The NFL taints itself with these lay downs

[Law 241]

Indy, NO, and NE so far and more to come.

 

It's a damn shame too. We have 4 weeks of pre-season that full ticket prices are charged and now you can add week 17 to that.

 

 

The NFL is talking about rewarding teams for playing players with extra draft picks. That's a great carrot. Howsabout a stick to go with it? Play guys and get picks and don't play guys and lose picks. Your choice: play to win and get picks too or don't play to win and lose picks.

[shovelheadt 71]

And now Welker is out with what looked like a serious knee injury. I don't blame teams at all.

[KSB2424 3,148]

Two things:

 

1. If you win enough then you earn the right to rest some of our starters. Nobody is "laying down" the second string guys are trying like hell.

 

2. This has been going on for years. The people crying are prolly the one's that it somehow effects. i.e. Pitt fans.

 

Cry me a river. You should've won more games last month so it doesn't matter. All this whining is getting tiresome.

[FlaHawker 24]

Indy, NO, and NE so far and more to come.

 

It's a damn shame too. We have 4 weeks of pre-season that full ticket prices are charged and now you can add week 17 to that.

The NFL is talking about rewarding teams for playing players with extra draft picks. That's a great carrot. Howsabout a stick to go with it? Play guys and get picks and don't play guys and lose picks. Your choice: play to win and get picks too or don't play to win and lose picks.

Something tells me that if that the Steelers didn't lay down five weeks in a row, you wouldn't have posted this. Just sayin...

[Terrapin Flyer 0]

Indy, NO, and NE so far and more to come.

 

It's a damn shame too. We have 4 weeks of pre-season that full ticket prices are charged and now you can add week 17 to that.

The NFL is talking about rewarding teams for playing players with extra draft picks. That's a great carrot. Howsabout a stick to go with it? Play guys and get picks and don't play guys and lose picks. Your choice: play to win and get picks too or don't play to win and lose picks.

 

 

Just one more step toward completly rooning the NFL. This is only an issue because it happened during fantasy playoff week. It is bullsh!t. If they played the starters and Manning broke his leg they'd be calling them idiots for playing them. STFU and let them play.

 

Fu*k fantasy football. Goodall's coment of (paraphrase) "teams need to be more forthcoming with who is gonna play just like their injury report" shows that it is about FF owners and bookies losing money. Fu*k that! Stupid, ######, sell out NFL.

[PsychoBelichickFan 0]

I bet the pats fans wish they were tainted and laid down today........

[PATSSOX 22]

Has anyone read if GB is going to bench Rodgers???

 

 

There is nothing the NFL can do about it. I saw where they were gonna discuss this topic but what in the hell can they do? They dont pay the players the teams owners do

[gtthom86 5]

Indy, NO, and NE so far and more to come.

 

It's a damn shame too. We have 4 weeks of pre-season that full ticket prices are charged and now you can add week 17 to that.

The NFL is talking about rewarding teams for playing players with extra draft picks. That's a great carrot. Howsabout a stick to go with it? Play guys and get picks and don't play guys and lose picks. Your choice: play to win and get picks too or don't play to win and lose picks.

 

seriously I wish everyone would just quit b!tching. it happens every year and now fans and analysts are riding these teams like they owe them something - listen, if a team plays well enough to rest players than they have earned the right to do as they please. football is a dangerous sport and any play might be the last of the season for any player.

 

######, look what happened to welker. the pats playoff chances just fell drastically - and your bitching because week 17 isn't interesting enough for you!? jesus christ watch the games that are do or die and enjoy them, you get an extra half week of playoff games

[berven 0]

Goodell has just announced that the NFL's Competition Committee will "look into" the practice of teams resting their starters after they've clinched. He says this is in response to the howl set up by fans following the Colts-Jets game.

 

Of course, the Giants have been outscored 85-16 in their last two games, so I hope the Committee will also demand to know why Coughlin played those starters.

[PATSSOX 22]

Is my gametracker correct, DID BRADY GO BACK IN FOR START OF SECOND HALF

[shovelheadt 71]

Something tells me that if that the Steelers didn't lay down five weeks in a row, you wouldn't have posted this. Just sayin...

 

I said the same thing to a coworker. "The Steelers rested most of the year, it's the Bengals turn."

