First time in my life I am not watching superbowl

Thats what really ticks me off in all of this, I mean, the blatant terrible calls against the Jags, and none against the Pats of a similar nature are irritating enough, but now you have to sit through the media talk about another fantastic Brady comeback, when the refs did most of the work on that drive. Just like the one before halftime. It's pretty ridiculous really.

 

Philly and Jets fans are the worst.

Did you see in the last playoff game the 99 year old Viking's fan who wanted to see a Vike's Super Bowl win for her 100th birthday? She was in the stands holding up a sign and her name is Millie.

Anyhow, after the NCFCC game Philly fans were walking down the street with a sheet and they had written on it, "**** Millie and her 100th birthday"....or something to that affect.

 

Ummm...they have been caught cheating numerous times. It's well known that the team owners are sick of it and have tried to stop it. However, without a full fledged dump of proof (which I'm sure more than one owner/coach/player etc have) the Pats won't stop. And why no proof dump? Because the league would be in A LOT of trouble and the owners would look complicit. And by trouble I mean federal level trouble. They're still making billions. He don't like the losing and cheating, but they're still making billions. They'll wait out BB's and Ernie Adam's retirement and then things will right themselves.

The Pats cheat. It's been proven so you can stop with the tin foil hat stuff. Seriously. And you can also stop with the "Lombardi cheated too" or "so and so did too". We don't care. At least I don't care if someone cheated before I was born. I mean, I care, but they haven't been caught in how long? It's irrelevant. When I was 6 years old I took a piece of $.01 bubble gum from the local convenience store, but I haven't stolen anything since. And until another team gets caught cheating I'm not going to look at 1964 and claim them as cheaters. And one person cheating is not an excuse for another person cheating. That's 3rd grade level debating. "HE did it too, Mom!!"

 

What does it read?

 

The problem is that tin foil hats reflect light differently therefore we can't see the truth.

 

How do you know it didn't? it's not like that was some great-never-been-done-before play. But maybe Brady knew the defense because someone was telling it to him? I can't prove that he did, but you can't prove that he didn't. And I have past cheating that showed they did EXACTLY that on my side.

 

Then why cheat?

 

I agree with the question about the current setup but disagree with the solution. I say ditch geography from the equation and seed teams after each season.

You can do that within the conferences or outside of it (but for this purpose we'll assume we keep the conference system).

So you seed each team within each conference based either on their final position after the post-season or only the regular season (again, for now we'll just go with the after the whole thing is done).

So 16 teams in each conference, you rank them 1-16.

Then you need to separate them out into divisions of 4 teams.

You do so like this:

1, 5, 9, 13
2, 6, 10, 14
3, 7, 11, 15
4, 8, 12, 16

That way you get a top 4, 2nd 4, 3rd 4 and 4th 4, team in each division.

Of course, each season there are changes to teams and a great team one year might not be as good next year, but at the same time, some teams see perennial success. This allows for more balanced divisions, and a greater opportunity for all teams to advance and be rewarded for success, especially long term success. And you get more variety in terms of opposition.

The cost of this system is in two main areas, you get less frequent regional/classic rival games and the travel distances will likely vary more.

Those are both costs I can live with when I consider that the upside is a more balanced, competitive league with logical consistency. Travel is easier these days than ever before, and is less of a factor than it used to be. And regional/classic rivalries don't disappear. They might actually be more of a focal point when they do happen to occur. It simply removes the arbitrary aspect of geography from affecting or limiting competitiveness.

For 2016 this would have resulted in an AFC like this:

Division 1 1 New England 5 Oakland 9 Baltimore 13 New York
Division 2 2 Pittsburgh 6 Miami 10 Indianapolis 14 San Diego
Division 3 3 Kansas City 7 Tennessee 11 Buffalo 15 Jacksonville
Division 4 4 Houston 8 Denver 12 Cincinnati 16 Cleveland

For this year it would look like this:

Division 1 Patriots Chiefs Bengals Jets
Division 2 Jaguars Bills Raiders Colts
Division 3 Steelers Ravens Dolphins Texans
Division 4 Titans Chargers Broncos Browns

 

Cheating does prevent a easy TD that would of all but sealed the game for JAC... but Myles Jack was down right? That phantom air will tackle you down every time in NE...

 

Interesting idea!

Mathematically, there are some consequences to that though, which you might like or not like. Basically you're grouping teams into tiers and equating the probability of teams in any tier winning the division or making the playoffs. That means it's always going to be equally hard for a weaker team to win the division because there's always a really strong team in it.

In contrast, today a weaker team may by chance (luck) be in a division with no top 4 team and make the playoffs. Furthermore, the most likely outcome in your system is that teams remain in their respective tiers, though they may get shuffled around by division.

So two consequences worth mentioning in your system that you may like or not like:

1) It's very unlikely for a weaker team to make the playoffs and then have a fantastic playoff run like the 2007 Giants to win the SB. Stated differently, your system weights regular season record MORE than today for winning the SB.

2) It's much less likely for a team to have a massive turnaround from one season to another because the stability of win% from season to season should be higher. That of course means that teams would have to gradually improve rather than have a lucky year to make the playoffs.

