King on MMQB:Tues Edition

[SVN]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/peter_king/10/30/favre/1.html

ARE PATS RUNNING UP THE SCORE? From Tom of Mount Laurel, N.J.: "Why no talk about the total lack of class on display by Bill Belichick in running up the score week after week? Everyone knows how good the Pats are but don't you have to worry that some player on some team is going to get fed up with them and cheap shot one of their stars late in a 38-0 blowout? How would Belichick explain it if Tom Brady took a very late hit while he was going for it on 4th-and-1 from inside the opponent's 10 with a 38-0 lead?

So you're asking me whether a team going for it on fourth down with 11 minutes left in the game, up 38-0, is running up the score? I think you have answered your own question. But -- and this is a very big but -- I truly believe that if the Patriots had gone for a field goal, and made it 41-0, the outcry would be the same today as it is for going for the touchdown. Nobody wants to admit that, but it's true.

I also think Tom Brady shouldn't have even started the drive late in the third quarter with the Patriots up 38-0. A six-score game with 17 minutes to go is no time to have the MVP of the NFL in the game.

 

[smg93]

There is merit to taking Tom out of the game in huge blowouts. Beyond the possible injury scenario, I'd like to see Matt Cassel get more game time just so he gets his experience up. Yes he threw that INT to Jason Taylor, but that was due in large part i think to him not seeing NFL defenses at game speed. He did well in that run for a TD against the skins though. I'd like to see him out there more when we have large leads just to get him comfortable standing under center.

 

[upstater1]

There is merit to taking Tom out of the game in huge blowouts. Beyond the possible injury scenario, I'd like to see Matt Cassel get more game time just so he gets his experience up. Yes he threw that INT to Jason Taylor, but that was due in large part i think to him not seeing NFL defenses at game speed. He did well in that run for a TD against the skins though. I'd like to see him out there more when we have large leads just to get him comfortable standing under center.

You can't take him out in the 3rd quarter. I'd like to see Tom come out in the beginning of the 4th.

Brady has played half a season with Welker, Stallworth and Moss, less than half if you start taking him out of games with 33% of the game leftto play. You have to maintain your sharpness somehow.

I'd say beginning of the 4th quarter is appropriate. He has been in there for one series too many for my liking, but that's really a very minor quibble.

 

[Brady to Brown]

There is merit to taking Tom out of the game in huge blowouts. Beyond the possible injury scenario, I'd like to see Matt Cassel get more game time just so he gets his experience up. Yes he threw that INT to Jason Taylor, but that was due in large part i think to him not seeing NFL defenses at game speed. He did well in that run for a TD against the skins though. I'd like to see him out there more when we have large leads just to get him comfortable standing under center.

I agree with this. It would be great to see what Cassell has. And it would be very funny if next week the media and fans are crying that it is Cassell running up the score.

 

[smg93]

You can't take him out in the 3rd quarter. I'd like to see Tom come out in the beginning of the 4th.

That would be fine for me too. If he came out too early that would really affect my fantasy team

 

[Patriot Power]

If you take Brady out in the 3rd quarter, you lose the #3/emergency quarterback. Which is why they waited until the fourth... although I guess Burger King wanted them to take Brady out in the middle of a drive.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

And if the score remained the same, as it apparently very likely would have been given their inability to stop the backup in his lone drive, we would have still been bashed for "running up the score" with our backup "getting work" and further disrespecting coach Gibbs and his valient warriors...

You can't take a knee throughout the 4th quarter regardless of who is under center, nor should you be expected to except by whiny, underperforming millionaire idiot-athletes and their pathetic enablers.

 

[patsox23]

There are a few good reasons for removing Brady and putting in Cassel during blowouts. Keeping Brady healthy, giving the appearance that we're not complete jerks (however lame and unnecessary that should be) and seeing what we have in Cassel.

Were he to look halfway decent, I suppose it's possible we could get a 6th for him down the road, or a 7th. Every little bit counts. And I think it would be cool to see him out there some more. That one play against Miami was hideous, obviously, but the kneejerk reaction to it was a bit much. He looked a lot better this week, (in yet another small sample-size.)

 

[PAPatsjunkie]

You can't take him out in the 3rd quarter. I'd like to see Tom come out in the beginning of the 4th.

Brady has played half a season with Welker, Stallworth and Moss, less than half if you start taking him out of games with 33% of the game leftto play. You have to maintain your sharpness somehow.

I'd say beginning of the 4th quarter is appropriate. He has been in there for one series too many for my liking, but that's really a very minor quibble.

