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PALM BEACH, Fla. - New kickoff rules that went into effect on a trial basis last season are now permanent, but NFL owners tabled the Detroit Lions' proposal to overhaul the seeding of playoff teams.
Rich McKay, the Atlanta Falcons CEO and co-chairman of the NFL's competition committee, indicated the Lions' proposal to seed playoff teams by record without regard to their standing in division garnered only moderate support at this week's annual meeting.
“Some is a good word," McKay said. "I think in playoff seeding, again, I’ve been through that vote four times, three times, and it always gets back to the traditionist says, 'Hey, I want to win the division and I want it to really mean something.'
More: Detroit Lions weighing OG options with Graham Glasgow, Christian Mahogany, Gio Manu in mix
"Well, something could be that you qualify for the playoffs, that that’s something, but people say, 'No, I want to host a playoff game.' Then the idea is, well, are you diminishing division championships, which we do not want to do."
The Lions submitted three rule- or bylaw-proposal changes this week, including one that would "amend the current playoff seeding format to allow wild card teams to be seeded higher than division champions if the wild card team has a better regular season record."
Currently, divisions winners get the top four seeds and first-round home playoff games in each conference, while wild-card teams are guaranteed to go on the road in the first two rounds.
Had the proposal been in effect last season, the Lions would have been the No. 1 seed in the NFC with a 15-2 record, followed by the Philadelphia Eagles at No. 2, the NFC North runner-up Minnesota Vikings at No. 3 and the NFC East runner-up Washington Commanders at No. 4. The NFC West champion Los Angeles Rams and NFC South champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers would have gone on the road in the wild-card round.
Before the vote, Lions coach Dan Campbell said he thought the proposal had "some legs" and that one argument against it was the league's unbalanced schedule.
"A few things have been brought up to, ‘Hey, when you win your division or you end up, well you do, you get the first-place schedule,'" Campbell said. "So you play these first-place schedules and then it doesn't seem fair, somebody else is playing a last-place schedule and they end up with a record better than yours and then they get a home game, you don’t and you won your division, which that makes sense, too."
NFL owners will reconsider the Lions' playoff seeding proposal and one by the Green Bay Packers to ban the "tush push" play at their May meeting, though McKay said that does not guarantee either will pass. McKay said owners could reconsider the seeding change with a modification to strip division winners of a home playoff game only if they have a .500 or below record.
“People want to keep looking at it," he said. "It doesn't mean (when it comes) back up it will pass in May, but it very well may be a different discussion if the season ever is extended. But it was a good - it was a long discussion, it was a good discussion but it was all the same arguments that we’ve heard before."
Campbell said he does not support eliminating the "tush push," where discussions centered more around reinstituting language that was stripped from the league's rule book in 2005 banning the pushing or pulling offensive players than the Eagles' high success rate on the play.
"Philly obviously is known for this because they're the ones who've really kind of perfected it and done it and do it over and over and I'm like, 'Good for them,'" Campbell said. "And if you got something, we got to stop it. So like to me, leave it in and we play them this year, we got to find a way to stop it. And I like that."
NFL owners did not adopt the Lions' proposal to eliminate the automatic first down as part of a defensive holding or illegal contact penalty, while rules to guarantee both teams one possession in overtime and to expand replay assist were approved.
On kickoffs, touchbacks will be at the 35-yard line starting in 2025, while coaches are still working through the best way to handle onside kicks.
The NFL saw more kick returns and a lower injury rate under new kickoff rules last season that kept the ball at the 35-yard line for kickoffs but moved coverage units to a stationary position on the return side of the field and instituted a landing zone between the goal line and 20-yard line.
Dave Birkett is the author of the book, "Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline." Order your copy here. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Here's why owners tabled Lions' proposal to change NFL playoff seeding
Continue reading...
Rich McKay, the Atlanta Falcons CEO and co-chairman of the NFL's competition committee, indicated the Lions' proposal to seed playoff teams by record without regard to their standing in division garnered only moderate support at this week's annual meeting.
“Some is a good word," McKay said. "I think in playoff seeding, again, I’ve been through that vote four times, three times, and it always gets back to the traditionist says, 'Hey, I want to win the division and I want it to really mean something.'
More: Detroit Lions weighing OG options with Graham Glasgow, Christian Mahogany, Gio Manu in mix
"Well, something could be that you qualify for the playoffs, that that’s something, but people say, 'No, I want to host a playoff game.' Then the idea is, well, are you diminishing division championships, which we do not want to do."
The Lions submitted three rule- or bylaw-proposal changes this week, including one that would "amend the current playoff seeding format to allow wild card teams to be seeded higher than division champions if the wild card team has a better regular season record."
Currently, divisions winners get the top four seeds and first-round home playoff games in each conference, while wild-card teams are guaranteed to go on the road in the first two rounds.
Had the proposal been in effect last season, the Lions would have been the No. 1 seed in the NFC with a 15-2 record, followed by the Philadelphia Eagles at No. 2, the NFC North runner-up Minnesota Vikings at No. 3 and the NFC East runner-up Washington Commanders at No. 4. The NFC West champion Los Angeles Rams and NFC South champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers would have gone on the road in the wild-card round.
Before the vote, Lions coach Dan Campbell said he thought the proposal had "some legs" and that one argument against it was the league's unbalanced schedule.
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"A few things have been brought up to, ‘Hey, when you win your division or you end up, well you do, you get the first-place schedule,'" Campbell said. "So you play these first-place schedules and then it doesn't seem fair, somebody else is playing a last-place schedule and they end up with a record better than yours and then they get a home game, you don’t and you won your division, which that makes sense, too."
NFL owners will reconsider the Lions' playoff seeding proposal and one by the Green Bay Packers to ban the "tush push" play at their May meeting, though McKay said that does not guarantee either will pass. McKay said owners could reconsider the seeding change with a modification to strip division winners of a home playoff game only if they have a .500 or below record.
“People want to keep looking at it," he said. "It doesn't mean (when it comes) back up it will pass in May, but it very well may be a different discussion if the season ever is extended. But it was a good - it was a long discussion, it was a good discussion but it was all the same arguments that we’ve heard before."
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Campbell said he does not support eliminating the "tush push," where discussions centered more around reinstituting language that was stripped from the league's rule book in 2005 banning the pushing or pulling offensive players than the Eagles' high success rate on the play.
"Philly obviously is known for this because they're the ones who've really kind of perfected it and done it and do it over and over and I'm like, 'Good for them,'" Campbell said. "And if you got something, we got to stop it. So like to me, leave it in and we play them this year, we got to find a way to stop it. And I like that."
NFL owners did not adopt the Lions' proposal to eliminate the automatic first down as part of a defensive holding or illegal contact penalty, while rules to guarantee both teams one possession in overtime and to expand replay assist were approved.
On kickoffs, touchbacks will be at the 35-yard line starting in 2025, while coaches are still working through the best way to handle onside kicks.
The NFL saw more kick returns and a lower injury rate under new kickoff rules last season that kept the ball at the 35-yard line for kickoffs but moved coverage units to a stationary position on the return side of the field and instituted a landing zone between the goal line and 20-yard line.
Dave Birkett is the author of the book, "Detroit Lions: An Illustrated Timeline." Order your copy here. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram at @davebirkett.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Here's why owners tabled Lions' proposal to change NFL playoff seeding
Continue reading...
