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How Can The NFL Make Week 17 Games More Exciting? Draft Lottery Maybe? (1 Viewer)

H

HairyGOATee

Footballguy
How Can The NFL Make Week 17 Games More Exciting?

For as long as I can remember, week 17 and/or regular season finales can either be very meaningful, or just a live scrimmage for backups and 3rd stringers. Most fantasy leagues finish by week 16 because week 17 games tend to be so iffy, so how can the NFL make these more competitive?

Would instituting a draft lottery help fix part of the problem? I could see it helping a little, but I could also see how it would cut against the competitive spirit, as some teams would just rather race to the bottom instead of trying to finish strong. So maybe just the bottom 4-5 teams are placed in the lottery?

Ionno, but Week 17 can be SUCH a joke, so I'm curious to hear some other ideas that you all may have.

P.S. This is also my last new thread for the weekend. I know some of you all are concerned about that, so I want to show some restraint now.

 
Week 17 is fine as is. They changed it years ago to where it is all divisional games week 17, and that is good enough.  

Although I do think my idea in the other thread about playoff seeing would help.  If all playoff teams know that they are playing for seeding, they might all play Week 17 like they have something for which to play, rather than sitting many starters.  A 10-5 team that has their division clinched might be locked into the 4 seed now, but do it my way, and a win or loss in week 17 might be the difference between the 4 seed and the 6 seed. 

 
Stop starting these dumb threads please. At least space them out to once a week. I see you addressed that. I think you'd do well to find an audience interested in your hypotheticals on social media and then link them to a blog. 

 
ConnSKINS26 said:
Stop starting these dumb threads please. At least space them out to once a week. I see you addressed that. I think you'd do well to find an audience interested in your hypotheticals on social media and then link them to a blog. 
Click to expand...
I don't know if these fall under the category of hypothetical, but yeah, perhaps more spacing would be better. I like news and updates, sure, but I love these issue-based discussions so much more. 

Maybe I could start a blog though...

 
Ghost Rider said:
Week 17 is fine as is. They changed it years ago to where it is all divisional games week 17, and that is good enough.  

Although I do think my idea in the other thread about playoff seeing would help.  If all playoff teams know that they are playing for seeding, they might all play Week 17 like they have something for which to play, rather than sitting many starters.  A 10-5 team that has their division clinched might be locked into the 4 seed now, but do it my way, and a win or loss in week 17 might be the difference between the 4 seed and the 6 seed. 
Click to expand...
Do you play fantasy during week 17? If not, then I'd find it hard to say that it is fine as is. 

I like your idea on playoff seeding for sure, and I also like the idea of expanding playoffs, so you have more teams vying for a playoff spot, and less byes available. A draft lottery could help, maybe, but that's really more of an anti-tanking measure, whereas these other ideas are pro-competition.

Thanks for your response though. Also, congrats on the Blues winning the Stanley Cup. That Game 7 against the Stars was a real nail-biter.

 
HairyGOATee said:
Do you play fantasy during week 17? If not, then I'd find it hard to say that it is fine as is. 

I like your idea on playoff seeding for sure, and I also like the idea of expanding playoffs, so you have more teams vying for a playoff spot, and less byes available. A draft lottery could help, maybe, but that's really more of an anti-tanking measure, whereas these other ideas are pro-competition.

Thanks for your response though. Also, congrats on the Blues winning the Stanley Cup. That Game 7 against the Stars was a real nail-biter.
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Thanks!  :thumbup:   :thumbup:

However, the fact that most fantasy leagues do not go into week 17 is largely irrelevant. I get what you are saying, that no fantasy games week 17 is indicative of how meaningless a lot of the games are, but not sure what can be done.  Having a draft lottery would be unfair since that would be too dependent on who their opponents are.  What if two 3-12 teams are playing for a spot near the top of the lottery, and one plays a division winner locked into their playoff spot and resting their starters, while the other is playing a team fighting for a wild card spot?  I don't think you can put a draft spot entirely on a situation like that. 