[shovelheadt 71]

Is my gametracker correct, DID BRADY GO BACK IN FOR START OF SECOND HALF

 

LMAO...he sure did. And on the first series got smoked by Conner Barwin. Brady was screaming and yelling as he walked to the sidelines. Pure conceit by Belichick.

[PATSSOX 22]

LMAO...he sure did. And on the first series got smoked by Conner Barwin. Brady was screaming and yelling as he walked to the sidelines. Pure conceit by Belichick.

 

Its OK he has only been playing the last month or so with 3 broken ribs You have to break his knee in half to get him out.

 

Colts and Bills look like they are playing on a skating rink

[braylonjetwards 0]

Where the hell do you draw the line for awarding and taking away picks. Teams will just fake injuries to rest players. What if teams actually have injuries but are playing everyone they have healthy? How do you determine whos playing everyone and whos laying down. Its probably something that can be easily disguised. That is not a solution its idiocracy.

[Cuse9 129]

There are two sides to the coin:

 

If you are a season ticket holder and/or bought tickets for the game you are spending a good chunk of change for nothing. Let's say you buy tickets for your family of four to go to a game. You dish out $300 for the tickets, then throw in gas, souveniers, food...all said and done you can drop about $500 for one day of "fun for the family". Well then the team decides to sit out their players. Did you the buyer get shafted? You did not dish out all this money to watch Curtis Painter hand the ball to Mike Hart. Regardless of how well the team has done the previous 15/16 games. If you buy a car and you go to pick it up don't you expect the motor to in the car? I know that's a stretch for an analogy, but none the less, the appearance may be the same, but if the parts aren't there then you did not get what you paid for and deserve something.

 

However.....

 

If you're not dishing out that money and you soul hopes are to win a Super Bowl, then you shouldn't have to watch a key part of your team go down to a possible injury in a meaningless game.

 

The Problem....

 

In "laying down" you alter the playoff scenerio. In the AFC there are 6-7 teams with a chance to get into the playoffs. You have a team like Jacksonville that is playing a team in Cleveland that is going all out to try and finish on a good note and build on next year. Then you have a team like Cinci that may sit everyone and give a win to a team. The team that lays down earned that right, but the team that is fighting to get in doesn't deserve to be knocked out because another team let a team win. It's just a bad situation.

 

Main thing is if you're Denver, don't lose to the Raiders! Pitt, don't lose five in a row! Houston, Jacksonville.....don't lose games you should win if you want to be a playoff contender!

 

The bottom line is.....

 

There is no right or wrong anwer. If the Colts win the Super Bowl they're very smart for sitting out there guys to protect them for any possible injuries. If they lose in the playoffs, especially if they're a little rusty for basically not playing for three weeks and losing their edge, then they are idiots.

[Saint Elistan 106]

The NFL obviously needs a BCS system.

[Gepetto 1,368]

I like it the way it is. If a team lays down then they get to hear it from the fans and the media. That's punishment enough.

[HeirCoryell 0]

Goodell has just announced that the NFL's Competition Committee will "look into" the practice of teams resting their starters after they've clinched. He says this is in response to the howl set up by fans following the Colts-Jets game.

 

If you believe that the fans are the reason behind this you are sadly mistaken. This is 95% for Vegas and the odds makers. The NFL will try to church it up and say they are doing it for the fans but, between the the bad teams being so bad and the resting of players, I'm thinking Vegas got hurt quite a bit this season.

[RoadLizard 73]

If the NFL wants to avoid this alls they have to do is:

 

- Cut back the number of teams. 4 of them can go...easily.

- Calm down free agency so teams stay good for a while

- Reduce the cap hit teams take to resign their own players to further encourage teams staying good.

 

The funny part is that the cap and new rules were supposed to bring parity and there has never been LESS parity than there is today. There are 4-6 franchises that will never amount to sh!t. The good teams are so much better than the bad ones that its almost as bad as major league baseball.

 

Make the teams stronger and noone will be able to run away with it so measily.

 

Or, get rid of the divisions so the top teams make it no matter what. That gets rid of clinching divisions in September like the Saints, Pats, and various other teams did.

[Dan 66]

It will never change. It ended up not mattering from the Steelers perspective, as I believe New England really tried to beat Houston and lost (and gained a lot of respect in my eyes for the effort), and Baltimore won its game as soon as Russell came into the game for Oakland. They made their own bed, and paid the consequences for it.

