WASHINGTON — I’m going to start this week’s NFL recap with a fairly charged statement: A team with a losing record will host a playoff game this postseason — and that’s OK.
There. I said it.
The Saints’ stunning home loss to the Falcons means that a team with a losing record — either Atlanta or Carolina — will win the NFC South. This will prompt many to cry for a change in the way the playoffs are seeded, much like we heard nearly four years ago when 7-9 Seattle won the NFC West and knocked off (ironically) the 11-win Saints.
The argument went that Seattle enjoys a rare homefield advantage, and that a team that finished four games worse in the regular season than their playoff opponent shouldn’t host that game. I would agree. However, the injustice of eliminating any real incentive for winning a division title is far greater than any once-a-decade inconvenience for a team in a stacked division.
This year, the Philadelphia Eagles have clinched a winning record, but not a spot in the postseason. Coach Chip Kelly’s squad will be home for the holidays and he knows they have no one to blame but themselves.
“We didn’t do enough,” Kelly said. “We didn’t win enough games against the right opponents to put ourselves in the playoffs. We knew the rules of engagement before the season started. To sit here after it is over and say, ‘Let’s change the rules so this can happen’ — that’s just the way it is.”
Kelly went on to say, “There may be a year where we’re in a situation where we’re not in great shape and we win our division and we get a chance to go.”
That’s the point. If the Saints hadn’t inexplicably dropped their last five home games (more losses in New Orleans than they’ve had in the previous three seasons, by the way), they would be benefitting from the very rule that supposedly cost them a playoff run four years ago. The NFL tends to be cyclical: Good teams get bad; bad teams get good. And every four or five years, somebody with a lackluster record is going to make the playoffs.
Even then, that trend is only recent. Before the 2010 Seahawks, no team with a losing record in a full season won a division. You’d have to go back to the strike-shortened 1982-83 season for the last time a sub-.500 team even made the playoffs.
But if the worry of a losing team enjoying home-field advantage in a postseason contest keeps you awake at night, there’s a reasonable solution: Set a new rule that only teams with a winning record get to host a wild-card playoff game. That’s the only way to both placate the mob that hates a home playoff team with a losing record and keep the reward for winning a division largely in place.
That way, Marshawn Lynch’s Beastquake run in 2011 happens in New Orleans or not at all.
Until then, football purists will have to deal with the 11- or 12-win Cardinals seeing their season end in either Carolina or Atlanta.
But NFL recap still has plenty of life left:
Titans 13
Jaguars 21
By completing just one pass for nine yards Thursday night, Jacksonville receiver Cecil Shorts III now has a higher passer rating this season than Robert Griffin III. Welcome to the 2014 NFL.
Eagles 24
Redskins 27
The ‘Skins win a game. I officially believe in Christmas miracles.
Chargers 38
Niners 35 (OT)
San Fran rushed for 335 yards (their most in one game since 1949 and most in any NFL game since 2007) and led by 21 at halftime — but still managed to lose. I didn’t really get why the 49ers wanted Jim Harbaugh gone … until now.
And say what you will about Philip Rivers (and I think he’s a punk just like everyone else) — dude is as clutch a gunslinger as there is in the NFL today.
Vikings 35
Dolphins 37
Ravens 13
Texans 25
By throwing a five-yard TD, Arian Foster became the Texans’ first non-QB to throw for a TD since their inaugural season in 2002. Houston needs all the help they can get now that their playoff lives depend on Case Keenum.
Meanwhile, how ironic was it that Baltimore’s offense stalled in Gary Kubiak’s return to Houston? Looks like the playoff stockings in Charm City will be empty this year.
Lions 20
Bears 14
Chicago wraps up the season with a 2-6 home record and now have to go back to Jay Cutler after a brief stint with Jimmy Clausen as their starting quarterback. And here I thought the Redskins had it bad …
Like many Detroit wins, this one comes with a caveat: Yes, they’re playing for the NFC North title next Sunday. But they have to go to the Frozen Tundra to get it without a key player for trampling on someone’s Ego in a bad way. The last time the Lions won in Green Bay? 1991. The Packers QB that day? Mike Tomczak. Godspeed, Detroit.
Browns 13
Panthers 17
As much as we all would’ve loved to see Derek Anderson torch his old team some more, Cam Newton improved to 4-1 against other Heisman Trophy-winning QBs in the NFL (1-1 vs Carson Palmer, 1-0 against Johnny Manziel, Sam Bradford and RGIII).
Meanwhile, Cleveland lost Johnny Manziel for the season and their 11th straight game in December/January … making this the only way anything Browns is going to any kind of (Super) Bowl.
Falcons 30
Saints 14
New Orleans talked a great game last week, but Atlanta actually let their play do the talking to improve to 5-0 in this putrid division and sweep the Saints for the first time since 2005. Too bad for Atlanta they’ll have to face a team from the field of teams they could only manage a 1-9 record against.
Packers 20
Bucs 3
Memo to Tampa Bay fans: When you say “I’d rather see the Lightning than watch another minute of these Bucs,” be careful what you wish for.
Chiefs 12
Steelers 20
Regardless of how he casts his vote, Ben Roethlisberger should garner some MVP consideration for dragging this OK-but-nothing-special Pittsburgh squad to the playoff and on the cusp of a division title.
As for Kansas City, their late-season fade to black can be summed up with one digit: 0. As in the number of touchdown catches by their wide receivers this season. No, I didn’t say this week. This season.
Patriots 17
Jets 16
Three constants were proven here: this game is always close; New England always wins, and the Pats always get a first-round bye.
Giants 37
Rams 27
And clearly, Tom Coughlin isn’t used to it.
Bills 24
Raiders 26
So let me get this straight: Buffalo shut down Aaron Rodgers and the potent Packer offense to keep their playoff hopes alive — only to crap the bed in Oakland the following week by getting beat by rookie Derek Carr? I don’t care if the QB matchup was Jack Kemp vs. Tom Flores the last time the Bills won in Oakland — Buffalo should win that game.
Colts 7
Cowboys 42
Dallas needed only win to clinch the NFC East, and they turned the Colts into glue thanks to Tony Romo’s completing a franchise-record 90 percent of his passes, with 4 TDs. Now Big D is 3-0 in December, with Romo putting up a sweet 10-0 TD-to-interception ratio. It pains me to say it, but the Cowboys are legit.
Seahawks 35
Cardinals 6
A man dubbed “Beast Mode” missed the first quarter of the game with bubble guts, but then rumbled for a huge TD run that rivals the aforementioned Beastquake run of 2011. Ladies and gentlemen, just another chapter in the zany, crazy 2014 NFL Season.
Arizona’s fade really is heartbreaking. Unless Logan Thomas has some 2012 RGIII in him, this Cards M.A.S.H. unit has just two more games left this season.
Broncos 28
Bengals 37
Peyton Manning’s first four-interception game since 2010 basically ensures that he’ll have his next four-interception game in New England instead of Denver.
And congrats to Cincinnati for finally getting the prime-time monkey off their backs. Now all they need to do to win the AFC North is go to Pittsburgh and win another prime-time game. If Jeremy Hill has another 147-yard night, the Bengals have a great chance.
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