by Chad Morgan

Created on: January 18, 2011

Regardless if you are playing in the playoffs or not, home field advantage is always a major advantage.  When it comes to the NFL playoffs though, home field advantage is very important because it throws so many different factors in the favor of the home team.  The biggest advantage is that a vast majority of the people who will be present at the game will be for the home team.  It may vary a little if the team is a nearby rival, which may be the case in some situations, but most of the time the home team is going to have more fans at the game.  The biggest advantage is the overall ambience and the mental part of knowing that the home team has the advantage.

Home field advantage in the NFL playoffs is given to the team in each confence who is seeded first.  The top seeded team in each confrence during the playoffs is the division winner who ends up with the best overall record.  That alone is an advantage because it goes to show to the rest of the teams in the playoffs that as the top seed you were the best team in the confrence over the course of the regular season.  When the playoffs come around, the whole atmosphere of the game changes.  It is a whole different ball game when you play during the regular season.  Divisional teams play each other twice a year with each hosting a game.  When it comes to the playoffs, it is do or die.  Single elimination.  You only have one shot and you have to make sure that shot is one that is going to count.  No time for losers and no time chokers.  Home field advantage brings the favorable crowd and that energy will certainly be felt by the home team.

The numbers certainly show that the home team wins a majority of the time during the NFL playoffs.  There are those few exceptions when a visiting team is able to win and better yet a team to be able to go all the way to the Super Bowl and win it as the visiting team.  Most of the time the winner is the team who hosts the game and if you were able to ask any player who was able to win a playoff game at home, one of the first things that they will be able to tell you is that one of the main reasons that they were able to win is because of the home crowd. 

Here is a good test.  Try it out with the upcoming confrence championship games that are coming up this Sunday.  In the AFC you have the Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the New York Jets at Heinz Field and in the NFC you have the Chicago Bears playing host to the Green Bay Packers.  If the Steelers win and at the end of the game they ask Ben Roethlisberger the reason that they won, one of the first things he is going to say is the home crowd.  It is pretty sure that Jay Cutler would say the same thing if the Bears win.  The bottom line is that it is very important to have home field advantage in the NFL playoffs.

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