 

The team that really should be ticked is Houston, because they were given the shaft. It is a baseless argument to say what they "should have done" to avoid the situation altogether. The season is 16 games long. Houston, over the course of that 16-game schedule, earned a 9-7 record. Should they have done better? Probably. The Jets, over a 14-game schedule, earned a 7-7 record. The last two games, both against arguably superior competition, cannot truly be considered to have been earned.

 

This is same ridiculous argument that people use when a horrible call at the end of a game costs one team.

 

I do not think that there is a perfect resolution to the problem; some things you are forced to live with. But if the Texans want to grumble a bit this week, they have every right to, and should be given that grace. They have earned that right.

[Phurfur 70]

Two things:

 

1. If you win enough then you earn the right to rest some of our starters. Nobody is "laying down" the second string guys are trying like hell.

 

2. This has been going on for years. The people crying are prolly the one's that it somehow effects. i.e. Pitt fans.

 

Cry me a river. You should've won more games last month so it doesn't matter. All this whining is getting tiresome.

 

 

I can see you don't go to the games live! It is like going to a concert only to have a DJ play mp3s of the group while a local group lip-syncs. It is about entertainment. HTH

[KSB2424 3,148]

I can see you don't go to the games live! It is like going to a concert only to have a DJ play mp3s of the group while a local group lip-syncs. It is about entertainment. HTH

Please. Ya'll grow up for crying out loud. I'm buying stock in keenex with all this crying.

 

Mike and Mike did made a good suggestion this morning. Have the last two regular season games be divsional games. That should help make those games a tad more important. Rivalries and division records will be at stake which won't solve the issue, but it may help alleviate some of it. This is fine. But the women crying to get their money back because Manning didn't play the whole game need to just stop. It's embarrasing.

[Phurfur 70]

Please. Ya'll grow up for crying out loud. I'm buying stock in keenex with all this crying.

 

Mike and Mike did made a good suggestion this morning. Have the last two regular season games be divsional games. That should help make those games a tad more important. Rivalries and division records will be at stake which won't solve the issue, but it may help alleviate some of it. This is fine. But the women crying to get their money back because Manning didn't play the whole game need to just stop. It's embarrasing.

 

 

Yup, you've never gone to a game.

[jgcrawfish 232]

I bet the pats fans wish they were tainted and laid down today........

 

No, Pats fans are quite accustomed to living with the idea of being tainted...

 

Welker's injury was non-contact. he could have made the same cut in practice and had the same result. The laydowns cheapen the game. The Jets were given a free pass into the playoffs, bottom line, end of story...

[KSB2424 3,148]

Yup, you've never gone to a game.

I went to three this year. The first one was opening day when the Iggles came in to BOA Stadium and beat the brakes off the Carolina. Should I have cried and demanded my money back because Jake Delhomme threw 14 interceptions and the product was defective? Should I have whined and sulked all day because I saw a God awful football game that was over by the halftime?

 

Of course not. I'm a grown up.

[edjr 6,580]

as mentioned before, the NFL needs to adopt the BCS system.

 

If all the games mattered and you had to TRY to win them all, think of how much more fun the last 3 weeks of the NFL season would have been? The Saints and the Colts would be playing in the Super Bowl in 4 weeks, one would be 16 - 0 and the other would be 15 - 1

 

they should go to 2 conferences of 16 teams and play everyone in your conference once.

[All_The_Way 0]

Sorry, but as a Saints fan I wanted to see Drew Brees in street clothes sitting in the suite. its not all the time that we get to experience the playoffs. Because we did great in the regular season we are awarded with the chance to get our guys healthy.. look at wes welker..

 

I dont see any reason to play your studs in that situation. And by studs I mean real men football studs.. not fantasy crap

[jerryskids 6,791]

The laydowns cheapen the game. The Jets were given a free pass into the playoffs, bottom line, end of story...

I disagree. It is like complaining about a ref's call in a close game. Here's a tip: if you don't want a ref to influence the outcome, be up 14 points or more. The Jets played the teams scheduled for them, and based on the prior 14 games were in a position to make the playoffs if they won both. Which they did. End of story. If your team or anyone else's team didn't make it as a result... well, they should have won more games. Jeebus, it is not like a 9-7 team has a god-given birthright to the playoffs. That's a shade over mediocre.

