Running up the score

Running up the score is a dumb point of discussion. It is the role of the offense to score. It is the role of the defense to create turnovers and stop the offense from scoring.

I don't blame either for doing their job. Did anyone say "I think the game should be stopped because the Patriots D are creating turnovers and scoring TDs?" I think not.

Just a thought, but everybody knew the Pats had the game in the bag, right? The Pats were stupid to keep their starters in? So are the Colts even dumber for keeping in their starters? At least the Pats got a W... Just sayin

PatsDeb said:

I knew late in the game yesterday that we were going to get hit with the "running up the score" mantra, and when I found out how Gronk was injured, the related "karma is a witch with a b for running up the score" argument. First, the Pats were trying to run out the clock, not run up the score. How about the Colts trying to stop Ridley who waltzed into the endzone untouched? Yes, we were up by a lot, but these same pundits crying about running up the score were just a few days ago crying about how the Pats can't close out games. I thought the Pats should keep the pedal to the metal because even though our D obviously played much better yesterday, the Colts still managed to hang 24 on them, and when the game started with the Colts scoring 2 TDs on their first 2 drives, with no problems, who among us did not get that sinking feeling?

The Gronk injury was a freak thing; we did nothing wrong in the game. Hope we pull it together and play just as well against the Jets minus Gronk.

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It was pretty obvious to me that the Colts defense just went through the motions in the fourth quarter. On the Pats' last two touchdowns they weren't even trying to make stops.

CityOfChampions said:

I watch Mike and Mike and ESPN First Take and I didn't hear them mention it at all but it could've been on days that I missed an episode? Also, with other football fans I didn't see them say anything. I've seen some people like Prisco CBS say that it was Belichick's arrogance. We need to score like that because with our defense - no lead is safe lol.

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Watching or listening to Mike and Mike was your first mistake...

Honestly, life is a lot easier without sports talk. I stopped listening to sports radio, stopped watching pre game shows, and quickly glance over most sports writers pieces. This site and PFT are the only places I get NFL news. Reading Peter King's weekly namedrop-fest or listening to Jim Rome...its just something you KNOW is going to eventually annoy you. Its not worth the hassle.

ausbacker said:

Running up the score is a dumb point of discussion. It is the role of the offense to score. It is the role of the defense to create turnovers and stop the offense from scoring.

I don't blame either for doing their job. Did anyone say "I think the game should be stopped because the Patriots D are creating turnovers and scoring TDs?" I think not.

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I never looked at the final score of another game or watched another game when a team gets blown out and thought, "they're running up the score", Ive only heard it in regards to the Pats on 07 and ever since they win big, its dumb, dumb, dumb. haters being morons.

cmasspatsfan said:

I never looked at the final score of another game or watched another game when a team gets blown out and thought, "they're running up the score", Ive only heard it in regards to the Pats on 07 and ever since they win big, its dumb, dumb, dumb. haters being morons.

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I think the only fair thing to do would be to examine each individual game for what it was worth, but the media fails to do that properly, they just see the large amt of points that the Patriots put on the board and automatically consider that it equates to "running up the score."

In many of those games I would bet that the majority of pts were scored in the 2nd/3rd quarters and that's how they quickly extended those leads.

That does not mean running up the score to me, or to many of us.

Every game needs to be taken on its actual value, with the specific circumstances examined. There have not been many instances that I have seen where it was a huge blowout 1/2 way through the 4th quarter, yet we just kept Brady and Co. in there passing for the hell of it.

This isn't college football. The opposing team has a defense with proffesional players and coaches, who are paid for this very reason. What do they expect the other teams offense to do take a bloody knee for an entire quarter or two?

The pats will always be accused of running up the score if they win by 3 scores and accused of having a trash defense if the games close.

kateean2 said:

The pats will always be accused of running up the score if they win by 3 scores and accused of having a trash defense if the games close.

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I have to fix this post....nothing personal...

The pats will always be accused of running up the score if..(insert any and every wackydoodle, ignorant, near braindead excuse from UFOs to Sasquatch that the John Dennis Clone Brigade can vomit forth)...

Not being American, this running up the score complaint is baffling to me. I've never heard it in other sports. I don't watch hockey, baseball or basketball so I'm not sure if it's something that's inherent to American sporting culture or just NFL or just the Patriots. Although I think I read something a few years ago about a womens college basketball coach getting sacked for running up the score?

However, on this side of the pond, you play to win. You give 100% from the first minute to the last. If the opposition can't hang then that's their problem. They'll be the ones criticised for not doing their job, the victors would never get criticised for doing what they're meant to do.

Username said:

Not being American, this running up the score complaint is baffling to me. I've never heard it in other sports. I don't watch hockey, baseball or basketball so I'm not sure if it's something that's inherent to American sporting culture or just NFL or just the Patriots. Although I think I read something a few years ago about a womens college basketball coach getting sacked for running up the score?

However, on this side of the pond, you play to win. You give 100% from the first minute to the last. If the opposition can't hang then that's their problem. They'll be the ones criticised for not doing their job, the victors would never get criticised for doing what they're meant to do.

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That's the way it should be too.

As I said, most of this running up the score nonsense is due to 1 of 2 issues:

1. The Patriots score 50+

2. Brady has not been pulled early in the 2nd half

What the mediots do not take into acct though, is the fact that each and every game is specific to its own situation. Yesterday we saw a 24-17 game at the half, so it was only during the 3rd and 4th quarter where they finally pulled away so much. Belichick did let up off the gas a bit on the final scoring drive, as they ran a lot more than that previously did. Up to that point though, the game was not necessarily a blowout.

