Shall I go through the schedule and give you examples of games the Broncos opponents were lucky to win? It's ridiculous.
San Diego had the opportunity to stop Denver from scoring TWICE and couldn't do it either time. Yet they deserve to win on a fluke fumble that they absolutely did not cause? Lucky to win the New Orleans game because of a missed neutral zone infraction? That's rich. You could make that case in 95% of the close games in the NFL, based on some uncalled or phantom penalty. Again, New Orleans had the opportunity to win the game but because they made a horrific personel decision they couldn't get it done.
They have been woefully inconsistant this year, but I will happily chalk that up to their age and inexperience. You can call them a bad team all you want, but I doubt you have a keen grasp on why.
BTW...Denver and San Diego BOTH beat the Jets. Miami squeaked by them both (I don't see a clear distinction based on the head to head games) New England split with them, but lost two home games to divisional opponents and played one of the easiest schedules of the season. Is it really Denver/San Diego keeping one of those teams out? I don't think so.
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Last edited by Displaced Flames fan; 12-23-2008 at 05:58 PM.
Shall I go through the schedule and give you examples of games the Broncos opponents were lucky to win? It's ridiculous.
San Diego had the opportunity to stop Denver from scoring TWICE and couldn't do it either time. Yet they deserve to win on a fluke fumble that they absolutely did not cause? Lucky to win the New Orleans game because of a missed neutral zone infraction? That's rich. You could make that case in 95% of the close games in the NFL, based on some uncalled or phantom penalty. Again, New Orleans had the opportunity to win the game but because they made a horrific personel decision they couldn't get it done.
They won the games, good for them. My point was it isn't as though they are 8-7 but with 10/11 win talent that caught some bad breaks. They are 8-7, deserve to be 8-7 based on talent and could easily have been even worse.
It wasn't a phantom penalty, it was the type of penalty (i.e. no-judgement call but a clear penalty now question about it) and how clear it was to see.
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They have been woefully inconsistant this year, but I will happily chalk that up to their age and inexperience. You can call them a bad team all you want, but I doubt you have a keen grasp on why.
What does them being young have to do with them deserving to make the play-offs this year?
They are a bad team this year because they can't stop anyone and despite having the greatest talents ever assembled on offense they can't seem to score enough either.
Next season they very well be a dangerous team (I would doubt it but understand why think they will be) but in terms of this year based on their play they are not good enough to be considered a good team, in my view.
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BTW...Denver and San Diego BOTH beat the Jets. Miami squeaked by them both (I don't see a clear distinction based on the head to head games) New England split with them, but lost two home games to divisional opponents and played one of the easiest schedules of the season. Is it really Denver/San Diego keeping one of those teams out? I don't think so.
The AFC East teams sure have done a great job of shooting themselves in the foot this season but they all have had better seasons than the Broncos and Chargers.
Look it likely doesn't matter as the Chargers should win easily on Sunday and they at least are close to deserving to go to the play-offs this season. As well having the home game won't matter to teams like the Cardinals, Vikings, Broncos or even the Chargers who are all likely to lose at home anyways, but there is a problem when teams are getting to the play-offs not based on their ability but on the fact that their opponents suck so bad.
I'm not sure Arizona misses out. They're a pretty good team that has packed it in the last month since they're so far ahead. If you took the best 6 teams overall regardless of division I think you'd still see a 7-3 Arizona team in the playoffs.
I like the idea of giving the division winner a berth but not automatically home field.
To have both West division this weak is pretty rare. Over time everything balances out. Next year I think the AFC East plays the AFC South and NFC South so it'll be tougher. Pittsburgh gets AFC West and NFC North? so I think it'll be much easier..
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Originally Posted by moon
The AFC East teams sure have done a great job of shooting themselves in the foot this season but they all have had better seasons than the Broncos and Chargers.
I don't know about that. As a Kansas City Chiefs fan, I watched the Chiefs play the AFC East this season. Now the Chiefs are a terrible, terrible, football team. Statistically they have the worst defensive line in NFL history, not to mention numerous other problems. In their four games vs the AFC East, the had a chance to win three of them. Bowe dropped a pass in the end zone to lose to New England. The Chiefs blew late fourth quarter leads to the Jets and Dolphins. The only AFC East team that man handled them were the Buffalo Bills, who scored the most points against the Chiefs in the Chiefs 49 year history.
