chongli

1. Chicago (3-14) 2. Houston (3-13-1) 3. Arizona (4-13) 4. Indianapolis (4-12-1) 5. Seattle (from Denver 5-12, SOS .481) 6. Detroit (from LA Rams 5-12, SOS .517) 7. Las Vegas (6-11) 8. Atlanta (7-10, SOS .467) 9. Carolina (7-10, SOS .474) 10. Philadelphia (from New Orleans 7-10, SOS .507) 11. Tennessee (7-10, SOS .509) 12. Houston (from Cleveland 7-10, SOS .524) 13. NY Jets (7-10, SOS .538) 14. New England (8-9, SOS .502) 15. Green Bay (8-9, SOS .524) 16. Washington (8-8-1) 17. Pittsburgh (9-8, SOS .519) 18. Detroit (9-8, SOS .534) ----------------------------------------------------------- 19. Tampa Bay (8-9) 20. Seattle (9-8, SOS .462) 21. Miami (9-8, SOS .537) - forfeited 21. Los Angeles Chargers (10-7, SOS .443) 22. Baltimore (10-7, SOS .509) 23. Minnesota (13-4) ------------------------------------------------------------ 24. Jacksonville (9-8) 25 New York Giants (9-7-1) 26. Dallas (12-5) 27. Buffalo (13-3) ------------------------------------------------------------ 28. Cincinnati (12-4) 29. New Orleans (from San Francisco, 13-4) ------------------------------------------------------------ 30. Philadelphia (14-3) 31. Kansas City (14-3) Notes: First tie breaker is strength of schedule (SOS). (The team with the lower SOS will draft before the team with the higher one.) The draft order of the remaining 14 8 4 2 teams will be determined by playoff finish. Miami has forfeited its 2023 first-round pick.

I wonder who will be named AFC special teams player of the week?

You know, I've done the same thing too. No need to apologize. I also don't think you can search for tweets in the search function, which I posted. Plus, there are so many posts and threads about this.

This was also being discussed yesterday here:

I agree we might have to go abroad. But we did give up a home game by going to Detroit (but we also lost an away game too at Cincy). So we had 7 home games, 8 road, and 1 neutral. I think there is a good chance the NFL feels sorry for us due to that and the whole Damar thing, that we get 9 true home games next year. Cincy too, since they had 7 home games and 9 road games this year.

Not sure if this was posted elsewhere, but: From the article: "As the Bengals prepared to continue to play, it eventually became obvious that would not happen. At least one player heard Bills coach Sean McDermott say that the Bills would not continue, even if it meant forfeiting the game. The Bengals were willing to accommodate the Bills. One player heard Bengals coach Zac Taylor offer to resume the game on Tuesday. Bengals players generally accepted the prospect of a one-day delay. But then the Bills left Cincinnati. Multiple Bengals players were confused by that development as it occurred. On one hand, they were sensitive to the situation involving Damar Hamlin. On the other hand, they fully realized the stakes of the game. They wanted to get it played. [...] Regardless, the truth is that the Bengals initially were told play would indeed resume by the officials responsible for the game. The truth also seems to be that, if the Bengals had known the game wouldn’t be finished at all and that the rules would later change to make it harder for them to realize a favorable playoff seed, they wouldn’t have been quite as accommodating of the Bills."

The good thing is we play nine games at home.

You're right! Not sure what I was thinking in my post.

Same for the NFC too with Dallas at Tampa Bay (unless TB12 and all get hot all of a sudden).

Jacksonville will be at home next week vs. either the Chargers (If LAC win or BAL lose tomorrow) or the Ravens (if the Ravens win and the Chargers lose).

Another point: next week's Monday night WC game has to be between 4 and 5, in either conference, since otherwise, one conference won't know their divisional matchups until late Monday night.

Another minor update: On the FOX Early game, Providence, RI and Bangor, ME have reverted back to their original listing: ME: NYJ-MIA, from TB-ATL. Apparently, the switch to TB-ATL was a mistake on one of the electronic program guides. -------- EDIT: The listings just changed yet again. Now Providence, RI and Bangor, ME are showing TB-AT instead of the national game NYJ-MIA. The love for TB12 is real there.

