Kevin Colbert 'Excited' About Playoff Expansion
PITTSBURGH -- The NFL postseason just got a little more exciting, and a little more filled. On March 31, the NFL owners joined in a conference call to discuss issues around the league; including the postseason situation.
Owners voted to approve the playoff expansion from 12 teams to 14 starting in the 2020 season. The expansion was included in the newly approved NFL-NFLPA collective bargaining agreement, adding to the playoff bracket for the first time since 1990.
An additional team from each conference will be included in the postseason moving forward. Instead of the top two seeds getting a first-round bye, only the top seed will not play in the opening weekend. There will now be six games in the first-round.
The television schedule for this expansion will now host three games on Saturday and three on Sunday. The breakdown of the bracket will now be as followed:
- No. 2 vs. No. 7
- No. 3 vs. No. 6
- No. 4 vs. No. 5
Steelers general manager Kevin Colbert said that he's excited about the owners voted to implement a larger playoff system.
"I am excited about that," Colbert to the Steelers team site. "Not that we want too many teams in the playoffs, but I thought 12 was a little too little. Maybe that 17th game will be influential in who those extra teams will be. The more teams we can have compete for a championship the better it will be for our game."
If the expansion was in place during the 2019 season, the Steelers would've made the postseason as the seventh seed. Their opponent would've been Super Bowl champs, Kansas City Chiefs.
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