As the dust settles on Seattle's shock wildcard playoff win at the weekend, the argument as to the fairness of their inclusion rumbles on. The NFL certainly can't afford to start kicking teams out of the playoffs just because they are not going to win their conference and stroll to the Super Bowl, but there is some strength in the argument that teams with a losing record have no right to be in the playoffs at all.
With the New York Giants not enjoying their best season, they still managed to only have a slightly worse record than the regular season NFC conference champions, something that cannot be said of the abysmal (though apparently not as abysmal as the rest of the NFC West) Seattle Seahawks.
Despite the fact that Seattle is a fantastically supported team who certainly bring a bit of spice and interest to the NFL, as we saw at the weekend, the fact is that their current team does not deserve to be in the playoffs after the way the team performed this season. Although their record was not the worst losing record you will see in the NFL, the fact remains that it was still a losing season which would mean, in any other sport, that a team would be finishing mid-table or worse.
However, the NFL seems to be saying something along the lines of "we reward awful teams" by continuing to support a system that sees division winners qualify automatically for the playoffs, something that can only be seen as weakening the quality of the whole competition and the NFL odds reflect this.
American Football is certainly one of the better run sports in the world, but the fact remains that it can also be one of the more predictable when it comes to judging who is going to advance to the Super Bowl, something that has only been added to by this year's disgrace that is the Seattle Seahawks qualifying for the playoffs ahead of teams such as the New York Giants.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment