I sure hope so. It very much offends me when people talk about professional teams “tanking.” Maybe it really does happen; maybe it doesn’t, but the very idea that people who are getting paid a LOT of money to play a sport would lose on purpose sticks in my craw.
Nobody was “losing on purpose,” but the Dolphins especially were certainly mortgaging their present.
I feel like the Dolphins came close to tanking this year but not really. They traded away a lot of players knowing that this was a lost season, with the intention of getting draft capital to rebuild.
That said, doing things you know will likely make your team worse in the short term is a far cry from losing games on purpose. I don’t think any team in the NFL does that. Miami has been trying to actually win and has pulled in a few in the process.
I see this in the MLB as well. Teams get rid of veterans and other hot players to get young talent they can develop, knowing that their team will probably get worse but with the goal of building a future. They still go out on the field and do their best to win with whatever they have each game, regardless of whether they’re rebuilding or “going for it”.
Chargers! Inexplicable loss #537.
The Dolphins pulled off one of my favorite gadget plays in years in today’s game.
It reminds me of a trick play that the Colts tried a few years ago, which went much worse.
Case in point. Who here had the Texans up over the Patriots 14-3 at any time?
I don’t think players or coaches tank: careers are too short. Players get paid if they do well. Who cares if they get to play with better drafted players next year, that still take 2-3 years to blossom? 2-3 years, the older player may be out of the league.
I absolutely think there’s incentives for GMs to try and jockey for position though.
The Astros wrote the new template for it in MLB, after Crane bought the team.
Anyway, back to the game. Let’s see how the Texans will f this up on national TV.
Wellp - Patriots haters got their wish tonight. And they may get what they want in the playoffs, as well, as Tom Brady is playing like he’s at the end of the line.
Dallas all but invited Philadelphia to snatch the division lead over the past two games, and the Eagles just wouldn’t take it.
Andy Dalton returning, auditioning the Bears for Trubisky’s job. And likely winning it.
The Wilson/Wagner/Carroll Seahawks trio have never lost the 12th game of the year, so I’m hopeful that they’ll do well on Monday.
Letter to Eagles Office:
FIRE EVERYBODY! LEARN TO PLAY!
Love, Locrian :rolleyes:
Fun week. Glad my Steelers beat the Browns, and i’d be lying if i didn’t say it wasn’t fun to see the Bengals beat Le’Veon Bell & Jets. (I still have no issue with what he did, but hey, don’t mean i gotta root for him). And, of course, everyone wins when the Patriots lose. Should be a good one on Monday night with Vikes-Seahawks.
It was the weekend of the onside kick recovery - the Falcons did it three times in one game (one was called back on a dubious penalty):
Carolina also recovered one against Washington, but ended up losing the game anyway.Skins won two in a row. Derrius Guice looked like a wrecking ball on legs. Better break them up!
Just watched yesterday’s games now, and boy I kinda wished I’d skipped them. Ouch.
Right? Good grief that was a pounding.
During the game one of the announcers commented that the Jets were one of the hottest teams in the league coming into this game. That’s overstating it, but they had been on a pretty solid 3-game roll:
34-27 over the Giants (meh)
34-17 over the Redskins (meh)
34-3 over the Raiders (who were 6-4 at the time)
And then the winless Bengals totally owned them. Go figure.
On the plus side, the Jets set an NFL record yesterday: No team in NFL history had ever lost to two 0-7 (or worse) teams in a single season until the Jets did this year.
This is all true, but man, the Texans really did their best to give that game away in the last 10 minutes.
The 'Skins looked clueless on that onside kick. They had blockers on the line instead of “hands” guys.
One comment I heard at the time was that they didn’t realize they had to try to recover it themselves.
It’s sort of like a running play where nobody tries to tackle the back; of course it will be a touchdown.
Yeah, I’m with whomever suggested earlier that the NFC East “champs” don’t deserve a playoff spot this year. Too bad, in my opinion, that division winners are given the benefit of the doubt in that regard.