 

BTW, I go to one Cards game per year with a friend who has season tix. Months ago I picked... yesterday's game, knowing it would either be meaningless or very important. Unfortunately it was meaningless. Or is that unfortunate? It's a good thing to make the playoffs, right?

[jgcrawfish 232]

I disagree. It is like complaining about a ref's call in a close game. Here's a tip: if you don't want a ref to influence the outcome, be up 14 points or more. The Jets played the teams scheduled for them, and based on the prior 14 games were in a position to make the playoffs if they won both. Which they did. End of story. If your team or anyone else's team didn't make it as a result... well, they should have won more games. Jeebus, it is not like a 9-7 team has a god-given birthright to the playoffs. That's a shade over mediocre.

 

BTW, I go to one Cards game per year with a friend who has season tix. Months ago I picked... yesterday's game, knowing it would either be meaningless or very important. Unfortunately it was meaningless. Or is that unfortunate? It's a good thing to make the playoffs, right?

 

I'm not saying a 9-7 team has a god-given right to the playoffs, I'm saying that team fighting their asses off for it deserve a better shake than having it handed to the Jets. The "effort" put forth by the Bengals yesterday was pathetic. Part of me agrees with the suggestion put for by "Greeny" on the Mike and Mike show to make the last two games, maybe even last 3, division games. Make EVERY game mean something. There are only 16 games, they all should be meaningful.

[FeelingMN 273]

Make EVERY game mean something. There are only 16 games, they all should be meaningful.

 

They pretty much do. It's not like the NBA or MLB. Good teams are afforded very few mistakes over the course of the season and that's why it's important to win the games you should......like against CLE/KC/OAK.

[jerryskids 6,791]

I'm not saying a 9-7 team has a god-given right to the playoffs, I'm saying that team fighting their asses off for it deserve a better shake than having it handed to the Jets. The "effort" put forth by the Bengals yesterday was pathetic. Part of me agrees with the suggestion put for by "Greeny" on the Mike and Mike show to make the last two games, maybe even last 3, division games. Make EVERY game mean something. There are only 16 games, they all should be meaningful.

Don't get me wrong, I like the suggestion by the Mikes. Think about baseball, which seems to try to do this, and you've got a final series for the division title, it's riveting stuff.

 

That being said, it's unusual that so many divisions were wrapped up early, and we were lucky that the only division in question, the NFC East, had the perfect game scheduled. The Jets could have played, I dunno, Miami in a relevant game? 33% chance of that in the above scenario.

[KSB2424 3,148]

I'm not saying a 9-7 team has a god-given right to the playoffs, I'm saying that team fighting their asses off for it deserve a better shake than having it handed to the Jets. The "effort" put forth by the Bengals yesterday was pathetic. Part of me agrees with the suggestion put for by "Greeny" on the Mike and Mike show to make the last two games, maybe even last 3, division games. Make EVERY game mean something. There are only 16 games, they all should be meaningful.

My word, ya'll have turned into huge babies.

 

What about the St.Louis versus 49ers game. That game meant nuttin. What should be do with that? Have a toilet bowl like fantasy football for the #1 pick next year?

 

Ya'll whining so much is embarrasing. Take a deep breath Texan and Steeler fans. Step away from the computer.

[Frank M 181]

The team that really should be ticked is Houston, because they were given the shaft. It is a baseless argument to say what they "should have done" to avoid the situation altogether. The season is 16 games long. Houston, over the course of that 16-game schedule, earned a 9-7 record. Should they have done better? Probably. The Jets, over a 14-game schedule, earned a 7-7 record. The last two games, both against arguably superior competition, cannot truly be considered to have been earned.

 

This is same ridiculous argument that people use when a horrible call at the end of a game costs one team.

 

I do not think that there is a perfect resolution to the problem; some things you are forced to live with. But if the Texans want to grumble a bit this week, they have every right to, and should be given that grace. They have earned that right.

 

 

The same thing happened to Cleveland two years ago when Indy sat their guys in the last game.

[jgcrawfish 232]

My word, ya'll have turned into huge babies.

 

What about the St.Louis versus 49ers game. That game meant nuttin. What should be do with that? Have a toilet bowl like fantasy football for the #1 pick next year?

 

Ya'll whining so much is embarrasing. Take a deep breath Texan and Steeler fans. Step away from the computer.

