Before last year, the NFL instituted that there would be one extra playoff team in the NFC and the AFC. They also added this year the 17th game to the NFL regular season. The NFL didn’t get that wrong, but they got the seven playoff teams wrong.
Two seven seeds played on Sunday. The Philadelphia Eagles were blown out on the road against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-15 and the Pittsburgh Steelers were also blowout against the Kansas City Cheifs by a final score of 42-21.
These seventh seeds don’t deserve to be in. This waters down the NFL product and I understand it is a multi-billion dollar business. At the end of the day, you want the six best teams in the NFC and the AFC in the postseason, not a team who is seventh and mediocre at best.
Last postseason, the Indianapolis Colts kept it close against the Buffalo Bills, but the Chicago Bears were blown out against the New Orleans Saints. The seventh seed is not working already. They need to go back to the 6 vs 3 and 5 vs 4 matchups on wild card weekend and get the 2 and 1 seeds byes once again. Why does the NFL mess up its perfect playoff picture that was working in the first place and now doesn’t look so strong?
What is also silly is having two Saturday games, three Sunday games, and one Monday night football game on “Super Wild Card Weekend” which hasn’t seemed so super.
I will not be making any predictions on the Divisional Round Games right now but the (4) Cincinnati Bengals vs (1) Tennessee Titans (AFC), the (6) San Francisco 49ers vs the (1) Green Bay Packers (NFC), the (5) Arizona Cardinals/the (4) Los Angeles Rams vs the (2) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (NFC), and the (3) Buffalo Bills vs the (2) Kansas City Chiefs (AFC) should all be much better football games next weekend.
Teams who have bye weeks are more likely not only to reach the Super Bowl but win the Super Bowl because they play one less football game in the postseason. This is why two teams should have byes and not only one football team. It is just more money for the seventh seed at this point and it doesn’t make sense but it is what it is. A lot of NFL fans would agree with me on this stance. The NFL should get rid of the seventh seed but it won’t happen.
-Glenn Kaplan, 12oz Sports Contributor, Live Monday’s at 3 p.m. ET & Thursday at 11 a.m. ET on 12oz Sports
Photo Credit: Twitter @ESPNStatsInfo
