Seattle and Baltimore perhaps.
Anyone but the Patriots.
It was full on bizarro-world. The Jets played like world-beaters in all three phases of the game: offense, defense, and special teams. It was a throwback to the Curtis Martin / Chad Pennington era, except Darnold can actually throw the ball downfield. Speaking of Darnold, I’m starting to think he may actually be good.
During this 3-game winning streak the Jets have scored 34 points each week, which is a little weird. Not at least 34 points; exactly 34 points.
The domination was so complete that Gruden pulled Carr for sucking in the third quarter. It’s not a good sign when your healthy starter doesn’t even make it to the fourth quarter.
I think Baltimore is better than the Patriots at this point. Or anyone else in the AFC. I’d be very surprised to not see them in the big game.
With the NFC I’d say Saints, Niners, or Seahawks (in that order) and it’s a toss-up between the Packers and Vikings, both are good but flawed though either could get hot at the right time.
Is it possible to just not let the NFC East be in the playoffs? (Just asking.)
You want an NFC East team in the playoffs only because if the Patriots get to the Superbowl, the East are the only ones who can beat them.
Incredibly unlikely, and I hate the Cowboys, but I would laugh my ass off if the Patriots lost to the Cowboys in the Superbowl.
In my opinion best records - not “division winners,” necessarily - should make the playoffs. So, I’m in favor of the N.F.C. East “champions” being kept from the playoffs, especially if it happens to be that team from Texas (I know that’s not going to happen - that’s just my opinion).
(Sorry for cross posting this here, but wasn’t sure which threads got the most traffic.)
Quick IRL Fantasy Football question for you.
My team is cooking and I’m looking at a title run. The league is highly biased towards RBs and you can start 3 each week, but can only roster a max of 4 guys. Weird I know.
So I have Chris Carson, Devin Singletary, LeVeon Bell and Tevin Coleman right now. It’s been a bit of a crap shoot all season for all of these guys and I’m thinking about adding Jonathan Williams for the playoff stretch.
So what are your opinions on this? Do I stick with the guys I have or do I gamble that this Williams thing will hold up? If I make the move, which guy do I drop? Feels like Coleman is the most volatile of the group, but I like his ceiling.
Actually, that is the ONE team in the N.F.L. (well, actually there’s ONE more) that I definitely would NOT want to see win another S.B., no matter which team it came against. So I’m afraid I’m not in your corner on that count.
As of right now I’d take BAL in the A.F.C., too. But I’ve learned to never count T.B. and B.B. out until they are out.
So you’d remove divisions altogether? They kind of don’t work if division winners don’t get playoff berths. I like divisions for rivalries.
Speaking of Cowboys hate, and the regular grousing in these threads about all the NFC East national games, I ran across two different stats related to that within the past week. First, as of two weeks ago, the highest rated night games this season by network:
TNF: Chargers @ Raiders (13.5)
SNF: Vikings @ Cowboys (23.0)
MNF: Cowboys @ Giants (14.0)
And then yesterday on PTI Tony Kornheiser mentioned that last week’s Cowboys @ Patriots game was the highest rated regular season game in 5 years.
As long as your division determines who you play twice per season then division winners will be meaningful. You’d have to eliminate that to make overall record be the only determining factor for making the post season.
Hmm. Much truth to this. Belichick would come up with a scheme to counter Jackson, because that’s what he does. Eliminate your biggest strength and make you win without it. If anyone can do it, he could.
The offense is built around their QB and if you can figure out how to keep him from running, is his passing going to be enough on its own? Especially if you’re not worried about him taking off every other play.
Of course it was. With two teams like that you are guaranteed to see a hated team lose. Who can resist that? 
Although, if you did remove division winners, there’s no reason you couldn’t also remove conference winners. They could just seed the top 12 teams in the league to go to the playoffs.
Right now, for example, those playoffs would look something like this:
[ol]
[li]Patriots (10-1)[/li][li]49ers (10-1)[/li][li]Saints (9-2)[/li][li]Ravens (9-2)[/li][li]Seahawks (9-2)[/li][li]Packers (8-3)[/li][li]Vikings (8-3)[/li][li]Bills (8-3)[/li][li]Chiefs (7-4)[/li][li]Texans (7-4)[/li][li]Two of Cowboys, Rams, Raiders, Steelers, Colts, Titans (all 6-5)[/li][/ol]
My tiebreaking rules for the above list are arbitrary. (I just picked them; no numbers were involved.)
I was going to say that as you remove levels of grouping, the playoff race becomes less interesting but I dunno, after putting that list together, I don’t think I’d hate such a system as much as I assumed I would.
Nope. I’d leave divisions (although I’d change them around a bit to match up better geographically) and the current scheduling structure. I just wouldn’t have “division winner” as a criterion for making the playoffs. (C’mon - how many people around the country were grousing about the Sea[COLOR=“Lime”]hawks[/COLOR] making it to the playoffs a few years ago as a “division winner” with a 7 - 9 record?)
I disagree. In my opinion playoff berths should be given to the 6 teams with the best records. Period. But I guess that’s just me.
Me, too. Just not for determining which teams make the playoffs.
I just think that including a team as a “division winner” is weak sauce. At the very least I would compromise by allowing all division winners into the playoffs but then seeding all teams on the basis of overall record because I hate it when, for example, a 12 - 4 “wild card” team has to go play a 9 - 7 “division winner” on the road in the playoffs. To me, that’s ridiculous.
I agree that there is something to be said for eliminating the conference designations when it comes to the playoffs (for example, this year I think that the N.F.C. is by FAR the stronger of the two conferences) but I think that’s probably too entrenched to ever be eliminated.
Would anybody in their right mind necessarily bet on a team beating a Bill Belichick-coached team twice in the same season at this point? I sure wouldn’t.
I was totally kidding. And I back your early S.B. prediction with Bal v 49ers. I’ve been thinking the same thing for a couple weeks now.