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Duane Sampson -> RE:NFL News (10/25/2007 2:23:47 AM)
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It's time to change playoff format John Czarnecki FOXSports.com One Indianapolis columnist is already billing next week's Patriots-Colts showdown as the Game of the Century. But what worries me is that the Patriots, winners of 10 straight regular-season games, and the Colts, winners of 11 straight, will make this season's Super Bowl irrelevant. They are far and away the game's two best teams — the other 30 teams are playing for third place — and they can't play in a February rematch on Arizona's neutral turf. This situation bothered me in the late 1980s, too, when the NFC was the dominant conference and had the league's best teams. Who can forget John Elway's Broncos losing by 32 and 45 points on their second and third trips to the Super Bowl? Or Dallas whipping Buffalo twice and then Steve Young and the 49ers simply toying with the San Diego Chargers? But the NFL loves its traditions and has remained allegiant to the NFC and the AFC, even though we all know that the Colts used to belong to the mighty NFL and were upset by Joe Namath and the AFL's Jets in the first great Super Bowl before the merger. Back in 1970, decent money changed hands and the owners of the Steelers, Colts and the Browns moved from the NFL to be with the teams of the old AFL, forming the AFC. But while tradition has its place, the league has shown a willingness to break with it from time to time. With regular-season games now being played in London and with the Bills arguing that they need to play at least one game in Toronto every season (probably starting in 2009 after the CFL season ends), what's the harm in simply seeding the league's division winners in order to, hopefully, get the game's two best teams in the league's showcase event? For example, here would have been last season's playoff pairings after the wild-card games: San Diego would have hosted Seattle, Chicago would have hosted New Orleans, Baltimore would have hosted Philadelphia and the Colts would have hosted the Patriots. Who knows what would have happened from there? But I would bet anyone that the Bears wouldn't have ended up in New Orleans. Looking at the BCS with its five computers and three human polls, there must be one simple formula that could figure out how to pair the final four teams in the NFL. The NFL is a quarterback-driven league and the best quarterbacks happen to be in the AFC right now. Just look at what Tom Brady is doing and it's hard to believe that this three-time winning Super Bowl quarterback has never won the league's MVP award. Right now Brady is on pace to throw 61 touchdown passes — of course, that won't happen — and he's operating a passing offense that is 84 yards better per game than the average NFL team. The Pats are demolishing teams while becoming the first team in league history to win their first seven games by 17 points or more. They are No. 1 in offense and No. 4 in total defense. The Colts are close, but more important they rank No. 3 in total defense and this unit, with healthy safety Bob Sanders, is much improved over last season. The Colts are faster and quicker on defense than they were a year ago. This is why the Colts are actually a better overall team than the one that won last season's Super Bowl. But when you take a closer look at Monday night's win at Jacksonville, you can also tell that Peyton Manning was playing conservatively. Yes, the Colts won because they knocked David Garrard from the game and also because Jags coach Jack Del Rio abandoned his running formula for a passing one. In the second half, you could have accused Manning of simply managing the game as he played clock ball, running out his possessions with Joseph Addai and CFL newcomer Kenton Keith. If the Colts have any new throwing formations or tricks, you can bet they are saving them for the Patriots. When the season began the five best teams were supposed to be the Patriots, Colts, Chargers, Bears and Cowboys. The first two have lived up to the hype. The Chargers look like they still may win their division and the Bears are — heaven forbid — behind the Packers and Lions in the NFC North. The Cowboys started unbeaten, but wilted in the fourth quarter at Texas Stadium against the Patriots and then looked rather pedestrian against the one-dimensional Minnesota Vikings. If the forward pass was outlawed, the Vikings would be the best team in the NFL. Dallas suddenly must feel threatened by the new-look Giants, who figure to whip the Dolphins in London and then wait two weeks before hosting Dallas in a showdown game. But whoever wins that game and proclaims itself to be the best of the NFC, I don't see how either one could contend with New England or Indianapolis in a championship game. People will say that this AFC dominance will eventually end and that the NFC will return to glory. Well, a playoff seeding system would work then, too. Inter-conference playoff pairings could add new excitement to the January games. It's an idea worth considering simply because it could end up being a television ratings hit. And isn't that what the NFL is all about?
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