49ers, Bills, Texans-Steelers winner face a short week
The days, but not the times or the networks, have been set for the divisional round. And there is a clear disparity when it comes to the time between games, for multiple teams.
The Broncos, with 14 days off, will face the banged-up Bills only six days after Buffalo's win at Jacksonville. The Bills, in their reduced time, will have to travel home from Buffalo and travel to Denver for their next game.
Of course, that became unavoidable given the NFL's decision to stage a wild-card game on Monday night, once the playoffs expanded to 14 teams and the wild-card round grew from four games to six. The Texans-Steelers winner has to play on Sunday (which is still a short week, but not Monday-Saturday). With the Patriots winning, they'll host the winner of Monday night's game on Sunday. The Bills-Broncos game had to happen on Saturday.
In the NFC, the short week for the 49ers was avoidable. The Rams and Bears both played on Saturday. Having them play the following Saturday would give both a full week. By putting that game on Sunday, the NFL has required the 49ers to fly home from Philly on Sunday night and to fly to Seattle for a Saturday game.
As Hall of Fame head coach Tony Dungy observed in a Monday morning Twitter post, "NFL playoff scheduling is not fair. It might produce good ratings but it's not fair."
Added Dungy: "Several years ago the league did away with Monday Night games in Week 18 of the regular season because it created a disadvantage if one of those teams made the playoffs. Now we create that disadvantage."
It all goes back, in our view, to the NFL's justification for a full season of Thursday Night Football football. Once the league concluded that the injury rate for games played with only three full days off is the same as the injury rate for games played with six full days off, the door was opened for any arrangement with three, four, or five full days between games.
Frankly, it's surprising the NFL hasn't slid a Week 18 game to Monday night. The winner plays the following Sunday, or maybe Monday. Problem solved. Money made.
The money is what drive this analysis. And the ratings drive the money. Prime-time games create bigger ratings. Whether the configuration of games and the time to rest, recover, travel, and prepare between games is fair to the participants doesn't matter.