*** 1948 * 1949 * 1960 * 2017 * 2024...YOUR SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS: THE PHILADELPHIA EAGLES ***

Ideal scenario: Giants in Divisional Round, Cowboys in NFC Championship. Although history tells us there is no going to the Super Bowl without first beating the Vikings.

my cowboys are a steaming pile of shit.

The Juggler said:

Also, I really miss the old playoff format (and the 16 game schedule). It's clearly benefitted us the last two years but the 2 seed should get a bye. And making the winner of Bucs/Cowboys play a playoff game on short rest is not fair. 

Nah, I kinda love it. Like there should be a clear-cut benefit to being the best team in a conference, and this is it. Like it is soooo important now to get that bye and strive to be the best team. This is sort of like my beef with seeding and advantages in the playoffs for MLB. The benefits of being the best team in a league, as compared to the second best team, is negligible (home field advantage in exactly one more game). I'd also argue not that it isn't fair that a 13+ win team should be playing in the wild card (which there are at least 3 of this year), but that the league is watered down. I'd go as far to say both Minny and SF really aren't teams I look at and believe they deserve a bye, they're not that good. At the end of the day my pov is I think the best record in each conference/league should be reaping the rewards significantly more than the 2nd best team.

The league really does suck at scheduling though. There's this dude Denis that comes on the Birds with Friends pod and I like his idea for scheduling during the last week of the season: all AFC teams should play on Saturday at 1/4pm, and all NFC teams should play on Sunday at 1/4pm, and then alternate each year. That way you don't have a situation like Seattle and Detroit this year, though fuck yeah Detroit for coming through. And, yeah, wildcard weekend would be much better if there were 3 games on Saturday and 3 games on Sunday. MNF games should end in week 17.

Also, semi-related and very, very funny:

Johnny Abruzzo said:

I like only the one seed getting the bye and I definitely like the six Wild Card games. It was fun even last year when we got crushed by TB. Getting that #1 seed really kept the pressure on with the potential of going to TB in the WC round, which would be basically no improvement on the 9-8 2021 team. The thing I'd change would be to to NBA-style and seed all the teams by record. So TB makes the playoffs by winning their division but they get the 7 seed because they suck.

Also: I know Mahomes will get the MVP but come on - Jalen Hurts was 14-1 - best QB record in the league. The team basically collapsed without him. The coaches got him injured vs. the worst team in the league and he came back to seal it. My man #1 is the M V P !

Agreed, that would be the next step for me. I think divisions are stupid outside of some kind of need for geography (same for leagues/conferences; also why I think MLB will become an East/West format over NL/AL at some point here, and they definitely need to re-seed). I like that the NFL re-seeds, but, yeah, if a wildcard team has a better record than the garbage NFC South then you shouldn't be playing an away game.

I mean, going to 14 playoff teams was clearly just a money grab. I just think it happens to work out to be more fun and makes the regular season more fun. The #1 seed is crucial but also the #2 seed is important so you can play at home in the divisional round (and probably play a cupcake #7 seed).

Agree with you on the 17th game - they can shove it. The Eagles' "extra" 2023 game is at Kansas City. Not as much fun as playing the Jets. And we have to hear whine festivals about records being broken in 17 games compared to 16 games. Ford Frick never dies. Oh yeah congrats to AJ Brown on the franchise record for receiving yards in a season, period.

The Juggler said:

 And making the winner of Bucs/Cowboys play a playoff game on short rest is not fair. 

as I said, both teams are piles of shit, so it really doesn’t matter.

that said, it’s dumb. should be 3 games saturday; 3 games sunday.

F Me In The Brain said:

Jearlpam0925 said:

Johnny Abruzzo said:

Ideal scenario: Giants in Divisional Round, Cowboys in NFC Championship. Although history tells us there is no going to the Super Bowl without first beating the Vikings.

I think it's going to be San Fran in the Conf game, if Birds get there (which they should!). I haven't bought into the hype of the 9ers, I just don't see it (sorry, F Me!). But apparently people are scared of them, so I guess that's the one tough matchup.

Bengals, cincy, and Doug's Jaw win in AFC

You really think both the Bengals and Cincy will win this weekend?

  

Poncier said:

F Me In The Brain said:

Jearlpam0925 said:

Johnny Abruzzo said:

Ideal scenario: Giants in Divisional Round, Cowboys in NFC Championship. Although history tells us there is no going to the Super Bowl without first beating the Vikings.

I think it's going to be San Fran in the Conf game, if Birds get there (which they should!). I haven't bought into the hype of the 9ers, I just don't see it (sorry, F Me!). But apparently people are scared of them, so I guess that's the one tough matchup.

Bengals, cincy, and Doug's Jaw win in AFC

You really think both the Bengals and Cincy will win this weekend?

  

Ha.
Bills, Cincy, and Doug's Jaw.