Mar 21, 2025 5 min read

By Dale Lolley

For the Observer-Reporter

newsroom@observer-reporter.com

Why mess with a good thing?

The Detroit Lions have put forth a proposal to change the NFL playoff format. Instead of giving the four division winners a home game and seeding the wild-card teams fifth through seventh, the Lions are proposing seeding playoff teams strictly by record.

That’s silly.

It would make divisional games nearly meaningless.

NFL teams don’t play balanced schedules, meaning no two teams play all the same other teams. Even teams within the same division, while having many of the same opponents, still have some differences in their schedule.

So, simply because Team A goes 11-6 and Team B goes 10-7 doesn’t mean Team A should be seeded ahead of Team B in the postseason if Team B won its division.

This goes all the way back to 1967, when the NFL split from a two-division format to four, increasing the number of playoff teams from two to four, as well.

In that season, Cleveland, Green Bay and Dallas all won their respective divisions with nine wins. The Rams won the Coastal Division at 11-1-2. The Colts – yes, the NFL has always been directionally challenged – also had an 11-1-2 record but lost a tiebreaker to the Rams and did not make the playoffs.

There’s always going to be someone unhappy with how things work.

Some of that has been alleviated with the expansion to seven playoff teams in each conference. But if you want at least one home game, there’s a simple path to securing it – win your division.

The league shouldn’t mess with that.

• Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders has fallen well behind Miami’s Cam Ward as the top quarterback in this draft. Once people stopped just looking at Sanders’ numbers and the name on his back and watched the tape, they’ve seen a quarterback who holds the ball too long – nearly 3 seconds on average – and isn’t all that athletic, despite the last name.

Can some of those things be coached out of him? Sure.

Will Sanders, who has been coached in college by his father, Deion, at both of his stops, be open to that coaching? Maybe not.

This snippet from him this week leads one to believe that: At the NFL Scouting Combine, there were reports that Sanders came off as “arrogant,” during the interview process.

Thursday at the Colorado Pro Day, Sanders was asked about some of the evaluations that now poke holes in his game.

“It’s a lot of critics,” Sanders said. “But we know what to do. We know how to handle that in every way. So, we remain happy.”

Now, was Sanders referring to himself with the “royal we,” or was he referring to himself and his famous father?

And therein lies the rub with Sanders. Deion was once so petty that as a member of the Atlanta Braves, for who he was a middling outfielder, that he doused broadcaster Tim McCarver with multiple buckets of water because he didn’t like McCarver’s honest assessment of his play.

That’s going to have to be a serious question teams ask themselves in regard to Sanders. His father also has banned reporters for writing less-than-flattering things about the Colorado football program.

They won’t, and don’t, have that kind of power at the NFL level. Criticism will and has come. It’s part of the job, especially at quarterback.

It makes Sanders perhaps even a little less of a prospect in the eyes of some. After all, daddy won’t be around for him all the time in the NFL – at least that’s probably what teams are hoping.

That being said, should the Steelers take Sanders if he happened to be available at pick No. 21?

If any coach could handle dealing with Deion Sanders, it might be Mike Tomlin.

• That would be the only way I would consider taking a quarterback in the first round in this draft if I were running the Steelers’ draft.

Ward won’t be there, and it’s unlikely Sanders will be either. Other players, such as Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart or Tyler Shough of Louisville, are nice prospects, but they’re not worth the 21st pick in the draft – at least in my opinion.

With the trade for wide receiver DK Metcalf, the Steelers now don’t have a second-round draft pick.

So, if you take a quarterback, the defensive line – which is currently lacking in depth/overall talent – would not be addressed until the third round, at the earliest.

This is a deep draft for defensive linemen. But the Steelers might need a defensive tackle to start sooner rather than later. And waiting to do that until the third round, even in an excellent draft at the position, gets dicey.

The top defensive tackles in free agency all got north of $15 million per season. The big guys could go quickly in this draft.

Dale Lolley hosts The Drive daily on Steelers Nation Radio and writes a Sunday column for the Observer-Reporter.