If the Broncos or Chargers had games against the Rams, Seahawks, 49ers, and Cardinals. They may have an extra win or two just like the AFC East teams did. Because of the unbalanced schedule it is impossible to compare one teams record with another. An extra win or two for one team does not necessarily mean that the team with less wins is an inferior team since the teams in question did not play identical records.
Even in the AFC East one could argue that the Patriots are the best team in a tie scenario because they had to play a first place schedule with games vs the Colts and Steelers. Of course it won't even come to that since the first tie breaker is head to head.
Every year is different and every divisions schedule is different. Under the circumstances I think the NFL is doing the best they can with the current playoff format. If teams in the league thought is was unfair, they would make changes when the NFL Competition Committee meets in February.
49ers were thumped by the Pats, but beat the Bills AND Jets and had a chance to win in Miami. So the vaunted AFC East went 2-2 vs the weak 49ers.
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Last edited by Bobblehead; 12-24-2008 at 09:11 AM.
Perhaps division winners should only be guaranteed a playoff birth.
I could get on board with this. I wasnt necessarily arguing about schedule strength, but rather that the best records should make the post season. This is a nice compromise. 6 teams (4 divisional winners and 2 wildcards). Top 2 get a bye; 3-4 based on records get home field for the first round.
It's not that I dont want to see AZ or Den/SD in the playoffs, I just dont think a medicore team like that deserves a home field playoff game.
Same with the NHL where divisional leaders are guaranteed a top 3 in the conference... but I digress.
All these would of, should of, could of's, are dumb. The scheduling system in the NFL is a good system, the schedules rotate every year next year the AFC east will have a very tough schedule as I believe they play the South in both conferences. Travelwise it will be real easy but playingwise will make it tough every game. I expect alot of primetime games next year including AFC east teams not named Buffalo.
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Yeah... no problem here with the way the NFL does things and every once in a while you will see teams that just dont look like PO teams getting in...cest la vie as it could happen to every team in the league at some point.
I'm correct in my thinking that with the way the rest of the season worked, that call did not affect the outcome of either team, am I correct?
Had San Diego won that game, San Diego would be sitting at 8-7, and Denver would be sitting at 7-8, and the game this coming Sunday would still be for the divsion? (other the the game on Sunday being a tie)
San Diego could make the playoffs being 8-8, but with a little bit of luck, they could easily have had a record that would be right there amougst the top of the league - say if the call wasn't blown against denver, and they held on to win two of other games that were decided late - they would have been 11-5 if they win the game on Sunday.
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Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed
San Diego could make the playoffs being 8-8, but with a little bit of luck, they could easily have had a record that would be right there amougst the top of the league - say if the call wasn't blown against denver, and they held on to win two of other games that were decided late - they would have been 11-5 if they win the game on Sunday.
They also could have lost either of the two games against Kansas City which they only won by 1 point (in both games). We could all, "what if" every teams record to death. They are what they are. Your point about the Hochuli game being a non issue at the moment is a good observation. I hadn't thought of it that way.
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Last edited by burn_baby_burn; 12-24-2008 at 11:48 AM.
I'm correct in my thinking that with the way the rest of the season worked, that call did not affect the outcome of either team, am I correct?
Had San Diego won that game, San Diego would be sitting at 8-7, and Denver would be sitting at 7-8, and the game this coming Sunday would still be for the divsion? (other the the game on Sunday being a tie)
San Diego could make the playoffs being 8-8, but with a little bit of luck, they could easily have had a record that would be right there amougst the top of the league - say if the call wasn't blown against denver, and they held on to win two of other games that were decided late - they would have been 11-5 if they win the game on Sunday.
How about instead of if the call hadn't been blown in Denver (which had ZERO to do with the San Diego Chargers play on the field) what if they had actually stopped Denver from scoring....twice....on the same play.
Ridiculous argument.
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