Heading home for the football holidays? NFL wild card teams might be able to do so if a new rule proposal is approved.
Nine rule change proposals for the 2023-24 NFL season were submitted by teams on Monday and one from the Los Angeles Chargers will particularly intrigue Dallas Cowboys fans: under this hypothetical, wild card teams that have at least four more wins would host a playoff game rather than the divisional winner, as has been tradition since 1975.
As the current playoff format stands, each conference’s top four seeds are bestowed to the champions of each side’s division ranked by record. While only the top seed gets a first-round bye, the division champs are guaranteed at least one home playoff game no matter their record.
While there could be some spiteful incentives behind the 10-7 Chargers’ request … Los Angeles, after all, had to face the 9-8 AFC South Champions in Jacksonville last Wild Card Weekend … the Cowboys would’ve directly benefitted from such an amendment.
Dallas earned 12 wins for the second consecutive season, matching or besting three of the eight division winners on last year’s playoff bracket. However, they missed out on the division title by two games thanks to Philadelphia’s 14-win campaign, relegating them to the NFC’s top Wild Card spot. That forced them to the road when the postseason kicked off, heading east to battle a Tampa Bay Buccaneers group that went 8-9 yet finished atop a weak NFC South. Despite the mandated travel, the Cowboys triumphed by a 31-14 final in the opening round, winning what currently stands as Tom Brady’s final NFL appearance.
In the NFL’s modern era (since 1970), six teams have reached the playoffs with a losing record. Four have done so via divisional caveats and have hosted a subsequent playoff game with two from that pair (2010 Seattle and 2014 Carolina) prevailing in their wild card showing. Dallas would love to take advantage of as many playoff home games as they can: AT&T Stadium has yet to host postseason games in consecutive since its opening in 2009 and the Cowboys’ last instance of such was a five-year streak (1992-96) that produced three championships.
In addition to the Chargers’ request, eight other rule proposals were submitted for the NFL’s consideration this week. Among the notable requests were two from the Cowboys’ divisional rivals in Philadelphia: one advocates for the No. 0 to be included in jersey number circulation while the other seeks to adopt a variation of the spring league innovation of a 15-yard fourth down attempt to keep possession of the ball in lieu of an onside kick. The Detroit Lions and the Los Angeles Rams have each called for rules to expand instant the jurisdiction and enacting of instant replay reviews to penalties including personal fouls and roughing the passer calls.
Any rule change requires 24 votes of approval from the 32 NFL team owners at the annual league meetings.