Just this past season, we saw what a Saturday with all three games being competitive looked like. Back in Week 16, the Houston Texans narrowly defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the early window, followed by the New England Patriots holding strong on a late defensive stand in the final minutes to defeat the Buffalo Bills.
In the final matchup of the day, the San Francisco 49ers hit a last-second field goal to beat the Los Angeles Rams and move closer to the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
Now, imagine having a full weekend of that never-ending playoff action once NFL football finally gets back underway. It would be a bettor’s paradise, almost comparing to March Madness in having that all-day type of action on the menu.
On Tuesday, the NFL agreed to expand the playoff field to 14 teams – up two from 12 from 1990. The decision will add even more drama to the playoffs, providing a boost in league revenue by nine figures annually and maybe even giving a new level of job security for coaches.
This idea has been floated around for quite some time. Back in 2014, the league was about to use the 14-team playoff idea but instead used it as a bargaining chip for this year’s collective bargaining agreement, which was approved earlier this month.
How It Works
So, how is this all going to work? Think of the current Wild Card Round and just add one game each on Saturday and Sunday. You’ll likely have the games played in the areas of 1 p.m., 4:30 p.m., and 8 p.m. – all times are Eastern standard time.
The newest of these matchups is the No. 7 seed traveling to face the No. 2 seed, meaning there is only one team – the No. 1 seed – getting a first-round bye under the new format. Just like usual, we’ll see the No. 6 seed travel to face the No. 3 seed and the No. 5 seed travel to face the No. 4 seed.
It does seem like a tough break for the No. 2 seed in the grand scheme of things. After all, the last team to make the Super Bowl without having a first-round bye was the 2012 Baltimore Ravens, who eventually went on to win it all against the San Francisco 49ers. Those type of good fortunes is why the value of those top two seeds have been devalued over that span.
Now, we’ll likely see a much greater push from the top teams during the regular season to get the No. 1 seed. Then, you have to wonder if that will make a team more fatigued at the end of the season.
Unfortunately, we’re not even sure if we’ll see these changes in play for the NFL this season. The COVID-19 outbreak has been wreaking havoc on the United States, and the world on a much larger scale. The NFL Draft is still scheduled to take place later this month, but that might be the only normal part of what’s going to play out.
