For New Yorkers still upset you were played by Herm Edwards

Playoff road team records by season this decade ...

2005 season -- 6-4
2004 -- 4-6
2003 -- 4-6
2002 -- 2-8
2001 -- 3-7
2000 -- 2-8

... Going into last week's games, wild card road teams were 10-10 the last five years. Three road teams won their games the opening weekend last January; road teams won half the games each weekend after that.

Historically, yes, it's tough to win games on the road in January. That said, it hasn't been that way the past three years for some reason. Also, ask the Steelers, Eagles and Chiefs how much home field means to them.

 

They might be. What, you think I spent hours researching this? All those numbers are available in the records section of NFL.com. If you want to do more research, feel free.

 

Oz, you rock, I was just going to look this stuff up.

Columbo, no need to be a dick. I know it comes easy sometimes, but still.

To further expound on what Oz posted, here's the stats on how many #1 seeds have gotten to the Super Bowl since the playoffs expanded in 1990:

2005: 1
2004: 1
2003: 1 (eagles lose the NFC title game at home for the second straight year)
2002: 1
2001: 1
2000: 1
1999: 1
1998: 1
1997: 0
1996: 1
1995: 1
1994: 1
1993: 2
1992: 0
1991: 2
1990: 1

Twice--and not since 1993--the two no. 1 seeds have gotten to the Super Bowl. This isn't cherrypicking. This is a fact: Winning on the road in the playoffs is not nearly the tall task you make it out to be in order to protect the Cowboys and your next coach, Bill Parcells. Good teams do it. A lot.

And if you think Drew Bledsoe--statuesque Drew Bledsoe who quit on this season the second he was demoted for Romo against the Giants--would have done better against the Seahawks, you are nuts.

What's Drew's south Florida link? I thought he was a Washington state guy.

 

Comes too easy when Columbo makes a statement and can't back it up with facts. As a Steelers fan, watching them go 1-0 in road AFC title games and 0-4 in home AFC title games isn't some fluke trend. It's happened to other teams, too.

 

Written by Whitlock six days before he put on his, uh, pimp glove. Pay close attention to the bolded portion…

"And you know what? The sixth-seeded Chiefs drew the one AFC playoff team they’re capable of beating on the road. The Indianapolis Colts don’t want to see any parts of LoJomotive #27.

Seriously, guess the quarter LoJo #27 goes over 200 yards Saturday afternoon? You know Herm Edwards is ordering extra coal right now, and he’ll instruct Mike Solari and Trent Green to shovel hot coals in LoJo #27 all afternoon.

The over/under on Larry Johnson carries for Indianapolis is 35.

The Colts defense gives up a league-worst 5.3 yards per carry. That’s more than a yard more than any other AFC playoff team. <b> There’s no reason to get cute with the game plan on Saturday.

The Chiefs should put all their receivers on the inactive list and line up with seven offensive linemen, Tony Gonzalez, a fullback, Trent Green and LoJomotive #27, the NFL record holder for carries in a season.

Given the opponent and the game plan, Green’s struggles are irrelevant. </b>"

To recap: LoJomotive. Extra coal. 200 yards. 35 carries. Seven offensive linemen. Green's play is irrelevant.

 

So he advocated the Herm Edwards game plan that he just blasted? Nice.

 

Yes! This kind of thing should happen far, far more often.

Oh, and jw -- the rules don't allow lining up with seven offensive linemen. But I'm sure you knew that; you were just sweeping out the stall, or putting down the blimp hand. I've sort of lost track of the lingo.

 

Road teams are 21-39 the last six years according to Oz's numbers. That would seem to back up Columbo's assertion that it's difficult to win playoff games on the road, no?

Eight of those road wins (nearly 40 percent) came in the wild card round, where upsets are most likely to occur (after all, a wild card team can often have a better record than a division winner). Pittsburgh was the first team to ever win three road games to reach the SB (IIRC). In the last six years, only Carolina and Baltimore won two road games to make it to the SB, the rest all had at least a home game in the Divisional round.

Fact of the matter is, it's tough to make it to the Super Bowl at all. Doing it on the road is harder. There's no denying that the more road games you play, the less likely you are to make the Super Bowl.

I have no dog in the Parcells/Bledsoe, whatever, fight, but to say it's not more difficult to win on the road is inaccurate. I think a better argument would be why hasn't Parcells done the job in the regular season to get his team a bye or a home game and make a trip to the Super Bowl easier.

Of course, as I finish typing this, I realize that helped make the point that at some point, since it is easier to win on the road in the WC round, the Cowboys should have won one wild card game by now.

I'll just stop. My brain hurts.

 

Yup.. Indy at KC in the sub-zero temps -- loss.
Denver at KC in the sleet/rain -- loss.
Indy at KC in the perfect 60 degree weather -- loss.

KC hasn't won a home playoff game since Nick Lowery sported the movable single-bar facemask and artificial turf covered Arrowhead.

 

Except that the trend hasn't held true the last three seasons, when road teams have gone 14-16, when we've seen a wild card team knock off the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 seeds to not only make the Super Bowl but win it.

Recent history suggests a shift from Columbo's assertion, from what once was true.

 

Quick quesiton about this. If two of the linemen report as eligible for each end, wouldn't they be able to have seven on the line, with the TE off and then three in the backfield?

 

The fast answer is no. I'll let someone else offer the explanation.