Would you be OK with a smaller/lighter NFL version of the play in tournament like the NBA has?

[BillsFan619]

Week 1 - Seeds 8 and 9 play each other. Bye week for every other team that made the playoffs.

 

Week 2 - The winner of week 1 plays the #1 seed. Then, seeding just how it is now. 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 5.

 

The rest of the playoff weeks as is.

 

I’m not sure how I feel about it, but there are advantages:

1. The #1 seed isn’t the only one with a bye week

2. Every team who made the playoffs, without having to win a play in game, would get a bye week

3. The #1 seed would have to win three games to get to the Super Bowl like seeds 2-7 would

4. It’d allow a team riddled with injuries who gets healthy or a young team who gets hot a chance at the playoffs. We see it many years where a team is decimated by injuries and it takes their season. Maybe if there was a play in game for seeds 8 and 9 it’d allow a team like this to still have a shot. Or, sometimes we see a young team start to gel in the second half of the season and get hot. It’d allow a team like that a chance to get in by being a 8 or 9 seed

5. It’s one more week of football

 

Just some off-season thoughts. What say you?

 

Go Bills!

Edited Saturday at 11:50 PM by BillsFan619

[thronethinker]

These are things desperate leagues do. The NFL is not desperate. The NBA is losing fans by droves. 

[MJS]

I think the NFL playoffs are the best and no other sport compares. Actually, they were the best before they expanded the number of playoff teams.

[notpolian]

No, in fact I thought the ideal playoff was the previous 2 wildcards with two first round byes.  Season is too long as it is and the 7 seed adds little to nothing.

[BillsPride12]

16 minutes ago, MJS said:

I think the NFL playoffs are the best and no other sport compares. Actually, they were the best before they expanded the number of playoff teams.

NHL playoffs are the best IMO 

9 minutes ago, notpolian said:

No, in fact I thought the ideal playoff was the previous 2 wildcards with two first round byes.  Season is too long as it is and the 7 seed adds little to nothing.

The leagues really need to stop tinkering with things every year, 99% of the time the changes they make are for the worse 

[T.E.]

18 minutes ago, MJS said:

I think the NFL playoffs are the best and no other sport compares. Actually, they were the best before they expanded the number of playoff teams.

I wish it went back to six teams as well.

 

The Bills would've had a bye in four of the past five postseasons. Tough to think it wouldn't have made a difference one of those years.

[That's No Moon]

It's called Wild Card Weekend.

[Johnnycage46]

No, in fact I wish they would drop the 7 seed and go back to the way it was for 30 years.

[Don Otreply]

IMO, if you don’t win your division, you don’t go to the post season.

 

 

 

it appears not everyone agrees with me, 😁👍

Edited Monday at 03:43 PM by Don Otreply

[Doc Brown]

8 minutes ago, Johnnycage46 said:

No, in fact I wish they would drop the 7 seed and go back to the way it was for 30 years.

I like the way it is now.  I remember under the old format you'd see a 7-9 division make the playoffs while an 10-6 team sat home because they didn't win their division.  The one tweak I like that they may make is a division winner that doesn't finish above .500 doesn't host the WC game.

3 minutes ago, Don Otreply said:

IMO, if you don’t win your division, you don’t go to the post season.

Most teams wrap up their division before week 17.  Talk about a ratings killer for week 17 and 18.

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

2 hours ago, thronethinker said:

These are things desperate leagues do. The NFL is not desperate. The NBA is losing fans by droves. 

 

The NBA also did it to try and reduce the incentive for tanking too, this wat more teams would still be fighting for  a chance to make the playoffs.   Don't see the amount of deliberate tanking in the NFL as you have in the NBA.

[nedboy7]

The one team bye is not good. It’s bad to give one team that advantage.  It made regular season games just as important as another wild card team. 

[Mikie2times]

30 minutes ago, nedboy7 said:

The one team bye is not good. It’s bad to give one team that advantage.  It made regular season games just as important as another wild card team. 

As much as I hate the one team bye I can see the logic in it.  You want the regular season games to matter and you want to give a big edge to very best team in each conference based on that regular season performance. I think this is a fair outlook.

 

If you do a two team bye you're basically saying the 2nd and 1st team are the same because the prize is the bye. But I can also see an argument for saying ok, two byes, and the prize is Home Field in the Conference championship. 

 

All I know is it sucks that our success has fallen under the 1 team bye format. That has contributed heavily to our inability to get to a Super Bowl IMO

Edited Sunday at 02:52 AM by Mikie2times

[Don Otreply]

On 4/19/2025 at 9:41 PM, Doc Brown said:

I like the way it is now.  I remember under the old format you'd see a 7-9 division make the playoffs while an 10-6 team sat home because they didn't win their division.  The one tweak I like that they may make is a division winner that doesn't finish above .500 doesn't host the WC game.

Most teams wrap up their division before week 17.  Talk about a ratings killer for week 17 and 18.

True, but it’s not about ratings, if ya can’t win your division, you don’t deserve to be in the postseason, again , jmo. 
 

 

you can agree or be wrong, 🤣

Edited Monday at 04:11 PM by Don Otreply
Because

[Peace Frog]

2 hours ago, BillsPride12 said:

NHL playoffs are the best IMO 

The NHL format would be great if you get rid of the divisions and just leave it at two conferences, 16 teams in each. Everybody plays everyone else in the regular season twice, one home & away, for a total of 62 regular season games. Then, the playoffs start, with everybody making it for a best of 7 series, with the 1st seed playing the 16th, etc.

[Fan boy '92]

Ditch the 7 seed and bring back the 2 seed bye. 

[Mikie2times]

I could get behind the idea of getting rid of divisions. The rivalries seem to be less meaningful with only a few marquee ones. They would play once in the regular season anyway.
 

Everybody plays a conference opponent once, the, 2nd to last game you play the conference opponent who is ranked directly above you. Last game you play the opposite ranked opponent (1 vs 16) in the other conference, which should make for some fun cross conference showdowns for the final wild card in the final week. Also leaving some meaningless games like we are used to (and some teams earn). Then double bye (still like this better).

[iccrewman112]

4 hours ago, MJS said:

I think the NFL playoffs are the best and no other sport compares. Actually, they were the best before they expanded the number of playoff teams.

Agreed. The few the spots the more the regular season mean on a week to week basis.

[Richard Noggin]

This plan might reduce the motivation for division clinchers to keep their proverbial feet on the gas late in the season. The current bye imbalance does incentivize the best 3-4 teams leaguewide to field a better viewing product in weeks 15-18, compared to your flatter, more evenly distributed bye system proposal. So that's a big reason the league and its broadcast partners won't go for it. 

[machine gun kelly]

Things are fine the way they are right now.  With the next CBA, it’s inevitable we’ll go to an 18 game season as there is too much $ in it for the owners, TV, and subscription services.

 

Im not saying it’s the right thing to do, but it’s going to happen, so we might as well just accept it.  Some of you may not like it, but it’s happening.

Edited Sunday at 08:50 AM by machine gun kelly