Playoff Matchups Bugged, or Am I An Idiot?

[Actinguy1]

I think there's a bug in playoff matchups, but I just want to be absolutely sure I'm not an idiot when it comes to how the playoffs should work.

Bye week has the third seed host the sixth seed, and fourth seed host the fifth seed, right? After that, the highest surviving seed plays the lowest surviving seed, and the two middle surviving seeds play each other?

Because that's not how it's playing out for me.

In my most recent playthrough of the 2011 season, I had the following AFC seeds:

1) Steelers 12-4
2) Raiders 12-4
3) Jaguars 10-6
4) Patriots 10-6
5) Ravens 10-6
6) Broncos 9-7

Wildcard games matched off correctly. Broncos and Patriots were knocked out, leaving:

1) Steelers 12-4
2) Raiders 12-4
3) Jaguars 10-6
5) Ravens 10-6

Looking at this, it should be BAL @ PIT and JAX @ OAK, right?

Nope. It was BAL @ OAK and JAX @ PIT.

This has happened often enough for me to notice it, but doesn't happen every time...making it difficult to intentionally duplicate.

Any thoughts on this? Am I misunderstanding the playoff rules? Is there a bug possibly having to do with seeds 1 and 2 being tied? Something else happening?

Thanks!

[burger13]

Quote: Originally Posted by Actinguy1

I think there's a bug in playoff matchups, but I just want to be absolutely sure I'm not an idiot when it comes to how the playoffs should work. Bye week has the third seed host the sixth seed, and fourth seed host the fifth seed, right? After that, the highest surviving seed plays the lowest surviving seed, and the two middle surviving seeds play each other? Because that's not how it's playing out for me. In my most recent playthrough of the 2011 season, I had the following AFC seeds: 1) Steelers 12-4 2) Raiders 12-4 3) Jaguars 10-6 4) Patriots 10-6 5) Ravens 10-6 6) Broncos 9-7 Wildcard games matched off correctly. Broncos and Patriots were knocked out, leaving: 1) Steelers 12-4 2) Raiders 12-4 3) Jaguars 10-6 5) Ravens 10-6 Looking at this, it should be BAL @ PIT and JAX @ OAK, right? Nope. It was BAL @ OAK and JAX @ PIT. This has happened often enough for me to notice it, but doesn't happen every time...making it difficult to intentionally duplicate. Any thoughts on this? Am I misunderstanding the playoff rules? Is there a bug possibly having to do with seeds 1 and 2 being tied? Something else happening? Thanks!

I don't think they have ever implemented it right. instead they just seem to set up brackets and play it out that way.

so the jags were in the steelers bracket (seeds 1, 3 6), and the Ravens in the Raiders bracket (seeds 2, 4, 5) , so they get matched up in the second round.

stuff like this does not seem like it would be hard to implement, it's almost as if they don't know professional football well enough to know how it actually works....

[kpkpkp]

This issue was present and talked about at great length last year.

I am not surprised it was not fixed.

It took them about 3.5 years to fix the IR.. so.. dont hold your breath. In-fact now that they have a functioning IR it causes CPU teams to not fill their minimum players required criteria at certain positions when dealing with many injuries. This lack of starters on CPU teams causes people's franchise to freeze.

So be thankfull. If they fix playoff seeding, it will probably break something else.

It's the same thing with the weather constantly raining this year... they tried to fix the weather with this fancy weather algorithm and now it produces the same result over and over essentially making weather "pre determined" in certain cities. When they had the more simple algorithm in Madden 09 the weather was at least randomized and not pre-determined. Only now that they "fixed" it weather is pre-determined.

So again.. be careful what you wish for. I for one get scared when EA "fixes" things.

[Pandetta]

Curious, if you reload will it re-seed the playoffs?

[K0ZZ]

Quote: Originally Posted by burger13

I don't think they have ever implemented it right. instead they just seem to set up brackets and play it out that way. so the jags were in the steelers bracket (seeds 1, 3 6), and the Ravens in the Raiders bracket (seeds 2, 4, 5) , so they get matched up in the second round. stuff like this does not seem like it would be hard to implement, it's almost as if they don't know professional football well enough to know how it actually works....

Yeah this or the only thing I can think of is the game is attempting to say the Ravens are the better team despite a lower seed (a la wild card) and matched them up against the Raiders. Most likely though it's just bracketed.

Honestly though, is it really hard to program?

Seed 1 vs WC < WC2
Seed 2 vs WC2 > WC

Honestly if it's a coding issue, it really is a tiny bit of code that should be fixed. Just being lazy.