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The Eleventh Doctor · 11-25-2014, 01:20 AM

The NFC South could have it's champion at 5-11. Which is crazy. It'd be hilarious if it happened.

I was wrong about Trent Baalke.

Jaguarmeister · 11-25-2014, 02:26 AM

It won't. 6-10? Doubt it. 7-9? Good chance of that. Would love to see the winner of that division win the whole thing though, just for being the statistical anomaly that it would end up being.

Jaguarmeister · 11-25-2014, 02:54 AM

Looking at each team's remaining schedules. I think New Orleans will win the division with a 7-9 record even after watching them lose tonight against the Ravens.

Atlanta does have a leg up by being 4-0 in the division so far, but their remaining schedule is brutal. Their next two are against Arizona and Green Bay and that's followed up by Pittsburgh, yikes! I give them a shot against Pittsburgh, but they shouldn't be favored going in to any of those games. It's probably going to come down to the last two weeks of the season where they close out against New Orleans and Carolina.

The division games being back loaded onto the schedule for all teams a few years ago added a lot of value to the excitement of December football. I think they should move all division games to either the final 6 weeks or if that's not feasible maybe mixing them all in to the last 8 games of the season. I realize that would favor northern teams, but it would keep more teams in it later into the season which would increase the overall excitement. And we had a team once that went into cold weather conditions and imposed our will on a regular basis, so it's not a definite advantage for those teams. Those were the days...

~~JaguarsWoman~~ · 11-25-2014, 03:32 AM

This has happened before. Remember the 7-9 Seahawks who won the NFCW? Their Week 17 game against the Rams that year was a "win you're in, lose you're out" game for tiebreaker reasons. That is probably what will happen this year. I don't think a 5-11 division winner is possible, but would be surprised if anybody wins eight games.

Here are the current standings and remaining schedules (home games in bold):

Saints (4-7) Steelers. Panthers, Bears, Falcons, Buccaneers

Falcons (4-7) Cardinals, Packers, Steelers, Saints, Panthers

Panthers (3-7-1) Vikings, Saints, Buccaneers, Browns, Falcons

Buccaneers (2-9) Bengals, Lions, Panthers, Packers, Saints

Mathematically, the Buccaneers are not out of it yet because they can win out to finish 7-9. Now how crazy is that?

Realistically, I would be shocked if they win either NFC North game, so I am ready to eliminate them.

The easiest remaining schedule obviously belongs to the Saints, but I doubt they will win in Pittsburgh.

~~JaguarsWoman~~ · 11-25-2014, 03:45 AM

Quote:Looking at each team's remaining schedules. I think New Orleans will win the division with a 7-9 record even after watching them lose tonight against the Ravens.

Atlanta does have a leg up by being 4-0 in the division so far, but their remaining schedule is brutal. Their next two are against Arizona and Green Bay and that's followed up by Pittsburgh, yikes! I give them a shot against Pittsburgh, but they shouldn't be favored going in to any of those games. It's probably going to come down to the last two weeks of the season where they close out against New Orleans and Carolina.

The division games being back loaded onto the schedule for all teams a few years ago added a lot of value to the excitement of December football. I think they should move all division games to either the final 6 weeks or if that's not feasible maybe mixing them all in to the last 8 games of the season. I realize that would favor northern teams, but it would keep more teams in it later into the season which would increase the overall excitement. And we had a team once that went into cold weather conditions and imposed our will on a regular basis, so it's not a definite advantage for those teams. Those were the days...

I knew Week 17 is always divisional games to retain excitement for fans of teams who have clinched seeds in the playoffs, but did not realize all of December is suipposed to be that way.

If the Saints beat everyone except the Steelers, they can avoid a losing record. Nobody else has a chance to do that.

Jaguarmeister · 11-25-2014, 01:37 PM

Quote:I knew Week 17 is always divisional games to retain excitement for fans of teams who have clinched seeds in the playoffs, but did not realize all of December is suipposed to be that way.

If the Saints beat everyone except the Steelers, they can avoid a losing record. Nobody else has a chance to do that.

It's not all of December necessarily, but the league did change things several years ago so there are 2 or more divisional games for each team in the final month of the season. What I would like to see is even more division games moved toward the end of the year. It would basically be the equivalent of creating a round robin tournament prior to entering the playoffs.

I don't think there is a major advantage to getting a team like the clots, for instance, at home in September versus at home in December. What matters is if you can you out physical them. The physical teams are the ones that typically fare better at the end of the year and can typically pound the rock. That's not to say that don't need to be able to pass the ball because you do, but the teams that do well in the playoffs are usually running the ball well in December and into the playoffs even if they hadn't been earlier in the season.

~~JaguarsWoman~~ · 11-25-2014, 03:25 PM

Quote:It's not all of December necessarily, but the league did change things several years ago so there are 2 or more divisional games for each team in the final month of the season. What I would like to see is even more division games moved toward the end of the year. It would basically be the equivalent of creating a round robin tournament prior to entering the playoffs.

I don't think there is a major advantage to getting a team like the clots, for instance, at home in September versus at home in December. What matters is if you can you out physical them. The physical teams are the ones that typically fare better at the end of the year and can typically pound the rock. That's not to say that don't need to be able to pass the ball because you do, but the teams that do well in the playoffs are usually running the ball well in December and into the playoffs even if they hadn't been earlier in the season.

It did not work out for us because we were still trying to figure out who all 22 starters should be, but if it was in Week 5, we would have played better in the first half.

Keep in mind late in the season a lot of guys have injuries that did not exist three months earlier. Paul Posluszny, Alan Ball, and Allen Robinson played in Week 3. All three were on IR by the time we went to Indy in Week 12.

