Status Quo on Playoff Seeding

The Miami Dolphins' 2023 playoff game would have been different under a proposed change that ultimately was abandoned

Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Willie Gay (50) moves in to recover the ball against the Miami Dolphins during the second half of the 2023 AFC wild card game at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

If the NFL playoff format is to change, it's going to happen down the line and not in 2025.

The Detroit Lions have withdrawn their proposal to change the format, away from giving division winners and rewarding those with the best regards, so it will not be voted on at the spring meetings in Minnesota. It's entirely possible the issue will be revisited, but logic suggests it might be part of a reshuffling of the scheduling format once the league inevitably moves to an 18-game regular season.

Had the proposal moved forward and been approved, the change could have had a significant impact on the playoff matchups — as it most certainly would have for the Dolphins' last playoff game, the freezing cold Saturday night game against the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in the first round of the 2023 playoffs.

Under the proposed change, the NFL playoff seeding format would have eliminated the automatic home game for the four division winners in each conference and simply seed the teams by record.

The division winners still would get into the playoffs regardless, but no more home games for teams that finish with mediocre records.

So in 2023, had that rule been in effect, the Dolphins would have played that first-round game against the Cleveland Browns as the No. 5 seed. They still would have been on the road, but Cleveland obviously isn't the same kind of matchup that Kansas City was on its way to its second consecutive Super Bowl title.

It was the Houston Texans who benefited in 2023 from the current playoff seeding format because they got a home game with a 10-7 record when the Browns and Dolphins each finished with an 11-6 record.

The Dolphins also would have had a different first-round playoff match in 2016 under this proposed new format because Houston (again) wound up with the No. 4 seed despite having the worst record of any AFC playoff team that season.

So instead of facing the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Dolphins would have played the Oakland Raiders on the road, Houston would have been at Pittsburgh, and New England and Kansas City still would have had the two byes (there were six playoff teams in each conference that year).

It's worth noting that the current format has benefited the AFC South champion (Jacksonville once and Houston twice) and the NFC South champion (Tampa Bay Buccaneers) each of the past three seasons.

From this vantage point, though, while there's merit in rewarding a team for finishing with a better record, this proposed change would take away one of the big perks for winning a division title. And it says here that for every team that's hurt by the currently setup, there's a team that benefits, and chances are it will even out in the end.

NFL owners voted unanimously Tuesday to allow NFL players to participate in the 2028 Olympic Games' flag football event.

Here's what else the owners could be voting on this week:

END OF THE TUSH PUSH

Proposed by the Green Bay Packers earlier in the offseason, the new rule has been tweaked but it still would make it illegal for an offensive player to push a teammate in the back after that player takes a snap. It's basically a call to end the tush push, and we're all in favor of the change because the NFL shouldn't look like rugby or Australian Rules Football with those scrums. This also would eliminate any help from an offensive teammate beyond blocking defenders.

ONSIDE KICKS ALL THE TIME

There are various tweaks proposed regarding formations for both kicking and receiving teams, but the most significant change with the kickoff role would be allowing teams to declare they're attempting an onside kick at any point in the game as opposed to only in the fourth quarter. We're all for this one, though it's still a very low-chance play for the kicking team.