If its not already outrageous enough that the Cowboys must board a a plane and fly more than 900 miles and stay in a hotel and dre s in a foreign locker room and enter a stadium that is not theirs to play an NFL playoff game against an opponent that had a decidedly inferior season, now we learn they must wear blue Andre Dillard Jersey jerseys against the Buccaneers.That might be the best illustration, ever, of what a ridiculous construct the NFL seeding system can be.The Cowboys finished the regular season with a 12-5 record as a member of the NFC East, which produced the top seed Eagles and the wild-card entrant Giants. The Bucs won the NFC South but with an 8-9 record, making them only the fourth team with a losing record to enter the playoffs in this century.The NFL playoff structure, though, guarantees each division champion a top-four seed on the playoff bracket and a home game in the first round, whether that team is the 2007 Patriots (who finished 16-0) or the 2020 Commanders (who limped into the field at 7-9).So the Cowboys played in a much tougher division and produced a record that was four games better and still are treated as the inferior team. The NFL doesnt do a lot wrong with its product, but its been mucking this up forever. And it matters.It matters when the division champion playing at home is 10-7 and the visiting wild card team 12-5, but it matters most when there is an occasion such as this: an accomplished team such a the Cowboys forced to go on the road to play a Bucs team that bungled into the playoffs only because every bad team in the NFC South was even worse.And to illustrate just how much it matters: This is is the sixth time since the 2000 season that a team with a .500 or worse record has gotten to play host to a playoff game through that quirk, and four of the previous five advanced Zach Ertz Jersey with victories..500 or worse division champs since 2000YearTeamOpp.Result2022Bucs (8-9)CowboysTBD2020Commanders (7-9)BucsL, 31-232014Panthers (7-8-1)CardinalsW, 27-162011Broncos (8-8)SteelersW, 29-23 (OT)2010Seahawks (7-9)SaintsW, 41-362008Chargers (8-8)ColtsW, 23-17 (OT)The NFL has demonstrated how important it believes home-field advantage to be, and how e sential it is that that edge be earned fairly, through the gymnastics performed because of the abandonment of the Bills-Bengals game following Damar Hamlin's medical crisis. Whether one believes the league got that one right -- and there might have been no correct answer in that circumstance -- the NFL certainly didn't act as though playing at home is inconsequential. But granting that opportunity to a team merely because it won a terrible division is exactly that. Merely a suring such a team a playoff position is more than a sufficient reward.MORE: Trai E sex played for one of the teams that wound up on the wrong side of this misjudgment. A veteran of eight seasons with the Steelers, playing as a tackle and guard, he won two Super Bowl rings and appeared in a Mack Hollins Jersey third. But in the 2011 season he was part of a 12-4 squad coached by Mike Tomlin that finished second in the AFC North division to the Ravens because of a Baltimore sweep. The Broncos were the AFC West champs at 8-8, so they got to have the home playoff game against the Steelers despite the enormous disparity in the teams records.We always prioritized winning the division. Coach Tomlin did a good job of letting us know that in order to host a home game at Heinz Field weve got to win the division, E sex told The Sporting News. And if you dont, youll be on the road.Now, we didnt know wed be on the road facing an 8-8 Denver team, but thats what it was. It was a little frustrating, because we thought we deserved more because of the year that we had. We also knew that was a risk if we couldnt win the division.That was the infamous Tim Tebow Game. So it didnt turn out nearly like we thought it would.Having to play at Denver immediately put the Steelers at a disadvantage. Pro Bowl safety Ryan Clark had played a game there four years earlier and, because he carried what is called the sickle cell trait, performing at altitude made him dangerously ill. Ultimately, he had his spleen and gall bladder removed and mi sed the remainder of the 2007 season. The Steelers never allowed him to play in Denver again.A defense compromised by other injuries surely mi sed him. The Steelers fell behind, 20-6, at halftime. They had to rally for a touchdown in the final 5 minutes to force overtime, then lost the coin to s and the game when Tebow threw an 80-yard touchdown to wideout Demaryius Thomas on the first scrimmage play.We didnt perform how we had performed to that point, E sex said. I think Tebow had, by far, his best game ever as a pa ser. And I think you can definitely attribute that to not having RC back there.In the NBA, teams in each conference are seeded 1-9 strictly on record. Thats not an ideal system, either, because there ought to be some value placed in winning a division if the standings and schedule are going to work. Its still more logical, though, than granting a le s succe sful team a significant advantage.The NHL system is decidedly superior. In the two conferences, the top three teams in two divisions automatically qualify for the playoffs, along with two wild cards per conference with the best records regardle s of which division they call home. The division champions each are granted the opportunity to open against wild- Clayton Thorson Jersey card teams; the one with the better record gets the le ser opponent.MORE: The NFL easily could create the most logical system of all, but so far has refused.I would like it if they just ranked the best teams in the conference, kind of like the NBA does, E sex told TSN. Take the division winners, but at that point rank them 1-7 based on record and tiebreakers and then you go to the playoffs. I think that would be the ideal way of doing it.So much of the NFL is based on the integrity of the competition, from the salary cap to the draft system to the amended overtime rules that rely le s on the vagaries of the coin flip. This is one of the few glaring exceptions to competitive logic.E sex has a theory about why the NFL sticks to this. I think the owners like the fact that theres a clear, distinct way to host a playoff game. I think Corey Clement Jersey its money-motivated, for the most part. Thats just the way it is.This matters to the Cowboys more than you can imagine. Apparently, it matters more to Dallas fans than they're letting on; RJ Ochoa, editor in chief of the Cowboys-centric site Blogging The Boys, told TSN he's heard little from the team's fans about this injustice. "I think people just sort of accept that it is what it is, so to speak," he said.They should be bothered. It isnt just the threat of having to face seven-time Super Bowl champi