 

While I agree that Philly fans are obnoxious and brutal (I been on Facebook the past two days literally calling fans out for their terrible behavior, I’m sick of Philly fans thinking it’s cool to have the “who can be the biggest ***hole” award that they seemingly do every game) but i, Vikings fans are very insecure self centered snobs and in this video, I can bet at least 3 of the ones interviewed were probably thinking they were automatically going to the SB, looking past the Eagles and the guy at the end says “no use going to the SB anymore”... well, no ****, your team just took a hard L where your whole team got exposed for 60 minutes. Don’t blame Philly fans for that, that was the actual Eagles that did that to your squad. He’s not going because his team lost, not because of Philly fans, that’s just ridiculous. The SB is in Minnesota, not Philly, if my team got their ***es handed to em in the Championship game, I wouldn’t wanna go either.

 

Yep and I'm onboard with all of it.
Whilst an underdog story is appealing the odds of a perennially bad team winning it all are very slim and not worth the imbalance that can be seen in a lot of divisions. (Nor is a surprising upset completely ruled out). Essentially you want to reward performance, especially over the long term.

Good teams should be competing in the playoffs. Bad teams should be improving.

I'd be tempted to do it with the entire league and mix conferences too for the greatest balance.

 

I've missed lots of super bowls. The first one I really missed was 2007 Colts and Bears. That looked boring, and it was. Didn't watch much of the Saints/colts. Next was 2011 Giants and Patriots. Maybe watched two snaps. Didn't go to a party or anything. It was on in the background, but my then fiance and I were cleaning around the house.

Last year was watching the game but left early to go play with my kids.

 

Not appreciating their greatness because you don't like cheaters is one thing, and is perfectly reasonable. Because they have cheated, we know Belichick pushes the envelope, and they were told to stop, didn't, got caught, fined.

But this notion that they have the goods on 31 teams run by many many people, and have all their playbooks, and their playsheets, is so absurd I can't believe rational human beings believe it.

If you respect someone like Adam Gase, and how smart he is, you don't for a second believe Belichick has the goods on us.

 

"He told me, 'The league doesn't need this. We're asking you to come out with a couple lines exonerating us and saying we did our due diligence.'"

Mike Martz, ex-Rams coach, about commissioner Roger Goodell



Cheaters cheat, and who knows what they know. You don't. So for you to question my belief that they are cheaters is what's irrational and absurd.

 

Gase is way too inexperienced to really even know the nuances of what B.B. does.... Gase needs work still as a HC before we can call him on his “goods”....

And to quickly dismiss the notion that a proven cheater is still cheating (you know, in case you missed it, because refs are involved in the TD celebrations with them now, so that will make any fan think) imo, is just turning your cheek similar to the refs last week. I expect better from AFC East fans....

 

..."many former New England coaches and employees insist that the taping of signals wasn't even the most effective cheating method the Patriots deployed in that era. Several of them acknowledge that during pregame warm-ups, a low-level Patriots employee would sneak into the visiting locker room and steal the play sheet, listing the first 20 or so scripted calls for the opposing team's offense. (The practice became so notorious that some coaches put out fake play sheets for the Patriots to swipe.) Numerous former employees say the Patriots would have someone rummage through the visiting team hotel for playbooks or scouting reports."


Yeah...tin foil hats and absurdity.

 

I hate that part as I mentioned already. However, you can find stories everywhere. Hell, two or three years ago, SF and OAK fans got into it, knives were brought out and people DIED!!! People paid the ultimate price that day!!! And that was regular season.... so yes, Philly fans were magnified on Sunday due to being in the NFCCG and the throwing stuff at opposing fans is absolutely disgusting but this happens everywhere man.... it’s not just a Philly thing (it may have more cases in Philly but not JUST Philly). It’s been more magnified in Philly since throwing of snowballs at Santa... people will always have their eyes on Philly fans now.

 

"A former member of the NFL competition committee says the committee spent much of 2001-06 "discussing ways in which the Patriots cheated,"

Yeah, all these coaches, former players, employees etc etc are fake. Someone "made up" all these sources. Right?

 

"CONSIDERING HOW THE NFL currently conducts its investigations or reviews of its investigations -- outsourcing the legwork, allowing it to take months to complete, making the findings public, and almost always losing if the inevitable appeal is heard by an independent arbitrator -- it's striking that the Spygate inquiry lasted only a little over a week, and that Goodell's findings stuck."


About a week and all the evidence destroyed.

Yeah, how absurd to think there's something fishy going on in Pats-land.

 

You conveniently left out how the statement ended.

A former member of the NFL competition committee says the committee spent much of 2001-06 "discussing ways in which the Patriots cheated," even if nothing could be proved.

And if you're going to put out such a strong accusation, put you're name on it you ****ing coward.

(To be clear that last comment was directed toward the former member of the committee, not you @danmarino)

 

WADR, you've went from the Pats cheat like everyone else to the Pats don't cheat.

 

I didn't leave anything out. The part that I quoted was what the committee member said. The rest was from the author of the article.

