Overreaction Monday: Should the NFL get rid of the expanded playoffs?
Okay, hear me out: the highly anticipated “Super” Wild Card Weekend was kind of a dud, except for a game here or there. And even one of the “good” games with the Raiders/Bengals was a field-goal game and a referee show up until the last drive.
But Wild Card Weekend was always the best weekend of playoff football before they added in the expanded teams. After seeing how bad the two lowest-seeded teams in the NFC and AFC looked, I’m not sure I want more teams in the playoffs.
Sunday started with an absolutely dominant performance by Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles looked like they shouldn’t have been anywhere close to the playoffs. The final score of 31–15 doesn’t paint the picture of how dominant the Bucs were. Or just how incompetent the Eagles’ offense was.
Sunday ended with the Kansas City Chiefs obliterating the Pittsburgh Steelers, 42–21. What do both the Steelers and Eagles have in common other than they both play in the state of Pennsylvania? They both were the lowest-seeded teams and were only there due to the newly expanded playoffs.
Pittsburgh only got in the playoffs because the Indianapolis Colts completely choked against the worst team in the league. But the Colts wouldn’t have fared any better. That’s just the drop-off from the second-best team (first best team gets a bye week) versus the seventh-best team.
It was interesting at first just because it’s more than likely Ben Roethlisberger’s last NFL game. But the offense couldn’t do anything against the Chiefs. Any short-throw Ben threw was dropped by his receivers. Any long-throw Ben threw was almost always underthrown.
The Eagles got into the playoffs just by being in one of the worst divisions in football in the NFC East. They were able to play the Washington Football Team and New York Giants twice.
No one expected the Eagles to be any good, so for them, getting there was a huge accomplishment. But the offensive game plan was horrendous and Jalen Hurts did not play well at all.
So, what should they do going forward? However you may feel, the expanded playoff system isn’t going anywhere. The same goes for the MLB who recently expanded its playoffs. It completely dilutes the products and puts a little less meaning into the regular season. But the TV deals for added games are too much for these leagues to deny. They’d rather have boring games and blowouts than have a playoff system with parity.
We’re going to be seeing the expanded playoff system come to college football very soon. There’s rarely a close game in the first round with college football, yet they will add more teams and there will be even more blowouts. Fun!
There will come a time, maybe even next year, where a seven seed comes into the playoffs super hot and they go on to win it all. Then this whole argument becomes null and void. Until the next time where there’s no competition between 2nd and 7th seed, of course.
There still is hope to have the “Super” Wild Card Weekend end on a high note, with division rivals (Rams and Cardinals) going at it on Monday Night Football.
Either way, more football isn’t necessarily better. It’s quality over quantity. Nevertheless, greed will rule over everything and all the sports leagues will become diluted and their regular season and playoffs will become less meaningful. And it’s all for more money.
