# Is straight-up tanking now a thing in the NFL? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 25, 2018, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-straight-up-tanking-now-a-thing-in-the-nfl/823485 "2018-10-25T05:09:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-straight-up-tanking-now-a-thing-in-the-nfl/823485/21 "2018-10-26T03:29:16Z")
…missed the edit window: And to finish my thought, what were the two biggest strengths of both the 2007 and 2011 teams? Defensive line and offensive line. Other than Plaxico Burress in 2 games, they had replacement level players in all the skill positions. (Brandon Jacobs, Amani Toomer, Steve Smith #2, etc…) No Jeremy Shockey, and Burress only played in the ice bowl in Green Bay and the first Superbowl, being out with injury for the first two games those playoffs. And he’d long shot since himself and was out of the league by 2011. Great DL + very good OL + good QB = 2 rings Great skill positions + replacement level DL + bad OL + replacement level QB = humiliation ---
**Author:** ![Clawdio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d07c76/32.png) [@Clawdio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clawdio)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-straight-up-tanking-now-a-thing-in-the-nfl/823485/22 "2018-10-26T15:22:10Z")
> [@wolfman](#): > > One of the Theories on the Mack trade from on of the ESPN folks,was that the raiders wanted him, but flat out just couldn’t afford him. The guaranteed money of the contract has to be put in escrow at the time of the signing, And the Raiders may not have had the cash on hand to come close to what Mack would be getting in guarantees If true, that is very sad. That would indeed be sad. But I’d think that the NFL is such big business that a team getting some kind of loan for the outlay of $40M cash would be no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-straight-up-tanking-now-a-thing-in-the-nfl/823485/23 "2018-10-29T01:40:03Z")
Be interesting to see if anyone actually did the legwork and gather up all the evidence or possible evidence to see just how bad a problem intentional failure is in sports. There have been accusations flying back and forth about match fixing in sumo for decades, but I recall only one proven instance of it in my lifetime (_huge_ scandal; cancelled a tournament for the first time, like, ever and completely rearranged the landscape of the sport). Much like similar shady practices like stealing calls, it’s only a problem if it works. The sports where I’ve heard about it most often are basketball and hockey, no surprise given the number of players on the court/ice at any one time and the ability for a superstar to take over the game. Even then, there’s no guarantee of success due to the draft lottery _and_ the fact that they need the #1 pick in the same year that the budding superstar is entering the draft, and _then_ hope that he truly _is_ a budding superstar and not a budding bust. Chancy enough in any sport, but at least when it does work, one superstar is potentially enough to raise a basketball or hockey team from contender to champ. Look at what Lebron James did for the Cavaliers (eventually). Football has a couple more problems: 1. In addition to the number of players, they’re divided into offense and defense. A bullet-slinging quarterback or freight-train running back won’t patch up a Swiss cheese defense; a crushing linebacker or sticks-like-glue cornerback won’t prevent a single three-and-out. There are still going to be nail-biting shootouts or grindfests, generally not a recipe for success. 2. Failure begets failure. More than any other sport I’ve ever both watched and participated in\*, a football team must have unit cohesion and a winning mentality to be successful. Once the word gets out that management actually _wants_ them to be awful, morale gets wrecked, coordination goes out the window, frustration builds, and once the boulder gets rolling it’s nearly impossible to stop. Heck, we saw it with the '17 Browns, the squad that went 0-16 with a _last place schedule_, in the process making blunders that most Division 3 squads would be embarrassed by. ([Once more, with feeling!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txx6GUKJ7QY) :)) Have NFL coaches or owners, in moments of desperation, tanked? I don’t doubt that it’s happened. Is it a widespread problem? I can’t imagine that ever happening. - A few touch and flag games in my younger days. Nothing to write home about. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-straight-up-tanking-now-a-thing-in-the-nfl/823485/24 "2018-10-29T02:35:37Z")
It has happened in Australian Rules Football (AFL), where we had teams rest players or get them into the operating theatre early. This of course lead to these teams losing and therefore getting better draft picks. The AFL is on to it now but it still raises it’s head most years. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-straight-up-tanking-now-a-thing-in-the-nfl/823485/25 "2018-10-29T04:55:55Z")
Oakland is different for a variety of reasons. First, they’re a lame duck franchise. They’re gone in another season. Second, they just gave Gruden the team for a decade, and he wants to build “his” team. Third, they were not going anywhere even with Mack and Cooper. It’s easy to see why they’re dumping players. The team will be markedly different in Vegas, though it remains to be seen if that will translate into wins. The Giants are a more typical case. They need better players and didn’t start dumping until they realized that the season was not going to be a good one. They needed to get picks, and the trading deadline is the end of the month. They didn’t quit on the season from the jump like the Raiders did, they simply acknowledged the future is more important than today’s lost cause. They have a good base, they just need pieces that free agency cannot provide, like Eli’s replacement. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-straight-up-tanking-now-a-thing-in-the-nfl/823485/26 "2018-10-29T16:21:19Z")
The San Francisco 49ers are trying the “elegant tank” again this year. Which isn’t a gloss black M-1 with a giant top hat. They’re coming up just short over and over while suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune (i.e. ACL tears to two key offensive stars and numerous other injuries). They tried it out first a couple years ago. If Colin Kaepernick hasn’t come off the bench and beat the Bears in an otherwise meaningless game the team would have Myles Garrett (and a functional pass rush). You can tell from how last year ended the team isn’t afraid to win games at the cost of draft spots, though. It just sucks to have to wait til next year again. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-straight-up-tanking-now-a-thing-in-the-nfl/823485.md?page=1)