Why do sports fans watch the NFL playoffs?”
The NFL playoffs kick off today with the beginning of wild card weekend. With four games on the schedule, let’s check out a key matchup for each of the four weekend games. NY Jets at Cincinnati Today- 4:30 (EST) NBC RB Cedric Benson vs. the New York front seven Benson has to be a factor if the Bengals are going to move the ball and put points on the board today. Forget about Chad Ochocinco down the field against Jets’ CB Darrelle Revis—because that is a matchup that is already decided. But, in saying that, this Bengals ball club will have to run the football, set up manageable third downs and create field position through the legs of Benson. You don’t have to light up the scoreboard to beat the Jets, but you have to use the running game and field position to create scoring opportunities. Don’t be surprised to see Benson get 20-25 carries in the basic power game: the Lead Strong, the Lead Open and the Power O. But, it all comes down to Benson’s ability to run the ball with production to
Decisions made many years ago by insightful men such as Pete Rozelle laid the groundwork for the NFL we know today. The vision of these men has withstood record breaking television viewership, sponsorship deals, multi-million dollar signing bonuses and the evolution of the game into a multi-billion dollar business. Their ideas were filled with foresight that we are only now truly seeing the benefits of. Although it took years of complicated negotiations, player strikes and lockouts, etc. to achieve the success the league is seeing today, the overall vision was quite simple. The vision was that the more popular the entire league became, the more financially beneficial it would be for everyone. The wisdom and foresight of this vision has led the NFL to unprecedented popularity and success. So, why is the NFL so popular and successful? The reason is due to the complete parity in the league. Unlike most professional sports today, no matter where you live in the country, your team has an eq
The National Football League (NFL) playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held at the end of the 16-game regular season to determine the NFL champion. Six teams from each of the league’s two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season records, and a tie-breaking procedure exists in the case of equal records. It ends with the Super Bowl, the league’s championship game. NFL post-season history can be traced to the first NFL Championship Game in 1933, though in the early years, qualification for the game was based solely on regular season records. The first true NFL playoff began in 1967, when four teams qualified for the tournament. When the league merged with the American Football League in 1970, the playoffs expanded to eight teams. The playoffs were expanded to ten teams in 1978 and twelve teams in 1990. The Houston Texans, which joined the league as an expansion team in 2002, are the only current NFL team that have yet to qualify for the playoffs.