 

it goes beyond just being a Steelers fan in my case, or a Texan fan. It would be just as pathetic to see a team get handed a pass like the Jets did if I were a fan anybody else. I'm really happy for the Colts, et all that they don't have much to play for right now, great for them. But other teams do, and putting your best effort out there should count for something. Putting the Jets in the playoffs doesn't give the NFL it's best possible product for the post season. At 7-7 they were every bit as deserving of the shot as everybody else, but at 9-7 but having been giftwrapped 2 wins (against conference foes none the less) they are less deserving than the teams that scratched and clawed for victories down the stretch, IMO.

[Phurfur 70]

I went to three this year. The first one was opening day when the Iggles came in to BOA Stadium and beat the brakes off the Carolina. Should I have cried and demanded my money back because Jake Delhomme threw 14 interceptions and the product was defective? Should I have whined and sulked all day because I saw a God awful football game that was over by the halftime?

 

Of course not. I'm a grown up.

 

Sorry, I get it. You are comfortable with an inferior product from your starters so sitting them doesn't matter.

[FeelingMN 273]

it goes beyond just being a Steelers fan in my case, or a Texan fan. It would be just as pathetic to see a team get handed a pass like the Jets did if I were a fan anybody else. I'm really happy for the Colts, et all that they don't have much to play for right now, great for them. But other teams do, and putting your best effort out there should count for something. Putting the Jets in the playoffs doesn't give the NFL it's best possible product for the post season. At 7-7 they were every bit as deserving of the shot as everybody else, but at 9-7 but having been giftwrapped 2 wins (against conference foes none the less) they are less deserving than the teams that scratched and clawed for victories down the stretch, IMO.

 

Over a 16 game schedule, the Jets did more than Houston and Pittsburgh to get into the playoffs....which is why they're still playing. Pittsburgh choked against inferior competition. Houston choked two games against Indy...and couldn't beat a bad Jax team. You really can't say the same for the Jets.

 

Sorry, I get it. You are comfortable with an inferior product from your starters so sitting them doesn't matter.

 

So you're incapable of having fun at a game when the superstars aren't playing? Do you and donhass watch games with the same crowd of b!tches?

[cyclone24 1,913]

Wait....if you are a fan of the team.....and you know that Indy, New England, etc have a history of this....

 

A) Why buy a ticket to the game knowing this?....and

Why were you shocked by it?

 

If you honestly showed up to the game and were appalled that these guys didnt play....you werent paying attention and deserve to get robbed.

 

 

Oh by the way....for those whining about playing players.....Hope you are not Pats fans (welker) or cardinal fans (Boldin) or any of the other number of injuries that happened yesterday.

 

 

Best part of this....is the NFl will likely play a 17th week next year.....wow...think that wont happen for 3 weeks now instead of 2?

 

Unreal

[Dan 66]

Over a 16 game schedule, the Jets did more than Houston and Pittsburgh to get into the playoffs....which is why they're still playing. Pittsburgh choked against inferior competition. Houston choked two games against Indy...and couldn't beat a bad Jax team. You really can't say the same for the Jets.

So you're incapable of having fun at a game when the superstars aren't playing? Do you and donhass watch games with the same crowd of b!tches?

 

See, this is where I disagree with you. The Jets did put themselves in position after fourteen weeks to earn a spot, should they be able to win two more conference games - against superior competition, giving them the necessary tiebreaker over a team like Houston.

 

You are right, Houston choked two games against Indy. The Jets never had the chance. That game was as close to a forfeit as I have seen in the NFL. This is a matter of scheduling. Turn those dates around, and Houston is in. The Jets are in because, and ONLY because, they were scheduled against Indianapolis and Cincinnati in the last two weeks of the season.

[Dan 66]

I disagree. It is like complaining about a ref's call in a close game. Here's a tip: if you don't want a ref to influence the outcome, be up 14 points or more.

 

I wonder if folks who make this argument, and arguments like these, ever follow them out to the logical conclusion. What you are arguing is that it is acceptable for a game between two evenly matched teams to be decided by the flip of a coin.

[KSB2424 3,148]

Anbody wanna take a wild guess who Dan, jgcrawfish, phurfur, and Law pull for? I'm not sure about a couple of them but I am willing to guess correctly.

 

Why is it they are the only ones that have such a big problem. Everybody else with favorite teams that span the rest of the NFL see the big picture perspective.

 

Holy Sour Grapes Batman.