That's pretty much what they have been doing, no? They took him out this week for the first series that started in the 4th quarter. I dont think they can take him out in the 3rd(isn't that just insulting?), and you can't take him out in the middle of the drive. What they did was Goldilocks - just right.

 

[Ghost of Ben Dreith]

How many games did Manning come out early when he was throwing 49 TD passes and the Colts were blowing teams out a couple of years ago? None.

The only reasons to take Brady out are to minimize risk of injury and to get Cassel some reps.

I have no problem with Brady staying in.....pile it on....put the records out of reach....make everybody cry for the whaaaaambulance.

 

[patchick]

If you take Brady out in the 3rd quarter, you lose the #3/emergency quarterback.

You do? Can you you explain this?

 

[National Sports Advisors]

The same idiots saying Brady should be taking out of the game with 17 mins to play would be the same idiots lining up to say blowing people out and taking Brady out too early is the reason the Pats lost to so and so, if and when that happens. You are damned if you do and damned if you don't. Belichick can't win either way with the media. There is a reason why Peter King writes about the games and Bill Belichick coaches and wins the games.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

You do? Can you you explain this?

I'm quoting Reiss here, since, unfortunately, the link Miguel provided to the NFL rulebook actually cuts off before they get to the "Third Quarterback" rules.

A: Gutierrez was the third quarterback, which meant he counted as one of the team’s eight inactive players. But as the third quarterback, he is still eligible to enter a game. In 1991, the third quarterback rule was instituted to enable teams to have an emergency quarterback available who was not on the 45-man game-day active roster since many teams, for strategic purposes, only carried two quarterbacks on their game-day roster. The rule states that if a third quarterback is inserted before the fourth quarter, a team's first two quarterbacks cannot be used in the game at any position. It is a coach's decision as to whether a third quarterback will be used. The active quarterbacks do not have to be injured for a team to use its third quarterback.

That is it as far as the rule goes. Playing Cassel before the end of the fourth does not prevent the Patriots from turning to Gutierrez in the fourth, but playing Gutierrez during the first three quarters for any reason prevents the Pats from putting Brady or Cassel back into the game.

 

[Rob0729]

I don't believe in taking your QB out before the fourth quarter under any circumstances other than poor production or injuries. I can see pulling him at the end of the 3rd quarter even if the Pats were in a middle of an offensive drive.

There is a definite double standard though. No one would complain about leaving your defensive starters in the whole game in a 38-0 blow out. It is funny that it is ok to try to preserve a shutout in a blowout, but not "run up the score" in a blowout. I think a 34-0 shutout is more embarrassing than a 41-7 blowout.

 

[solman]

If you take Brady out in the 3rd quarter, you lose the #3/emergency quarterback. Which is why they waited until the fourth... although I guess Burger King wanted them to take Brady out in the middle of a drive.

1. We didn't even have an emergency QB in this game. Gutierrez was ACTIVE.

2. If you take Brady out before the 4th you do NOT lose the emergency QB. Its the other way around. If you play the emergency QB before the 4th you lose the first two QBs.

 

[Pats726]

If you take Brady out in the 3rd quarter, you lose the #3/emergency quarterback.

Huh??? What rul is that?? If you take the starter out in the 3rd quarter you lose the emergency QB??? No..that is not at all true..
The RULE is if the Emergency QB is used BEFORE the 4th quarter, the starting and backup QBs can NOT be in the game after that. LOL...and in THAT game Sunday there was NO Emergency QB as all were active so the rule DOES NOT apply.

 

[JR4]

Perhaps a lot of people here would be singing a different tune if Tommy
got a season ending injury having been left in the 4th Q with the
score the way it was and the defense playing like it was.

There can be no question .... Tom is in there to break records at the
unnecessary risk of injury.
It's not running up the score ... it's about Tommy breaking records. IMO.

 

[Deus Irae]

Perhaps a lot of people here would be singing a different tune if Tommy
got a season ending injury having been left in the 4th Q with the
score the way it was and the defense playing like it was.

There can be no question .... Tom is in there to break records at the
unnecessary risk of injury.
It's not running up the score ... it's about Tommy breaking records. IMO.

As I've noted elsewhere:

There were 4 blowouts this past weekend: Saints, Chargers, Colts, Patriots. All 4 teams played their starting quarterback into the 4th quarter, with Rivers going the whole way for the Chargers. Brady and Manning both finished drives that started in the 3rd quarter and then were done for the game.