Sarlacc83":113vcixf said:
Scottemojo":113vcixf said:
I am genuinely torn between my desire to drink Niner fan tears when they don't make the playoffs, or my desire to drink Niner fan tears when we boot them out of the C-Link in the playoffs.
I'd rather keep them out of the playoffs. Beating a team 3x in a year is reaaaaaaalllly hard.
So is forcing Drew Brees to play his worst game in a decade?
Anyway, I keep seeing this, I'd like to know how often in say the last decade a team has lost (at home) in the playoffs to a team they swept in the regular season. Yes, it's hard to win 3 games in a year against one team - because it's difficult enough to win 2 in the first place, let alone meet them in the playoffs. I'd say it's hard to do because it's hard to sweep a divisional rival and still have them make the playoffs in the first place, and then in the occasions they do, they rarely actually face each other.
In 2012 no wild-card team was swept by the division winner
In 2011 EVERY wild-card team was swept (and in the Bengals case they lost both to the Ravens AND the Steelers, but all 3 made it in), but all 4 wild card teams were one and done without meeting their rivals.
In 2010, Green Bay, Baltimore and the Jets all faced a divisional rival in the playoffs, but all split in the regular season - we know what happened to the Saints that year too...
In 2009 the Eagles and Cowboys actually met in the wildcard round, the Cowboys having swept the series in the regular season - and they won the 3rd game too.
In 2008 the Eagles faced the Giants and the Ravens the Steelers, the Eagles and Giants split, the Steelers swept the Ravens in the regular season and again won in the playoffs.
In 2007 the Giants and Cowboys faced off with the Cowboys having swept the regular season, but the Giants went on to win in the playoffs. This occurence should be taken with a grain of salt though, given that this Giants team also beat the then 18-0 Patriots in the Superbowl. Certainly an oddsbreaker.
In 2006 the Giants and Eagles and the Pats and Jets played in the WC round but all split in the regular season.
In 2005 the Steelers and Bengals faced off, but split in the regular season
In 2004 we lost to the Rams 3 times (SORRY FOR REMINDING YOU), the Packers and Vikings also faced off but split in the regular season.
No divisional matchups in 2003.
So, that is, in the last 10 seasons, there have been 12 playoff games between divisional rivals, only 4 teams actually swept the series in the regular season, and 3 of those won in the playoffs. The lone exception the bizzaro-2007 NY Giants, who actually lost (AT HOME) to the Cowboys, Packers and Patriots in the regular season, but beat them all en route to the Superbowl. (And, it should be noted that their first loss to the Cowboys on the road was their season opener).
So whilst I would agree it IS difficult to beat a team three times in a year, it's a lot harder to beat them 3 times if you lost one of the first two games, in fact, it might
quite possibly be impossible. But if you DO win those first 2 games, the chances of winning 3 are a lot higher.