Pats might want to lose week 17 on purpose

[Huckleberry1]

Great photo of Shula, where did you find it?

 

[scout]

********. You don't want to lose heading into the playoffs. Momentum is crucial. SMH.

Agreed. Why do we play the game........

 

[YOUGOTMOSSED]

I know this is looking ahead but if things line up right it makes sense.

If the Pats beat Denver this week the best they can do is 10-6 (at 8-5) Pats @ KC Oak
On the other hand Miami is a team we can give a free win to (at 8-5) @ NYJ @ Bills Pats

As long as the first round bye and #1 seed is wrapped before this game there is no reason to want to win it. Also it ups your chances of maybe getting one the Dolphins/Texans/Titans in the divisional round as they are the 6th and 4th seed most likely. I would not be upset about that.

I know this is looking ahead but it is possible depending on how things go this week (A Pats win/Denver loss and Miami win) i think we can force Miami in.

Resting players and running "vanilla" plays if they have #1 seed is cool; intentionally losing is not cool. There's a difference.

 

[YOUGOTMOSSED]

Another potential scenario is Pats winning puts Tenneesee at 6, losing puts Miami at 6. Either way you're pretty much guaranteed, Steelers and Raiders (maybe Chiefs) win v Ten/Mia and Houston, then you have Pats hosting Oakland and Steelers visiting Kansas.

An inexperienced playoff team that plays primarily in warm weather coming to Foxborough in January? I like those odds.

 

[YOUGOTMOSSED]

there is lot of football left. i suspect we will be playing for HFA vs dolphins.

We seem to be taking the Denver and @Jets games for granted. We're playing those 2 games within a 12 day window since MNF with a cross country flight in the mix. Denver is fighting for their playoff lives and the Jets would love nothing better than to screw us.

 

[YOUGOTMOSSED]

Given that we win the tiebreaker over Kc and lose it to Oakland and they both play after us that is a good chance.
If the raiders win the next 2 (Indy and Sd) we cannot clinch #1 seed without beating miami

True, that week 4 loss to the Bills put us at a disadvantage in tie-breaker scenarios with Oakland. Thanks for that bogus suspension Roger!

 

[BobDigital]

Resting players and running "vanilla" plays if they have #1 seed is cool; intentionally losing is not cool. There's a difference.

It would result in a loss though when facing a team trying hard to win.