Losing the first pick in the Buffalo game Thoughts

[tuckeverlasting]

Draft lottery is a great idea but the NFL won't do it. They would hate to acknowledge the idea that teams will tank for draft position like in other leagues. The NHL makes the lottery an event and there's no league better than the NFL in making anything an event - like the draft itself. I guess one way to stop tanking is having a lottery in a non weighted way with the bottom X teams getting one "ball" each in the lottery but then there's a much better chance that bad teams would stay bad for a lot longer because there are mid teams getting rewarded with the 1OA pick instead.

i don't want roger goodell in control of anything concerning patriot draft picks especially after another new yorker scammed a #1 lottery pick patrick ewing to the knicks and derek jeter gifted giancarlo stanton to the yankees. i know stanton wasn't part of a lottery but once jeter went to the marlins i knew he would be another nyer doing something shady to help a ny team.

 

[tuckeverlasting]

Pats trade our freshly showcased Joe Milton and our 4 to Titans for their 1.

he is a vol but i would rather trade our 2 and milton for #1 overall. probably not possible but after the game and press conference i love this kid. i know the bills were not even trying but you can tell we've got something special with him. he's the new joe cool.

 

[farn]

Negative thoughts.

 

[Patsgofor4]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/10/sport/chiefs-block-field-goal-to-defeat-broncos-spt-intl/index.html

The blocked FG that cost the Pats the #1 pick. It Will Putz makes the 35 yd FG, the Bills would have been playing for the #1 seed and the bye yesterday.

 

[Ununcle]

How do you lose the game if the bills also want to lose the game without making it obvious that you are trying to lose the game for a draft pick.

If it's already obvious the bills wanna lose then what the fug difference dose it make how obvious we are about losing?

 

[Ununcle]

This fanbase has really gone downhill. So much whining because another team didn't do something that harmed themselves to help the Pats. Stop expecting others to solve your problems. Teams have been sitting their starters since the NFL existed.

I'm not complaining about the bills sitting their starters. I'm complaining because people think if they sit there starters we still have to go all out to win a meaningless game even though it cost us draft picks.

 

[Ununcle]

If a team can sit their starters there by in all practicality forfit the game to a freakin division rival staring at the number one overall pick then why the hell shouldn't the other team try they same thing? What's so hard about this?

 

[Tunescribe]

That attitude is aided and abetted by Sportstalk radio who have incessantly whined about Mayo for weeks now, I seldom listen any more as they thrive on nontroversies. Tuned in last week on "Flagship Station of the Patriots" and heard that loudmouth Bertram encouraging all those who attend the game chant "Fire Mayo"... WTF every happened to team loyalty??
I'm old school(fan since the 60's) always have been and always will be loyal to the Pats even during the bad times..

I'm a 31-year season ticket holder and no one here is more "old-school" loyal to this team than me. But loyalty does not require passive acceptance of unprofessionalism or poor decision making. It needs to be a two-way street and Bob Kraft gets that. As fans we invest not only our emotional energy but hard-earned dollars into this team. Win or lose I'm good with it all, as long as ownership/management aspires to high professional standards. Mayo's brief head coaching tenure was an unfortunate departure from that, a mistake that Kraft wisely has rectified. Frustrated fans righteously clamoring for the ouster of a woefully unqualified head coach is anything but disloyal.

 

[Big Bucks]

Mentioned it several times, let me though say that I have been thinking about this tanking problem since Indy and Luck.. and it has got a helluva lot worse since. I think every team that had 2, 3 or 4 wins since week 14 has tanked a game at some point. We are now seeing less 5, 6, 7 win teams. I don't blame Bills or Chiefs from what they did.. its the sensible thing to do because of injury.. if your lucky enough to get a team week 18 dropping starters then lucky you, but only lucky you if your need is to win.. which is why I think rewarding wins is the way to go. I think tanking starts for some teams before week10 which is ridiculous. For me I want every game to be about winning bar the one or two as mentioned above. As mentioned also there was alot of people, mostly Bills fans that had a seasonal bet of plus 13.5 games won. Not winning the last game would of angered then and it did because it was on social media people talking about the bets they had.. when betting gets involved then IMO game fixing can be a bad thing for teams like the Bills and Chiefs.. I do think they are opening themselves up for a class action lawsuit as is the league now betting is allowed in the US in some states. Sitting starters when your league position is set is ok.. having your 2nd and 3rd stringers fail on purpose is criminality.

Take standings after last Bye Week..

