ESPN - Saints are WC team (1 Viewer)

[muddbug2]

ESPN ha Saints as NFC WC team most likely to make SB.

I guess only one team in each conference is considered division team? If playing this weekend you consider WC team.

I guess the only advantage is playing at home for six division winners.

 

[BiloxiSaint1]

ESPN ha Saints as NFC WC team most likely to make SB.

I guess only one team in each conference is considered division team? If playing this weekend you consider WC team.

I guess the only advantage is playing at home for six division winners.

Maybe they just meant the team playing on WC weekend.

 

[muddbug2]

Maybe they just meant the team playing on WC weekend.

Yes I’m sure it is.
Home field is the only real advantage otherwise I see their point.

 

[BelowZero]

Maybe they just meant the team playing on WC weekend.

Probably this. It'd be pretty outlandish, even for ESPN, to call the Saints a wildcard-caliber team.

 

[Domeination]

If the Saints manage to win the Super Bowl, I doubt they will be grouped with Wildcard teams that have managed to win it. They are a divisional winner, not a Wildcard team, even though they have to play in the Wildcard round.

 

[Icon]

We're like 2 days away from our playoff season. We don't need to go looking for things to feel slighted over.

 

[muddbug2]

We're like 2 days away from our playoff season. We don't need to go looking for things to feel slighted over.

I don’t feel slighted it’s just that this season there’s no real HOA so no real advantage winning division without the bye IMHO.

 

[St. Geezy]

If the Saints manage to win the Super Bowl, I doubt they will be grouped with Wildcard teams that have managed to win it. They are a divisional winner, not a Wildcard team, even though they have to play in the Wildcard round.

LOL

This is my annual post about the ridiculousness of playoff round 1 still being referred to as "Wild Card Weekend," and the phrase is even sillier now than it was the past several years.

When the phrase first started, it was because there were 5 playoff teams in each conference, and each of the three (not four) division winners in each conference had bye weeks. The two wild card teams in each conference played on the first weekend, so Wild Card weekend actually meant, Wild Card weekend.

In 1990, a sixth playoff team was added to each conference, so one of the division winners had to now play on the first weekend with the wild card teams, but even still, it was them along with three other wild card teams in each conference playing, so the term was still somewhat acceptable.

In 2002, when it became four divisions, with two of the division winners playing the first weekend, the term Wild Card weekend started to become silly. And now, with pretty much everyone playing the first weekend, and only one team having a bye, it is now completely bonkers that this phrase is still being used to describe round 1.

 

[Stalwart385]

ESPN ha Saints as NFC WC team most likely to make SB.

I guess only one team in each conference is considered division team? If playing this weekend you consider WC team.

I guess the only advantage is playing at home for six division winners.

The #1 seed has a large odds advantage (1 less game has a big effect mathematically), so they are refering to the best of the rest that play on wildcard weekend.

Homefield advantage does normally matter some, not this year though, and not nearly as much as playing one less game.