A suggestion made about the competitive balance issue!

Don't remind me!

Ending the season with 2 divisional games doesn't sound like a good idea for the Texans. I could still see some holes in the plan but it seems like a decent solution.

 

That's actually not too bad of an idea. The only time that would have no bearing on the effort of the two teams would be in this season's scenario, where one team just absolutely obliterates everyone in their division. The inherent problem isn't that teams are resting their players in advance of the post-season (it happens every single year in the NBA and MLB); the problem is that in football, you only play 16 games, so the playoff race is obviously going to be far more jumbled, and every game has infinitely more bearing on the season. Basically, because the Jets had the benefit of playing two teams that were already in the playoffs, they were literally handed 12.5% of their season. To put it in perspective, that would be the equivalent of the Rockets starting the season at 10-0, before anyone else played a game. Obviously they would have a huge advantage, and would most likely make the playoffs BECAUSE of that start. Basically, I don't see an easy solution to the problem because football is a far more punishing sport than either basketball or baseball, so resting players will always be a welcome path for teams who have the luxury. I just don't think you can ever do anything about it. Hopefully, one day the Texans will have that luxury.

 

Make week 15 a position round. They do this in bowling leagues. 1st place vs 2nd place; 3rd vs 4th...etc.

It might take away a home game from some teams. Just an idea.

 

I don't think it does much. It doesn't really stop teams from tanking, it just changes who they're tanking against. The teams that are tanking for the most part are already in a position where tiebreakers don't matter. There are a few instances where it might affect things, but it probably wouldn't factor in to things too much.

Who tanked this year? Colts, Bengals, Cards, Saints. Would any of them not done so if they were playing division games instead? Colts and Saints had their divisions wrapped up easily so they'd still tank. Cards had their division wrapped up too before week 16 and the Bengals still could have tanked week 17. So it really wouldn't have changed anything this year.

The only time I really see it being a factor is like the Philly-Dallas situation this year. Going into week 17 Philly was 11-4 (4-1 division) and Dallas was 10-5 (3-2 division + previous win vs Eagles). Philly couldn't tank if they wanted to win the division and get HFA. They got stomped anyway but they didn't tank. But then again, if both teams finished the season out of division and Philly still had a 1 game lead and the same division record as Dallas, they wouldn't have tanked anyway.

So it's a nice idea, but I don't think it's going to come into play that much.