Word around the Twitter campfire is that the NFL is thinking again about expanding its playoffs to 14 or 16 teams from the current 12. If the size of the league didn't change, that would mean up to half the 32 teams get in.
At the conclusion of the league's quarterly ownership meeting in Dallas, Commissioner Roger Goodell dusted off a concept that rears its head from time to time.
Expanded playoffs.
Goodell said that the owners "teed up" the issue of expanding the playoffs from 12 to 14 or 16 teams, and that the discussions will continue in the coming months.
The use of 16 playoff teams would eliminate the bye weeks, requiring the top two seeds in each conference to play in the wild-card round, which would become a quarterfinal round in the AFC and NFC.
It sounds like an awful idea. We have to say 12 is just about right, ensuring that teams near .500 have something to play for late in the year but not, for the most part, rewarding mediocrity.
Then again, if and when awful ideas like this actually get enforced, the net effect typically feels far less intrusive than might have been expected based on the initial outrage.
