Raiders 31, Broncos 10: Is it Too Late to Change the Rules for Making the Playoffs?
In baseball, every team, no matter how pathetic, is guaranteed a representative in the All-Star Game. It often means a deserving player has to miss the game so that a member of the Pirates gets a moment in the sun. It’s an understandable rule, although one that cheapens the game a bit. Why am I talking baseball? Because the AFC West is going to have the same effect on the NFL Playoffs that those token players have in baseball. Whichever team wins the division will have no business in the playoffs. If the season ended today that team would be the Denver Broncos. The very same Broncos who were routed, at home, by a two-win Raider team. The same Broncos that allowed three offensive touchdowns to a Raider team that hadn’t scored one in their last three games. It was a 15 quarter streak, in fact, that ended when Darren McFadden scored on a one-yard run in the third quarter. The Broncos also allowed JaMarcus Russell, he of the 50% completion rate, to connect on 10-of-11 passes. Four of those
