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Oakland sweeps division but won't go to playoffs

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So Oakland has become the first team to sweep its division but not go to the playoffs. They finished 8-8. Kansas City won the division because they finished 10-6, but they were also 2-4 in the division. San Diego will finish at either 8-8 or 9-7 (depending on the Denver game), but either way they will only be 2-4 or 3-3 in the division.

 

So this got me to thinking: if you have beaten EVERY other team in your division TWICE, shouldn't you win the division regardless? How can Kansas City be considered the "better team" when Oakland played much better against them and all common division opponents?

 

My proposal is that if you go undefeated in the division, you automatically win the division regardless of your overall record. Right now division record serves as a tie-breaker. My proposal would tend to make division games even more important than non-division games than they already are. But isn't that a good thing? And wouldn't it be fair to reward the team that dominated its own division regardless of how they fared outside the division?

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my proposal is they win more than 8 games.

 

sweeping the division is impressive but what if your division is full of garbage teams like the NFC West? Should you be rewarded because you beat all of those teams but couldn't ever beat a legit NFL team?

 

Don't get me wrong, the Chargers and Chiefs are not garbage but Oakland should have won more total games.

 

Where would you draw the line? What if your team was 7-9 and 7-1 in the division but there was another team in your division that was a 10 win team but only 2-6 in the division? Couldn't you argue that you should win the division because you went 7-1?

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my proposal is they win more than 8 games.

 

sweeping the division is impressive but what if your division is full of garbage teams like the NFC West? Should you be rewarded because you beat all of those teams but couldn't ever beat a legit NFL team?

 

Don't get me wrong, the Chargers and Chiefs are not garbage but Oakland should have won more total games.

 

Where would you draw the line? What if your team was 7-9 and 7-1 in the division but there was another team in your division that was a 10 win team but only 2-6 in the division? Couldn't you argue that you should win the division because you went 7-1?

 

Each team only has six division games now after realignment. Although that will change if the NFL is actually stupid enough to go to an 18 game season.

 

Anyway, I draw the line at undefeated, as in 6-0. Because more than one team could finish 5-1 in their division AND because the whole point of my proposal is that you have DOMINATED the rest of your division. If you are merely really good in your division, well then too bad if you didn't win enough outside of it. But if you beat every other team in your division twice, on the road and at home, then how could anyone honestly contend that some other team in that division is a "better" team?

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Each team only has six division games now after realignment. Although that will change if the NFL is actually stupid enough to go to an 18 game season.

 

Anyway, I draw the line at undefeated, as in 6-0. Because more than one team could finish 5-1 in their division AND because the whole point of my proposal is that you have DOMINATED the rest of your division. If you are merely really good in your division, well then too bad if you didn't win enough outside of it. But if you beat every other team in your division twice, on the road and at home, then how could anyone honestly contend that some other team in that division is a "better" team?

 

haha yeah. i guess im living in the past regarding 8 games :doh:

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Each team only has six division games now after realignment. Although that will change if the NFL is actually stupid enough to go to an 18 game season.

 

Anyway, I draw the line at undefeated, as in 6-0. Because more than one team could finish 5-1 in their division AND because the whole point of my proposal is that you have DOMINATED the rest of your division. If you are merely really good in your division, well then too bad if you didn't win enough outside of it. But if you beat every other team in your division twice, on the road and at home, then how could anyone honestly contend that some other team in that division is a "better" team?

 

 

So San Diego could go 14-2. Oakland could go 6-10 and win the division over San Diego? Under your scenario that could happen and Oakland wins the division. If that happens then a team with 10+ wins could lose the wild-card to a team with 6 wins.

 

It is great that Oakland swept the division but they still have to win more than 2 of the remaining 10 games in the season in order to qualify for the playoffs. Just my opinion.

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Wow, that's borderline retarded.

 

I'll take it a step further.......it is 100% retarded.

 

Dumbest ###### thing I have ever heard.

 

The Raiders shouldn't have choked in the non-division games.

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So San Diego could go 14-2. Oakland could go 6-10 and win the division over San Diego? Under your scenario that could happen and Oakland wins the division. If that happens then a team with 10+ wins could lose the wild-card to a team with 6 wins.

 

It is great that Oakland swept the division but they still have to win more than 2 of the remaining 10 games in the season in order to qualify for the playoffs. Just my opinion.

 

How likely is it that a team loses twice to a divisional opponent but wins their other 14 games? I don't see that. It's much more likely that this year's AFC West scenario is the only way this plays out. You have a pretender that manages to win 9 or 10 games that wins the division over a team that swept the whole division. If I have to choose between two pretenders, I'll take the one that can get things done in their own backyard.

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I see what you're getting at, but I have a bigger problem with two 10 win teams (Giants, Bucs) missing out while the NFC West winner will either have 7 or 8 wins. ALso, the fact that said West team will have a home game against an 11 win Saints team.

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How likely is it that a team loses twice to a divisional opponent but wins their other 14 games? I don't see that. It's much more likely that this year's AFC West scenario is the only way this plays out. You have a pretender that manages to win 9 or 10 games that wins the division over a team that swept the whole division. If I have to choose between two pretenders, I'll take the one that can get things done in their own backyard.

