RealGM

February 2, 2008 -- PHOENIX - The Giants New York Giants ' wild-card run to Super Bowl XLII would have looked different under a plan being studied by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

Speaking here in his annual state-of-the-league address, Goodell revealed a potential shakeup to the existing playoff system that would allow wild-card teams the possibility of a home game.

In the early stages of Goodell's plan, which would require the owners' longshot approval, the bottom two division winners by record in each conference would go on the road the first week if they have a worse mark than the wild-card teams.

If the plan had been in place this year, the wild-card Giants (10-6) would have hosted NFC South winner Tampa Bay (9-7) and the wild-card Jaguars (11-5) would have hosted the AFC North champion Steelers (10-6) in the first round. Ironically, in light of Goodell's plan, the road team ended up winning both of those games.

"The focus that we'll probably give it in the short term would be to look at our seeding process," Goodell said. "What we'd like to look at is, if a wild-card team has a record that's better than a division winner, should that give the [home-field] advantage to the wild-card team?"

DaGoodz wrote:They should also change the rule that you can't get a bye week if you don't win your division, but your record is 2nd best in the conference