The Football League play-offs are an annual series of football matches to determine some of the promotion places within the Football League. Each division of the league offers a certain number of automatic promotion places to the top two or three clubs. It had been started since 1920 until 1932 and this was no scheduled championship game. The championship was awarded to a team by a vote of team owners at the annual owners' meeting. From 1924–1932, the team having the best winning percentage was awarded the championship. As each team played a different number of games, simply counting wins and losses would have been insufficient. Additionally, tie games were not counted in the standings in figuring winning percentage.
The 2002 changes have led to two
limitations in the playoff system: First, several division champions have
hosted wild card playoff against teams that had a better win-loss record.
Second, there have been division champions that have had worse records than
teams failing to qualify for the playoffs. In one example, 2008 saw the San Diego Chargers
clinch the AFC West championship with only an 8–8 record, and thus host the
12–4 Indianapolis Colts in the Wild Card Round, while the New England Patriots
failed to even secure a wild card spot at 11–5. The Chargers then went on to
defeat the Colts in that playoff game.
One proposal has been to expand
the playoffs to 14 teams. Proponents of expansion note the increased revenue
that could be gained from an additional two playoff games. They also note that
the 12-team playoff system was implemented when the league only had 28 teams
and six divisions (of 4 to 5 teams each). The opposition to such a move notes
that an expansion of the playoffs would "water down" the field by
giving access to lower-caliber teams. Opponents to expansion further point to
the NBA Playoffs and the playoffs where
16 of 30 teams qualify for the post season, and there is often a decreased
emphasis on regular season performance as a result.
The NF L's Competition Committee withdrew
the request later that off season, with Atlanta president Rich McKay mentioning
that they wanted the idea to simply get a discussion going. Just before
the 2010 Seattle Sea hawks won the NFC
West at 7–9, and then defeated the 11–5 New Orleans Saints in the opening round,
becoming the first team in NFL history to win both a division and later a
playoff game with a losing record, McKay wanted to revisit the previous
proposal to reseed teams during Wild Card Weekend.
Records
ü Black pool is
the only club to win all three divisional play-offs. They won the Championship
finals in 2010, the League One finals in 2007, and the League Two (then Fourth
and Third Divisions) in 1992 and 2001.
ü Dagenham & Red Bridge hold the
record for the highest winning aggregate in the semi finals.
ü In
League Two, only Black pool & Dagenham have ever been promoted in what is
the traditional bogey slot of 7th position.
ü Reading and Sheffield United are the only clubs
to lose a play-off final at the Old Wembley.the
Millennium Stadium and the New Wembley
doing so in 1995, 2001 and 2011 and 1997, 2003 and 2009.
Wild Card
playoff games in which a division winner defeated a wild card team with a
better regular season record (2002–present)
|
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Season
|
Wild Card
team
|
Regular
season record
|
Division
winner
|
Regular
season record
|
Score
|
Final
postseason result of division winner
|
2002–03
|
Indianapolis
Colts
|
10-6
|
New York Jets
|
9-7
|
Jets, 41-0
|
Lost Divisional Playoffs vs Oakland
Raiders 30-10
|
2005–06
|
Jacksonville
Jaguars
|
12-4
|
New England
Patriots
|
10-6
|
Patriots,
28-3
|
Lost Divisional Playoffs vs Denver
Broncos 27–13
|
2008–09
|
Indianapolis
Colts
|
12-4
|
San Diego
Chargers
|
8-8*
|
Chargers,
23-17 (OT)
|
Lost Divisional Playoffs vs
Pittsburgh Steelers 24–35
|
Atlanta
Falcons
|
11-5
|
Arizona
Cardinals
|
9-7
|
Cardinals, 30-24
|
Won Divisional Playoffs vs Carolina
Panthers 33–13
Won Conference Championship vs Philadelphia Eagles 32–25 Lost Super Bowl XLIII vs Pittsburgh Steelers 27–23 |
|
2009–10
|
Green Bay
Packers
|
11-5
|
Arizona
Cardinals
|
10-6
|
Cardinals,
51-45 (OT)
|
Lost Divisional Playoffs vs New
Orleans Saints 45–14
|
2010–11
|
New Orleans
Saints
|
11-5
|
Seattle Sea hawks
|
7-9*
|
Sea hawks,
41-36
|
Lost Divisional Playoffs vs Chicago
Bears 35-24
|
2011-12
|
Pittsburgh
Steelers
|
12-4
|
Denver
Broncos
|
8-8*
|
Broncos,
29-23 (OT)
|
Lost Divisional Playoffs vs New
England Patriots 45-10
|
Atlanta
Falcons
|
10-6
|
New York Giants
|
9-7
|
Giants, 24-2
|
Won Divisional Playoffs vs Green Bay
Packers 37-20
Won Conference Championship vs San Francisco 49ers 20-17 Won Super Bowl XLVI vs. New England Patriots 21-17 |
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The Playoffs Ticket is also
available on ticket4football website. The Ticket4Tootball is suitable site for
purchasing the playoffs tickets. For the recently playoffs match tickets are
available at given link.
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