Another seemingly interminable NFL preseason is behind us, and the sentiment against these games that don’t count is growing.
These games mean everything to players who are fighting for a roster spot. However, that benefit is outweighed by the fact that a team’s season can be ruined if one of its stars is injured.
The length of the preseason is 25 percent of the regular season. Do teams really need four games to figure out the 51st, 52nd and 53rd players on their roster? Two games seems like enough to sort that out and also give starters some live game action to get ready for the season.
According to Pro Football Talk, a reduction in preseason games could be part of negotiations for the next collective bargaining agreement in 2021. If the preseason is reduced by two games, those games could be converted into regular-season games or the playoff field could expand.
Players aren’t too crazy about an 18-game regular season, but they might have to agree to it in a trade-off to reduce the commissioner’s disciplinary powers. And for the good of the league it would be better than expanding the playoffs.
Roger Goodell at times has pushed for an expanded playoff field, but it’s hard to see how it would work.
Under the current format, 12 teams make the playoffs with two teams in each conference getting a bye on wild-card weekend. If the playoffs are expanded from 12 to 14 teams, one team in each conference would get a bye. That would give two teams an inside track to the Super Bowl with the other 12 needing to win one more game to get to the Super Bowl. Currently, four teams have that leg up with the other eight playoff teams in the pack. The bye advantage is distributed a little more evenly.
A 16-team playoff field would eliminate byes altogether, but then half of the 32 teams would make the playoffs it would start to resemble the NBA and NHL postseasons where mediocre teams can call themselves playoff teams.
Fans certainly would take two regular-season games in place of two preseason games. The current 16-game schedule is made up of two games against each division opponent (six games), a game against every team in one other division within the conference (four games), games against the team in the other two in-conference divisions that finished in the same slot in the standings (two games) and one game against each team in a division in the other conference (four games).
Those two games against the team finishing in the same place in the division (for example a team finishing in second place the previous year plays the teams finishing second in the other divisions) were designed to make the schedule easier for weaker teams and harder for stronger teams, hence the term “first-place schedule,” “second-place schedule” and so on. But what’s the point if only two of the 16 games are standings-dependent?
In an 18-game schedule, a team could play each team in two other in-conference divisions (eight games) with the other 10 games being the six division games and the four non-conference games.
Sure, an 18-game regular season is a tough sell amidst the concussion crisis. It can be argued that players would be exposed to more of an injury risk playing in two more meaningful games than they are playing a few series in a couple of preseason games. That problem can be alleviated by expanding the rosters.
The other matter is how to fit an 18-game schedule on the calendar. If the regular season started in August, it wouldn’t feel much different because with training camps the NFL has pretty much commandeered August when it comes to national attention.
If the league wanted to keep Labor Day as a clear demarcation between the preseason and regular season, then the playoffs could start later and the Super Bowl could be played in the second or third week of February. By doing that, the league could rescue perhaps the deadest month on the sports calendar.
There might be some years that football widows and widowers lose Valentine’s Day to Super Bowl Sunday, or maybe that second week of February could be the Super Bowl bye week. Whether the NFL season goes deeper into February or further encroaches on the summer, it’s better than an entire month of games that don’t count.
