wild card teams, and 4 divisional winners.  Round 2 would leave you with 7 teams again...4 divisional winners, and the 3 that won the Wildcard rounds.

 

And actually I was incorrect about 10 teams working as that would leave you with 2 teams from the bye and the 4 winners from round 1 for a total of 6 teams...giving you 3 teams the round after, so still doesn't work, so I was mistaken.  Seems only real way to do it is with 6 teams and NFL isn't going to back track away from a playoff game.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 01:09 AM by Alphadawg7

[Shortchaz]

16 game regular season, 8 team playoff, a week off after the regular season; everyone gets a bye. Move the superbowl to Saturday 

Edited yesterday at 01:45 AM by Shortchaz

[familykwi]

The problem is you believe the league cares about parity, or fairness.  They do not.

The NFL is a business and they only care about profits.  14 teams in the playoffs earns more than 12.

Fortunately, 16 earns more than 14.  In a TV contract negotiation upcoming, we’ll get a 16 team playoff.  We’ll get an 18 game schedule first, so we’re probably 2 negotiations away to the 16 team playoff.

7 hours ago, Shortchaz said:

16 game regular season, 8 team playoff, a week off after the regular season; everyone gets a bye. Move the superbowl to Saturday 

Why should the Super Bowl be on a Saturday?

[Shortchaz]

4 hours ago, familykwi said:

Why should the Super Bowl be on a Saturday?

Day off after.