Playoffs to be Effed With?

NFL Comish Roger Goodell wants first round playoff division winners will not automatically have a home game. If they play a wildcard team that had a better record, the wild card team would get the game in their house.

It's not a terrible idea, and makes those last few games competitive. But it also opens a winning team with high hopes of climbing the playoff ladder open to some serious injury.

On the surface it looks like the brass is trying to out-coach or interfere with the idea of letting your best starters sit on the bench to heal up and relax before the big game - the one that matters. Since I've never seen that "sit your starters" strategy work out too well (ask the Pats, Colts, Bucks... just recent examples) I'm assuming that the boys upstairs are having trouble getting the faithful to watch weeks 16 and 17?

Duh! If you team is out, and has been since week 6... the average fan is exhausted. Even a guy with a Fat Head on his wall might tune out. Is playing a little harder for the Wild Card home field really going to make that big of a difference? The question is - since it didn't seem to stop the Giants!? The Giants (10-6) would have hosted Tampa Bay (9-7) and the wild-card Jaguars (11-5) would have hosted the AFC North champion Steelers (10-6) in the first round. In light of Goodell's plan, the road team ended up winning both of those games. So why mess with it?

My source