bbb Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Do they still have it so that in the first round teams from the same division won't meet. For example, in the NFC, even if the seeds dictate it, would Dallas not play Philly? Same for Cincy-Baltimore in AFC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldstorage5 Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Do they still have it so that in the first round teams from the same division won't meet. For example, in the NFC, even if the seeds dictate it, would Dallas not play Philly? Same for Cincy-Baltimore in AFC? Uhhh, dude thats never been a rule. This isn't baseball. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Just Jack Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 As the icebox said, I don't think that's ever been the rule. I remember 1995 playoffs, the Bills played Miami in the Wildcard round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plenzmd1 Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Uhhh, dude thats never been a rule. This isn't baseball. Uhhh, dude, to us old guys this was absolutely a rule!! I have no idea when it changed, maybe sometime around the mid to late 80's , so it has been a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfreak Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Do they still have it so that in the first round teams from the same division won't meet. For example, in the NFC, even if the seeds dictate it, would Dallas not play Philly? Same for Cincy-Baltimore in AFC? It has never been that way, you are thinking of baseball. The top two seeds get a bye, the third seed plays the lowest seeded wildcard and the 4th seed plays the top seeded wildcard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merlin Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 It has never been that way, you are thinking of baseball. The top two seeds get a bye, the third seed plays the lowest seeded wildcard and the 4th seed plays the top seeded wildcard. You all must just be too young to remember. From Wikipedia: ... Originally, the home teams in the playoffs were decided based on a yearly rotation.[12] The league did not institute a seeding system for the playoffs until 1975, where the surviving clubs with the higher seeds were made the home teams for each playoff round.[5] Thus, the top seeded division winner played the wild card team, and the remaining two division winners played at the home stadium of the better seed. However, two teams from the same division could not meet prior to the conference championship game.[13] Thus, there would be times when the pairing in the Divisional Playoff Round would be the 1 seed vs. the 3 seed and 2 vs. 4. Following an expansion of the regular season from 14 to 16 games in the 1978 season, the league added one more wild card team for each conference. The two wild card teams played the week before the division winners. The winner of this game played the top seeded division winner as was done from 1970–1977. The league continued to prohibit intra-divisional games in the Divisional Playoffs, but allowed such contests in the Wild Card Round.[14] This ten-team playoff format was used through the 1989 season.[11] Under this system, the Oakland Raiders became the first Wild Card team to win a Super Bowl following the 1980 season.[15] ... For the 1990 season, a third wild card team for each conference was added, expanding the playoffs to twelve teams. The lowest-seeded division winner was then "demoted" to the wild card week. Also, the restrictions on intra-divisional games during the Divisional Playoffs were removed.[13] This format continued until the 2002 expansion and reorganization into eight divisions. In this current format, as explained above, the 4 division winners and 2 wild cards are seeded 1–6, with the top 2 seeds receiving byes, and the highest seed in each round guaranteed to play the lowest seed. Also, seeds, not regular-season records, determine the home-field advantage. Thus, it is possible that a division champion could host a wild card playoff team that has a better win-loss record [11]; This is frequently the case when the number 4 seed hosts the number 5 seed. GO BILLS! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbringer Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 You all must just be too young to remember. Nice - I remember this quirk, too. It sometimes led to discussion about teams not wanting to win towards the end of the season so they could alter their seeding. So they've fixed that problem - but we still have teams not playing their best players if they're already locked into a seed. But it's still way better than baseball. Can you imagine if the Pro Bowl determined home field advantage in the playoffs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Endless Ike Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Nice - I remember this quirk, too. It sometimes led to discussion about teams not wanting to win towards the end of the season so they could alter their seeding. So they've fixed that problem - but we still have teams not playing their best players if they're already locked into a seed. But it's still way better than baseball. Can you imagine if the Pro Bowl determined home field advantage in the playoffs? yeah, you'd totally need a time machine to figure out the seedings...what a mess! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talley56 Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 The rule used to apply in the divisional round. For example, in the 89 playoffs, Buffalo was the 2 seed and played the Houston Oilers who were the 5th seed (who beat 4th seed Cleveland in the wildcard). We played them instead of 3 seed Seattle because the #1 seed was Cincinnati and they were in the same division as Houston. However, it hasn't been this way since they went to the 6 playoff team per conference format (hence the Giants playing the Eagles in the divisional round last year.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldstorage5 Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Uhhh, dude, to us old guys this was absolutely a rule!! I have no idea when it changed, maybe sometime around the mid to late 80's , so it has been a while. Ok stand corrected, I though it was like that since the WC teams were added. Didnt realize that was the rule until 1990. Wow, learn something everyday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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