Pats might want to lose week 17 on purpose

[ashley]

I would never want to purposely Lose a game. If we win out, we have home field advantage, and I like our chances at home against any team in the AFC.

 

[BobDigital]

On a side note let me say I am happy Miami won yesterday and not just to keep this option open. This means you can force a division championship and bye from winning on Sunday night. I would prefer to take those things through victory than cause someone else loses.

 

[obgod3]

just say no...there is help for your condition.

 

[Brewskies]

They did it in 2012 i think correct?

STOP again

 

[mosslost]

It is 100% crazy.

Nope

 

[Brewskies]

No great sports team plays to lose or tanks.

That doesn't mean you don't rest some players but the team on the field plays to win.

 

[XLIX]

Manipulating with the #6 seed would benefit the #3 seed the most, and the #3 seed will in all likelihood be the Steelers or Ravens.

 

[Tuck]

If the Pats go into Denver and beat a desperate Donkey team in their home stadium, why do we care if they make the playoffs?

Why would we prefer to play Miami to Denver?

Agree. You want to rest your starters who need a break but you don't want to lose intentionally to anyone.

 

[Ring 6]

Nope

So you propose belichick tell his team to lose on purpose and risk losing the 1 seed because they should be afraid of a 6 seed.
You can not have ever played competitive sports in your life.

 

[mosslost]

So you propose belichick tell his team to lose on purpose and risk losing the 1 seed because they should be afraid of a 6 seed.
You can not have ever played competitive sports in your life.

read more carefully. I said IF we had the 1 seed locked up already.

 

[Joey007]

I agree with all this- AS LONG as the first seed is locked up.

 

[Ring 6]

read more carefully. I said IF we had the 1 seed locked up already.

Doesn't matter you still don't throw the game. Professional athletes play with pride

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

I can see why you don't understand the flak

Let's give up HFA in the AFCCG so we can control what team that isn't good enough to get in on their own that we would play assyming that team that isn't good enough to get in would win in round 1 and we are so afraid of them we lose in purpose so we get to play the afccg on the road.

Do you people think before you post?

What @BobDigital is saying is that if we have HFA locked up, then winning Week 17 isn't really necessary. We can rest our starters and use a "loss" to knock out an AFC rival competing for a Wild Card (whether it be the Steelers, Ravens, or Broncos). This is, after all, essentially what we did against the Bills in Week 17 in 14', and that was the season where we ended up winning the Super Bowl!

Aside from that, though, I have no real problem having to play in Oakland (assuming they can even make it past the Divisional Round). We've already lost Gronk. There's no point in exposing our other weapons to injury. We need all hands on deck for this Super Bowl run.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Screw the matchup fixing by outright tanking week 17. If BB wants to send out primarily backups who still go all out in an effort to win, I'm sure there are plenty of pros and cons to that decision (avoiding injuries, rest vs. rust, etc.).

Personally, I'm wary of having what amounts to two straight bye weeks as I do think teams can get rusty if they go three weeks until a real game. But I understand risking injury to a starter may be something worth mitigating. Here's an area where I can see both sides of the coin so when it comes to making the decision, in BB I trust.

Regards,
Chris

 

[JMC00]

Thing is if HFA is wrapped up and Brady and some others sit or play a quarter. Jimmy could probably still beat the lolphins.

 

[Ring 6]

What @BobDigital is saying is that if we have HFA locked up, then winning Week 17 isn't really necessary. We can rest our starters and use a "loss" to knock out an AFC rival competing for a Wild Card (whether it be the Steelers, Ravens, or Broncos). This is, after all, essentially what we did against the Bills in Week 17 in 14', and that was the season where we ended up winning the Super Bowl!

Aside from that, though, I have no real problem having to play in Oakland (assuming they can even make it past the Divisional Round). We've already lost Gronk. There's no point in exposing our other weapons to injury. We need all hands on deck for this Super Bowl run.

We did not lose on purpose to buffalo in 2014 to avoid a team because we were afraid

 

[SVN]

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

 

[TomPatriot]

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.

I think this is too much thinking for me! We're on to Denver.

 

[Ring 6]

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

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

 

[PatsDeb]

I can just see BB now.
Well listen fellas I have thought this through. I am afraid of Pittsburgh, Denver and Baltimore. I know we beat all 3 but pats fans says I should coach so I try to get you easy teams in the playoffs.
So we are going to lose on purpose. If we lose to Miami we could get the chance to play them again instead of those mean bully teams. The whole thing revolves around getting a game against Houston so we don't even have to show up. Yes I am fearing every other team that could make the playoffs.
So trust me. Tank against Miami and pray we get them in round 1. Just remember to pack your bags because I just gave away the afccg at home.
Don't you all agree? The best thing for us to do is be afraid and lose on purpose so there is a chance we don't have to play anyone any good before we lose the afccg.

This of course is tongue in cheek, but I felt like this is what we did last year. Not a good feeling. I doubt BB does it again.