Those who cannot reach a playoff game are able to get #1 overall.. this year there was 10 teams after week 14 in the NFL unable to reach the playoffs.

The worst team in the 10 gets 10th pick.. best of the 10 is 1st overall.

Every game means winning gets you a better pick

No more BS like today or throughout the season. No more easy wins for teams in playoffs.

Everyone with something to win for.

The teams that were in playoff hunt after week 14 pick 32 to 11.. even if they drop lower than a team thats in the lower 10.

 

[sb1]

I can't see the NFL ever admitting that tanking is a thing in the league especially since teams are punished for it. A draft lottery acknowledges it happens and condones it. That's too bad cause I think the NFL would make a compelling event out of it like they do with the draft itself. I'm not talking about losing games on purpose - that doesn't happen.

I don't think there's any perfect solution to prevent what the Chiefs and a lesser extent the Bills did on Sunday. Even if there was evidence of that like a coach saying something the only remedy that will happen is that team being fined/losing draft picks, it won't help your team move up in the draft. The only thing I can think of that the league could do is to make the regular season finale a non division game so division teams who have the most incentive to hurt your franchise in the draft won't be able to do that. The last time the Pats played a non division opponent in the regular season finale was 2009.

Getting the draft position you want by relying on other bad teams to win their games and your own team to lose against a disinterested opponent isn't a sure thing...

 

[Stu Pidassle]

I'm on the fence regarding the idea of instituting an NBA-style draft lottery.

Positives include the fact the elimination of a guaranteed #1 pick by tanking; bad teams don't get penalized for still trying hard down the stretch, nor do they get penalized for beating a playoff team playing third stringers while the starters are cocooned in bubble wrap. It's weighted, so the worst teams still have the highest probability of the top pick(s). Another positive is that a team cannot drop more than four places, so the club that finished the season with the worst record, #1 in the current draft order, is going to drop no further than to #5. That hurts that team a little bit, but it's not awful.

On the other hand, while minute, any team that did not make the playoffs could conceivably get the #1 pick. Applied to the 2024 standings, 10-7 Seattle or 9-8 Cincinnati could wind up with the #1 draft pick. I'm not convinced that is a good thing.


As for games like the Chiefs-Broncos - while I agree that is an issue - I don't see any method where you can fix that. You can't tell a #1 or #2 seed that they have to keep their starters in the game, and then watch as a key player or two suffers a season-ending injury. The cure would be worse than the disease, as the saying goes.

I subscribe to the school of thought that the lottery actually encourages more tanking. With no lottery only a very small number of teams have the chance to be the worst team. The lottery expands the number of teams to include the next tier of teams once the playoffs are out of reach.

 

[Grogan14]

I subscribe to the school of thought that the lottery actually encourages more tanking. With no lottery only a very small number of teams have the chance to be the worst team. The lottery expands the number of teams to include the next tier of teams once the playoffs are out of reach.

You make some great points Stu. Unfortunately there are no perfect solutions. Most drafts it won't make a huge difference if you are picking 1 or 5. However if you look back to the years Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck came out of college, they were both so clearly the best players and future franchise cornerstones for a decade or more...and both years the Colts shamelessly tanked and made sure they had the worst record. Why should teams be rewarded for that behavior? At least a bottom 5 team lottery makes certain that tanking teams are not a sure thing to get franchise players by intentionally losing.
There will be more Mannings and Luck's in future drafts that can change the prospects for a franchise for many many years. The lottery insures some degree of fairness as opposed to the current system which handsomely rewards teams for intentionally tanking.

I would limit it to bottom 5 teams with tie breaker being strength of schedule.

 

[Stu Pidassle]

You make some great points Stu. Unfortunately there are no perfect solutions. Most drafts it won't make a huge difference if you are picking 1 or 5. However if you look back to the years Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck came out of college, they were both so clearly the best players and future franchise cornerstones for a decade or more...and both years the Colts shamelessly tanked and made sure they had the worst record. Why should teams be rewarded for that behavior? At least a bottom 5 team lottery makes certain that tanking teams are not a sure thing to get franchise players by intentionally losing.
There will be more Mannings and Luck's in future drafts that can change the prospects for a franchise for many many years. The lottery insures some degree of fairness as opposed to the current system which handsomely rewards teams for intentionally tanking.

I would limit it to bottom 5 teams with tie breaker being strength of schedule.

Well said. Any attempt to fix the currently perceived problem will introduce a new set of different issues. Hopefully the situation will not impact the Pats again for many, many years.

 

[Big Bucks]

how do you know who is the worst 5 any more.