DALLAS —
Jerry Jones reaffirms the status quo of the current NFL playoff format where division winners, regardless of record, host home games in the wild-card round.
The Dallas Cowboys owner, president, and general manager was asked during his weekly appearance on 105.3 "The Fan" [KRLD-FM] if he thought the NFL should look into reformatting the playoffs so division winners with .500 or worse records weren't rewarded with home playoff games, particularly when they were facing road teams with vastly superior records.
"Well, first of all, the system that we're under right now has allowed at least one team that I'll speak to directly, the New York Giants here a few years back, to come in under the same basis and we had beaten them twice, and then they turned around and beat us, and then they won the Super Bowl," Jones said. "And, so, you can have a team go in with a less than impressive record get in the playoffs — I call it coming up the backside — and win a world championship.
"That's pro football."
The Giants in 2007 won the Super Bowl as a wild-card team, winning all of their road games to reach Super Bowl XLII, where they defeated the 16-0 New England Patriots 17-14.
In 2011, New York won the NFC East with a 9-7 record and hosted the 10-6 Atlanta Falcons at MetLife Stadium in the wild-card round. The Giants were a safety away from a 24-2 shutout and later beat the Patriots again in the Super Bowl.
Whoever wins the NFC East will be a worse example than the '11 Giants. Currently, Dallas and Philadelphia are 6-7 apiece. It is conceivable either of those teams could be 8-8 or 7-9 and host a home playoff game. As it stands, the two wild-card teams are the Seattle Seahawks (10-3) and Minnesota Vikings (9-4). The possibility is on the table for the No. 5 seed wild-card to have a better record of six wins at a maximum than the No. 4 seed, which will be whoever wins the NFC East.
The disparity in records that creates an entitled home-field advantage is an unintended consequence from the 2002 realignment that added the Houston Texans as the 32nd team and divided the league into two conferences with four divisions with four teams apiece. From 1990, when the second wild-card team was added per conference, to 2001, there were just two instances of division winners with 9-7 or worse records: the 1990 Cincinnati Bengals and 1999 Seattle Seahawks. Both were 9-7 and both hosted 9-7 wild-card teams.
Since 2002, there have been 14 teams with 9-7 or worse records that have won the division and hosted home playoff games, and 13 of those 14 matchups had the road team with the better overall record.
Under the 1990-2001 system, which had three divisions per conference and an average of five teams per division, the overall record played a bigger part in deciding division winners, which made it less likely for 9-7 or worse clubs to win divisions. As such, the records among wild-card teams were better, and the best of the wild-card teams, the No. 4 seed, was rewarded with a home playoff game.
With the way the NFL is now, winning the division, even with a mediocre record, ensures a home playoff game and a decent shot to find momentum in the postseason thanks to the home-field advantage, even for that one wild-card game. Seven of those 13 home teams with worse records in the wild-card round won, and two of them made it as far as the Super Bowl ('08 Cardinals, '11 Giants).
Which is why all the Cowboys have to do is beat the Eagles in Week 16 and their choice of a victory over the Los Angeles Rams Sunday or Washington in Week 17, both games at AT&T Stadium, to win the division. There is no meritocracy, just the entitlement of being a division winner that guarantees a home playoff game.
"Most of the configurations for us to get to the playoffs always included beating Philadelphia, so, [the Eagles beating New York in Week 14] didn't really change," Jones said. "But I was definitely rooting for the Giants."
Jones is hopeful his beleaguered, inconsistent club can be like the Giants of 2011. The current playoff format gives the Cowboys at least a shot.
Do you think the Cowboys deserve a home playoff game should they win their division? Share your thoughts on the NFL playoff format with Mark on Twitter @therealmarklane.
