This fairly new concept that you should try to practice failing in the 4h quarter, or give up points to a team who can't earn them on their own merits if you aren't, is really novel.
Football players who don't play hard and smart for 60 minutes end up losing games they should have won every week. Even backup QB's who fail to play well inthe 4th quarter of blowouts routinely end up on the unemployment line. It's not Bill's fault that the NFL is fielding a sub standard to the point of fraudulent product this season, with the exception of a handful of elite teams with the capacity to play competitively against each other or even each others backups. But rather than blame incompetent owners and GM's and coaches or overhyped and compensated players with delicate inflated egos the media has fed ad nauseum, it's more palatable to point fingers at the unlikeable guy who doesn't play footsies with any of these talking heads for fielding a team that is showing up inferior to the point of imcompetent competition that belongs to all their talkative pals. A team that doesn't provide any drag queens or drama queens to drive story lines and media focus through the week because they are too busy quietly preparing for the next opponent.
The NFL has allowed the media to create an atmosphere where celebrity and story lines trumps playing the game at a higher level. Last night MNF featured yet another sappy Brett Favre ball washing of epic proportions that was almost ruined by an equally inept opponent's ability to make a few plays at the end of a blather filled evening. They were gearing up for tears of disappointment when one of the most overhyped secondaries of the season allowed Brett to redeem an otherwise typically crappy performance by connecting on a wide open bomb. And so the mediots all went home happy...
It's not about winning games any more. It's about providing sappy story lines and winning hearts and minds. That's what happens when a league can't achieve parity and instead achieves mediocrity. The sore thumbs that stand out because they refuse to be mediocre become targets. And the least likeable among them is the one who shows the mediocre up the most by winning consistently by wide margins they won't apologize for.
Pat's fans need to decide what matters most to them. Being popular or winning. The team has already decided.