 
Ghost Rider said:
Thanks!  :thumbup:   :thumbup:

However, the fact that most fantasy leagues do not go into week 17 is largely irrelevant. I get what you are saying, that no fantasy games week 17 is indicative of how meaningless a lot of the games are, but not sure what can be done.  Having a draft lottery would be unfair since that would be too dependent on who their opponents are.  What if two 3-12 teams are playing for a spot near the top of the lottery, and one plays a division winner locked into their playoff spot and resting their starters, while the other is playing a team fighting for a wild card spot?  I don't think you can put a draft spot entirely on a situation like that. 
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I gotcha, but currently the draft spots are based off of record anyway, so the same problem is currently present. Like, by the luck of the draw, you may have just had an easier schedule than someone with a super tough schedule, and you miss out on the #1 pick because of that.

But the draft lottery thing is probably something I'd have to put on the back-burner. I like it in theory, but it's always hard to implement a new system when you have a current one in place. I think expanding playoffs and reworking the seeding would help make week 17 games more meaningful. Draft lottery might help, but I could also see a situation where a team is on the outside of the lottery looking in, so they just tank to wind up in the lottery. So it'd cut both ways. :-/

 
HairyGOATee said:
How Can The NFL Make Week 17 Games More Exciting?

For as long as I can remember, week 17 and/or regular season finales can either be very meaningful, or just a live scrimmage for backups and 3rd stringers. Most fantasy leagues finish by week 16 because week 17 games tend to be so iffy, so how can the NFL make these more competitive?

Would instituting a draft lottery help fix part of the problem? I could see it helping a little, but I could also see how it would cut against the competitive spirit, as some teams would just rather race to the bottom instead of trying to finish strong. So maybe just the bottom 4-5 teams are placed in the lottery?

Ionno, but Week 17 can be SUCH a joke, so I'm curious to hear some other ideas that you all may have.

P.S. This is also my last new thread for the weekend. I know some of you all are concerned about that, so I want to show some restraint now.
Click to expand...
I like that Week 17 means nothing for fantasy and even to an extent as an NFL fan - I could use a break before the playoffs. 

 
Dr. Octopus said:
I like that Week 17 means nothing for fantasy and even to an extent as an NFL fan - I could use a break before the playoffs. 
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That's fair, but the way I see it, if a break is what is intended, then just give everyone a week off before the start of the playoffs. Of course, that would mean seeds 1 and 2 on each side would get 2 weeks off.

 
HairyGOATee said:
That's fair, but the way I see it, if a break is what is intended, then just give everyone a week off before the start of the playoffs. Of course, that would mean seeds 1 and 2 on each side would get 2 weeks off.
Click to expand...
It's not the intention, it's just a benefit to me. There are still a handful of meaningful games in Week 17 and that's fine if that's all. All sports leagues have some meaningless games to end a season. Most of the teams that sit starters have earned that right. It's not a big deal.

 
Dr. Octopus said:
It's not the intention, it's just a benefit to me. There are still a handful of meaningful games in Week 17 and that's fine if that's all. All sports leagues have some meaningless games to end a season. Most of the teams that sit starters have earned that right. It's not a big deal.
Click to expand...
They've earned the right in the sense that the playoff bracket allows for it, but that's what I think actually is the big deal. I don't like that the playoff bracket gives the 2nd seed a bye as well. Sure, not everybody plays the same schedule, but that also works for seeds 3 and 4, and maybe even 5 and 6. Just make it an 8 team bracket (I can compromise on 7 though) and give everyone a week off before the start of the playoffs.

 
ConnSKINS26 said:
Stop starting these dumb threads please. At least space them out to once a week. I see you addressed that. I think you'd do well to find an audience interested in your hypotheticals on social media and then link them to a blog. 
Click to expand...
Yeah...  I saw the title and immediately knew who the poster would be.  That's not good.

 
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