D6 · 11-25-2014, 10:48 PM

The NFC South of 2014 is a prime example of why I wish the NFL would go back to 3 Divisions in each conference instead of 4. This despite that each conference will have a division consisting of 6 teams. Having larger divisions would increase the chances of a division winner with a non winning record reaching the playoffs. It would also enable the league to add a wildcard team to each conference w/o expanding the playoffs. I don't expect this to happen but I think it's in the best interest of the league.

Adam2012 · 11-25-2014, 11:27 PM

Quote:It's not all of December necessarily, but the league did change things several years ago so there are 2 or more divisional games for each team in the final month of the season. What I would like to see is even more division games moved toward the end of the year. It would basically be the equivalent of creating a round robin tournament prior to entering the playoffs.

I don't think there is a major advantage to getting a team like the clots, for instance, at home in September versus at home in December. What matters is if you can you out physical them. The physical teams are the ones that typically fare better at the end of the year and can typically pound the rock. That's not to say that don't need to be able to pass the ball because you do, but the teams that do well in the playoffs are usually running the ball well in December and into the playoffs even if they hadn't been earlier in the season.

In general what you say is true. But there are times you can get lucky and play dome teams (and there are more of them all the time) and/or Southern teams (if the Jaguars, Bucs, and Dolphins ever get good).

The sun's not yellow, it's chicken.

Jaguarmeister · 11-25-2014, 11:35 PM

Quote:The NFC South of 2014 is a prime example of why I wish the NFL would go back to 3 Divisions in each conference instead of 4. This despite that each conference will have a division consisting of 6 teams. Having larger divisions would increase the chances of a division winner with a non winning record reaching the playoffs. It would also enable the league to add a wildcard team to each conference w/o expanding the playoffs. I don't expect this to happen but I think it's in the best interest of the league.

I disagree. 4 divisions makes for a perfect scheduling system. The anomaly of a division winner with a losing record is just that, an anomaly. We shouldn't consider making wholesale changes over an anomaly. And though it may seem likely that the division winner out of the NFCS will end up with a losing record, it hasn't happened yet. I still think the Saints are very capable of going on a run.

At some point, the league will expand again and perhaps going to 3 divisions may make sense, but for now I'd say it's better to leave it alone.

~~JaguarsWoman~~ · 11-26-2014, 01:35 AM

Quote:In general what you say is true. But there are times you can get lucky and play dome teams (and there are more of them all the time) and/or Southern teams (if the Jaguars, Bucs, and Dolphins ever get good).

Teams that play indoors: 49ers, Colts, Rams, Cardinals, Cowboys, Texans, Lions, Saints, and Falcons

Teams that will play indoors when new stadiums are completed: Bills and Vikings

Teams that play outdoors in warm climates: Chargers, Panthers, Jaguars, Buccaneers, and Dolphins

That totals 16 teams - half of the NFL - who will never be cold at home after two new stadiums are built.

Jaguarmeister · 11-26-2014, 02:52 AM

Quote:Teams that play indoors: 49ers, Colts, Rams, Cardinals, Cowboys, Texans, Lions, Saints, and Falcons

Teams that will play indoors when new stadiums are completed: Bills and Vikings

Teams that play outdoors in warm climates: Chargers, Panthers, Jaguars, Buccaneers, and Dolphins

That totals 16 teams - half of the NFL - who will never be cold at home after two new stadiums are built.

It doesn't change the point you made, but the 49ers don't play in a dome.

~~JaguarsWoman~~ · 11-26-2014, 02:57 AM

Quote:It doesn't change the point you made, but the 49ers don't play in a dome.

:thanks:

JAGFAN88 · 11-26-2014, 12:43 PM

Its also possible a 12-4 team doesnt make the playoffs :teehee:

~~JaguarsWoman~~ · 11-26-2014, 04:16 PM

Quote:It's also possible a 12-4 team doesnt make the playoffs.

Remember one year the Patriots were 11-5 and missed the playoffs while the Chargers made it with only 8 wins? That made a lot of people mad.

Jaguarmeister · 11-27-2014, 09:48 PM

Wouldn't it be ironic if the Saints win their division with a losing record and end up hosting and beating Seattle in the wild card game? If that happens they will have done to Seattle exactly what Seattle did to them in the playoffs the year after the Saints won the Super Bowl.

~~JaguarsWoman~~ · 11-27-2014, 10:13 PM

Quote:Wouldn't it be ironic if the Saints win their division with a losing record and end up hosting and beating Seattle in the wild card game? If that happens they will have done to Seattle exactly what Seattle did to them in the playoffs the year after the Saints won the Super Bowl.

LOL Everybody will be talking about that if it happens.

But the Seahawks don't look like a 10-6 team this year.

Adam2012 · 11-28-2014, 12:42 AM

Quote:LOL Everybody will be talking about that if it happens.

But the Seahawks don't look like a 10-6 team this year.

They do now.

The sun's not yellow, it's chicken.

~~JaguarsWoman~~ · 11-28-2014, 12:58 AM

Quote:They do now.

After beating their biggest enemy on the road, they are currently 8-4 with a two-game win streak. The Seahawks have won four of the last five games. But they certianly did not look that good against the Cowboys.

**Jags02** · 11-28-2014, 01:02 AM

I'm going solely on memory from several years ago, but I recall looking into the worst records to make the Playoffs, and the Vikings made it one year with a 7-9 record (if not 7-9, it was one game below .500). I do believe that a 6-10 division winner would be a new record.

'02