 

 

To your point, this is the first time since the merger that any team has swept their division and did not make the playoffs. In the past 40 years it has only happened once.. but it did happen. So my scenario "can" happen and then what would you do? A team with 6 wins "could" make the plaoyffs under your scenario and that isn't good for anyone.

 

I don't know if you are a Raiders fan or not. But let's say you are. Would you be happy if the Chiefs finished 12-4, The Raiders finished 10-6, and the Broncos finished 7-9 but swept the division (not a stretch since Oakland just did it at 8-8) This would make the Broncos the division champs, knock KC to wild card (maybe) and possibly knock the Raiders out of the playoffs.

 

The Raiders lost this year to the Titans, Cardinals, Texans, 49'rs, Dolphins, and Jags.. all non-playoff teams. If they win 2 of those games they are in the playoffs.

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I think the team with that scores the most overall points should also be allowed into the playoffs.

 

 

 

Not really, but that could be just as dumb as this posting.

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Two minutes of my life gone.

:(

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The Raiders just had to win 2 games total against Tennessee, Arizona, Houston, San Fran, Miami, and Jacksonville. These teams combined to go 32-58 against the rest of the league. You can't go 0-6 against these teams and be considered a playoff team, regardless of how well you played in your division.

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I have zero problems whatsoever with the playoff format as-is. I don't care that the Raiders missed the postseason and I don't care that the Seahawks will get a home playoff game. :dunno:

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The Raiders just had to win 2 games total against Tennessee, Arizona, Houston, San Fran, Miami, and Jacksonville. These teams combined to go 32-58 against the rest of the league. You can't go 0-6 against these teams and be considered a playoff team, regardless of how well you played in your division.

 

This is the key. The Raiders blew several winnable games against inferior opponents. Their record in the division has nothing to do with it.

 

On the other hand, the Raiders did finish with non-losing record for the first time since Al Davis died, so they've got that going for them.

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This is the key. The Raiders blew several winnable games against inferior opponents. Their record in the division has nothing to do with it.

 

On the other hand, the Raiders did finish with non-losing record for the first time since Al Davis died , so they've got that going for them.

 

 

:unsure:

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To your point, this is the first time since the merger that any team has swept their division and did not make the playoffs. In the past 40 years it has only happened once.. but it did happen. So my scenario "can" happen and then what would you do? A team with 6 wins "could" make the plaoyffs under your scenario and that isn't good for anyone.

 

I don't know if you are a Raiders fan or not. But let's say you are. Would you be happy if the Chiefs finished 12-4, The Raiders finished 10-6, and the Broncos finished 7-9 but swept the division (not a stretch since Oakland just did it at 8-8) This would make the Broncos the division champs, knock KC to wild card (maybe) and possibly knock the Raiders out of the playoffs.

 

The Raiders lost this year to the Titans, Cardinals, Texans, 49'rs, Dolphins, and Jags.. all non-playoff teams. If they win 2 of those games they are in the playoffs.

 

No I'm not a Raiders fan. I'm a Pats fan and I like the Chiefs much, much more than the Raiders (because of the Pioli connection and because they seem to have great fans). However, what most people seem to be missing here is that the most important thing in the NFL is to take care of your own division. So when a team manages to win every single game in their division, I think that should mean something. Otherwise why do we even bother having divisions at all? Why not just have all 32 teams lumped into one set of standings and the top 12 go to the playoffs?

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Dumbest thing I've read on here today.

 

Like was mentioned earlier....if you win all 6 division games....how about beat more than 2 other teams? That will do the trick.

 

Everyone is freaking out over these issues this year, even though it is the 1st time they happened in the history of the NFL. Can you say knee-jerk reaction?

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Same crap people were spouting when Arizona..."the worst playoff team in history" according to Collinsworth...snuck in a couple years ago. Snuck in all the way to the Super Bowl.

 

Not a fan of the NFC West, but I'm not any more impressed by Kansas City winning the crapfest that is the AFC West than I am by Seattle winning.

 

There aren't more than a handful of good teams in the league. People want to go to bat for Oakland? Tampa? Giants?

 

Please.

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How likely is it that a team loses twice to a divisional opponent but wins their other 14 games? I don't see that. It's much more likely that this year's AFC West scenario is the only way this plays out. You have a pretender that manages to win 9 or 10 games that wins the division over a team that swept the whole division. If I have to choose between two pretenders, I'll take the one that can get things done in their own backyard.

 

Had the Patriots beaten the Browns and played the Jets ... say in week 17 - that scenario could have happened. It didn't miss by much!

 

How likely is it that a team can sweep their division... but lose almost all their other games? That doesn't seem likely either but it just happened.

 

In fact, sweeping your division seems much easier when you consider there is often two over matched teams. Then it is just of matter of "protecting this house" against your main foe and winning a single competitive division game on the road. Not that difficult and a huge leg up on the division race. Now if you can't win enough of the remaining games... Hello Raiders!

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