The other time we scored 59 pts a few years ago was the 59-0 game, but again...they didn't really pull away until they scored 5 TD's in the second quarter, and it was 45-0 at the half IIRC. In the 2nd half, Belichick ran the ball like a madman, which does not equate to "running up the score" in any sane person's opinion.

If they took the time to try and assess the specific games and situations instead of just noticing the score/ or that Brady was still playing with 10 minutes left, they would see a whole different viewpoint. Sadly that is not the case and we need to deal with this nonsense.

supafly said:

This is the only and acceptable logical answer that makes sense:

Due to the CBA regulations, padded practices have been dramatically reduced to only a small number throughout the year.

Belichick obviously likes to take advantage of the opportunity to use that time as a glorified practice in the hopes of improving upon certain areas.

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Froob said:

This isn't the first year pats have done this. So I doubt this is the answer.

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I tend to think that the rule changes are part of the issue now, even though BB has always treated the regular season as a work in progress and kept his foot on the gas.

Btw, remember back in 05 when Belichick was accused of telling Matt Cassel not to complete a pass to tie a game with Miami at the end of the season? That time he was losing on purpose and was roundly criticized for that.

I think all of the media scrutiny helps Belichick when he preaches to his players about why the media needs to be avoided. He'll have a lot of examples to show his players.

It's very clear that they hate Belichick and will take every shot at him that they can. I really enjoy seeing someone that's able to thumb his nose at the mediots, and I'll continue to enjoy seeing so many people spin themselves out of control over Bill Belichick. It's fun.

you want to read hatred and pinheaded insults by a sports media hack, try Serby...he's always good for a BB screed once amonth...

Steve Serby: New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s turkey move to keep tight end Rob Gronkowski in blowout of Indianapolis Colts led to Gronk’s broken arm - NYPOST.com

blackglass3 said:

Watching or listening to Mike and Mike was your first mistake...

Honestly, life is a lot easier without sports talk. I stopped listening to sports radio, stopped watching pre game shows, and quickly glance over most sports writers pieces. This site and PFT are the only places I get NFL news. Reading Peter King's weekly namedrop-fest or listening to Jim Rome...its just something you KNOW is going to eventually annoy you. Its not worth the hassle.

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Hear hear!

The thing that cracks me up the most is the way some of the radio shows claim to be call-in talk shows, but they take a couple of calls forty minutes in and then tell the people to hurry up. All after they've gone on and on over some nothing story.

The only thing I'll do now is go into the archives and play some of the interviews. How can you not listen to what Bill Belichick has to say, or Tom Brady and a few others?

FosterTheSkins said:

This isn't college football. The opposing team has a defense with proffesional players and coaches, who are paid for this very reason. What do they expect the other teams offense to do take a bloody knee for an entire quarter or two?

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They expect us to talk about it, and here we are.

This reminds me of the time some parents in tee-ball decided it would be better to have no child make an out, and the first time a five year old SS caught and threw a ball to first and the first baseman caught it, the kid at SS started to cry uncontrollably because the batter was still standing on first base.

Finding sports talk radio more and more insufferable, the tendency to try to create controversy out of nothing appeals to the newbie or those who love sensationalism, but offers little to the seasoned fan...

They seem to think that BB is some guy they can pig pile on and often fail to see his value..

Between Merloni, Munansky, Dennis, Callahan, Massarotti, Felger and a few others they offer little about the Patriots.. but do have more twitter followers, which is the measure of success..

As much as I cannot stand Gresch and Zo, have moved beyond their sophomoric humor and can get to the substance, most of the time..

DarrylS said:

Finding sports talk radio more and more insufferable, the tendency to try to create controversy out of nothing appeals to the newbie or those who love sensationalism, but offers little to the seasoned fan...

They seem to think that BB is some guy they can pig pile on and often fail to see his value..

Between Merloni, Munansky, Dennis, Callahan, Massarotti, Felger and a few others they offer little about the Patriots.. but do have more twitter followers, which is the measure of success..

As much as I cannot stand Gresch and Zo, have moved beyond their sophomoric humor and can get to the substance, most of the time..

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D&C are beating up BB on it this morning as a matter of fact

Joker said:

you want to read hatred and pinheaded insults by a sports media hack, try Serby...he's always good for a BB screed once amonth...

Steve Serby: New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s turkey move to keep tight end Rob Gronkowski in blowout of Indianapolis Colts led to Gronk’s broken arm - NYPOST.com

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He wont have to worry for long.When we're 30 points up on the Jets Thursday, I'm sure BB will rest a few.

Joker said:

you want to read hatred and pinheaded insults by a sports media hack, try Serby...he's always good for a BB screed once amonth...

Steve Serby: New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s turkey move to keep tight end Rob Gronkowski in blowout of Indianapolis Colts led to Gronk’s broken arm - NYPOST.com

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Steve Whatever vs Bill Belichick is a huge mismatch, bigger than what took place on Sunday at the Razor. I loved Belichick's response that if you tell him who's going to get hurt he'll get them out of there. That's classic BB right there.

There's no such thing as running up the score on a professional level. When a given unit is on the field, they are supposed to do their job, regardless of the scoreboard.