 

All anonymous. Since everyone is suspecting them of cheating and leaving out fake playsheets (instead of just catching them I might add) why don't they have a guy or gal in there looking for that employee and catching them and getting them punished?

Second, since everyone suspects them of doing it according to you they're still getting all the play books and sheets of all 31 teams, without getting caught, and will know exactly what play they're going to run.

Yes. Tinfoil hats and absurdity.

 

Yeah, thinking a team its cheating to achieve UNHEARD of success from a failed HC and nobody QB who have been caught cheating before...is tin foil hat alright.....

At this point you deniers are the football version of flat earthers

 

I like the idea but why make it seeded in a playoff style? #13 is not going to beat #1 and they're probably not going to compete against #5 or #9 either. I'd much rather seed 1-4, 5-8, 9-12, and 13-16. The caveat I'd give is that two teams from the top two tiers advance into the playoffs and one from each of the bottom tiers advances. That trashes the wild-card completely and makes the only thing that matters your personal division.

Why this route? It's simple- Cleveland should be playing the worst teams out there to have a fair chance to get better. The Pats and Jags should naturally have the toughest schedule if they're the best in the AFC- I think it levels the playing field and bad teams won't stay bad year after year.

As far as current rivalries are considered, just make us all play each team in our current division once for the next five years- home field is decided by each game's loser (so if Miami beats NE, we play at NE the following year. If we lose, we play in Miami next time). With games in your personal division plus the prior division, that equates to 9 of 16 total games.

For the remaining seven games, play one game against your opposite division (so tier 4 AFC plays all the tier 4 NFC teams as well). That's four more. Let the remaining 3 games be against your division seeded opponents from the other three tiers- so #13 would play #'s 1, 5 and 9. That would mean that the day the season ends, you know all 16 opponents.

Now, you might think that's too much of an advantage for the lower teams- four lousy clubs are getting into the playoffs with an artificial record since they didn't really beat anyone. And you also get teams like Pitt that get in with an 8-8 record...even though they played quality opposition all year. But at least the league balances itself out every single season so a 10-6 team like Miami doesn't end up with the 2nd hardest schedule in the league going into 2017 because that's what a computer said to do.

And honestly, I think it's a good thing that you (#1) let bad teams build up some win streaks and (#2) force the elite teams to play some very tough games. The best team should still win in the playoffs regardless, but you're making it a lot easier for fans to know what's going on and the path to the playoffs is a lot easier- just win the division and you're in (or come in the top two at the best tiers).

The other thing I'd enjoy is that you could have a scenario where 12-4 San Fran (5th seed) is taking on 8-8 Pitt (2nd seed) in the first round of the playoffs...who will win? We have no idea because the league intentionally set the 9ers up to build confidence and succeed. You're also giving those top tier teams a lock in the playoffs before the season even starts.

 

Certainly you could have the four divisions be like better end worse divisions, but for me that's more like charity than competition. I prefer a system where the playing field is as balanced and open as possible, success is rewarded, and the best quality product is put on display.

In my opinion it's a given that the further you go the more the best teams should be featured; the more you want to see high level play.

With a seeded conference the lower divisions do get relatively easier competition and the higher ones slightly stronger competition, and those are just the divisional games. Other factors could be added in for the remaining games.

At the end of the day, if you wouldn't want to see stronger teams dominate weaker ones in the divisions, why would you want to see it in the playoffs?

And it's also frustrating to see teams with overall better records miss the playoffs because they weren't in the 'right division'.

It's competitive, professional, sport. Everything should be earned, nothing given.

 

I think that's the whole thing though- the Jags were 3-13 in 2016 so they probably would have ended up with the best record in the league this year (with weaker competition in the lowest tier). And they basically held their own in that playoff game up until the very end....I thought it was pretty exciting because none of us track Jax and we had no idea what they'd bring. I'd just like to see more of a variety in the post-season- I'm tired of it being NE, Seattle, Pitt, etc. all the time.

You're probably right though that I'd be in the minority- but who knows? I'd just like to see Miami out of the East since it's three probable losses every year heading way up north in the cold.

 

Listen I get you, but think for a moment while you don’t like the eagles they have Jay Ajayi on the team a Miami Dolphin who can win the Super Bowl against the Evil Pats in what will likely be Brady’s last Super Bowl appearance! That would have to bring you some JOY?

FLY AJAYI FLY

 

I don't think there's a chance Brady leaves (he wants to play 3-5 more years), and I don't think Belichick will go anywhere either. I mean, why would he? So while I'd love the evil trio of doom to break up, I just don't see it happening.

With that said, I am a HUGE Eagles fan for the next two weeks and I hope Ajayi wins Super Bowl MVP. Go Eagles!

 

And we gave them the picks they needed to move up to get Wentz.... Miami has a heavy hand right now in Philly’s success. Mine as well call these guys Miami North. ****, Philly might call and ask if there is anything else we can give before the SB.... lmao

 

Don't know what game you were watching, maybe it was the rose colored glasses.

 

Well, the Eagles fans are going to be turning up en-mass in Minnesota in a couple of weeks so, if you're a Vike and you got abused in Philly, plenty of opportunities for retribution, if that's your thang. Just saying like...