UPDATE: For those in the UK, Sky Sports NFL has announced it will be providing studio coverage for all playoff games, including primetime ones. (During the regular season Sky does not offer its own studio for the post-1 AM local time games, with the extra commercial breaks filled with trailers.)

Yes: Wild Card Saturday: 4:30 PM and 8 PM (FOX, CBS, or NBC) Tripleheader Sunday: 1 PM and 430 PM (FOX, CBS, or NBC); 8 PM Sunday night NBC Monday night (ESPN and ABC)

Some more updates not mentioned above: CBS Early: Monroe, LA: switches from NE-BUF to BAL-CIN. CBS Late: Rapid City, SD: NYG-PHI to LAC-DEN. FOX Early: Toledo, OH and Eugene, OR: MIN-CHI to NYJ-MIA Providence, RI and Bangor, ME: NYJ-MIA to TB-ATL.

Yeah, I agree. No need for byes. (But MLB has byes too. So does NCAA basketball, to a small extent (the First Four). And so will NCAA football when they expand the playoffs. Also NBA with the play-in games.)

You bring up a good point I hadn't thought of (and that really wasn't covered in the article). The article mentioned a lot of playoff teams had better records on the road than at home, but didn't go into playoffs. It was also from last season too.

Of all the advantages cited in the excellent post on page 1 above by @Long Suffering Fan, I agree that home-field advantage has become less important nowadays. Look at this article from The Washington Post (registration required with limited articles for free): https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/01/14/nfl-home-field-advantage-pandemic/ [click expand below to see more of the article quoted:] The article explains why home-field advantage, which was roughly 3 points in the past, is now about 1/2 a point: 1. Better commincation between QB and coaches via helmet, thus negating crown-noise to an extent. 2. More no-huddle play/hurry-up offenses, with play calls, often involving a single word or hand-gesture. This lack of a huddle does not give the home crowd as much of a chance to affect the play. [When a team breaks the huddle is when the fans get the loudest, often egged up by the announcer.]. 3. Easier to access away tickets, meaning teams that travel well can take over a stadium. [Buffalo's Pinto Ron was cited as an example (in the first pic below), where he used to have to place classified in the newspapers' away towns to get tickets; now he just goes online and gets them in five minutes] 4. With seat licenses, the crowds have become more upscale, and the riff raff has been relegated to local bars. The upscale crowd is more tolerant of away-team fans, and even welcoming. 5. Teams travel more comfortably, in full-size jets, and the team comes equipped like mobile "MASH" units, with players using compressions boots and sleeves on the plane. The whole plane is like first-class. Ballrooms in the hotel are set up with tables, ice tubs, etc. Players stay in the hotel the night of the game and can focus on treating their bodies, as opposed to at home. 6. NFL visiting locker rooms standards have improved recently, with more space for things like trainer tables for massages and players' gear. They are more comfortable and less stressful for players. [click expand below to see more of the article quoted:] Also, before someone says Buffalo is 0-4 on the road in the payoffs under McD, you have to look more closely. In 2017, we would have lost to JAX regardless, as the team was young and still had Tyrod. In 2019, it was pretty much a toss up. We could have just as well blown the 16-0 lead at home, or beaten Houston at their place. The teams were even. In 2020, KC was clearly the better team and we would have gotten blown out at home too. In 2021, we had KC beat on the road and should have won. CIN did win the following week. Also, especially in the first few rounds, the home team is generally better than the road team (sometimes a lot better). So it is like a self-fulfilling prophecy that the home team wins.

There were never two number ne seeds in a conference. Two teams did use to get a bye (and also three before that), but somone was always seeded number two. The data Gugny cited referred to only number one seeds. But if 1 and 2 got byes, there would be six teams left to play one another in the Wild Card round, so three winners total. That would be a problem, since the three winners cannot play the two teams that got a bye. It has to be 2, 4, 8, etc. total.

Never trust Baltimore. Remember when they were home to Miami?

Yep. And loss of Daboll, Schoen, and Levi Wallace too.

Yes, I guess. But it is also said "silence equals consent". (There was an old Paper Chase TV episode with this as part of the plot.) So I am not really sure, lol. [Also, I dont vote in polls on this forum that are public.]