We knelt in the Buffalo game the Jags knelt in the Pitt game:

[RAWKY]

I believe this shows respect for the opponent and for the game.....Indy however seems to love to run up the score disrespecting the game and their opponent.

I do hope the Karma returns to them from their opponents and from the game.

 

[Patsfanin Philly]

I believe this shows respect for the opponent and for the game.....Indy however seems to love to run up the score disrespecting the game and their opponent.

I do hope the Karma returns to them from their opponents and from the game.

I agree but, they had better hope that they don't need those points later on in the season for a tiebreaker. How are they going to feel if they miss the playoffs or get a lower seed because they didn't go for it. (see link)
I think it's a different situation from the Colts in that the Texans are not going anywhere but the Jags may find themselves facing the Steelers again.
As long as points factor in, even if it's the 6th tiebreaker and they are on the 2 yard line, I would not hve had a problem with them going for it.
Cowher would have been pi**ed in the post-game press conference but Del Rio could have defused it by saying " we may need the points later"....


Just my $0.02,


http://www.nfl.com/standings/tiebreakers

 

[smg93]

I don't think it's about disrespect at all. The colts and many other teams are built for quick strike offenses that win by scoring a lot of points. That's a coaching philosophy.

Our team is built on the philosophy of ball control and time eating drives. We score a lot less because the coaching staff know that the longer Brady and his crew are on the field, the less Manning (or whoever the opposing team's QB is) and his guys can score points.

Why do we have to make something out of nothing so often just to try and prove we have the "better" team? I'm sure BB/Brady/Seymour/Pioli/Kraft do not come up with these lists. They just concentrate on wins and I'm ok with that.

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

I don't think it's about disrespect at all. The colts and many other teams are built for quick strike offenses that win by scoring a lot of points. That's a coaching philosophy.

Our team is built on the philosophy of ball control and time eating drives. We score a lot less because the coaching staff know that the longer Brady and his crew are on the field, the less Manning (or whoever the opposing team's QB is) and his guys can score points.

Why do we have to make something out of nothing so often just to try and prove we have the "better" team? I'm sure BB/Brady/Seymour/Pioli/Kraft do not come up with these lists. They just concentrate on wins and I'm ok with that.

I think it is disrespectful and selfish

The colts are all about stats and records... why kneel on it when you can run up the score some more?

They are attention whores ... on and off the field. Obviously, their running up the score on many occasions has pissed many of us off.

 

[PatsDeb]

I think it is disrespectful and selfish

The colts are all about stats and records... why kneel on it when you can run up the score some more?

They are attention whores ... on and off the field. Obviously, their running up the score on many occasions has pissed many of us off.

TMQ says running up the score displeases the football gods and creates bad karma. Two weeks ago a reader wrote in and said Charlie Weis ran up the score at the end of the Penn State game (they did a fake field goal or punt, I believe, when the game was in the bag - not sure -didn't watch the game). TMQ agreed and said Weis was even dumber because he used a trick play that he didn't need and now other teams will be aware of it if he needed to use it down the line. And look what happened to Charlie Weis last week! Let the Colts run up the score all they want. It makes the other teams PO'd and more determined in the playoffs not to let 'em do it!

 

[SVN]

I believe this shows respect for the opponent and for the game.....Indy however seems to love to run up the score disrespecting the game and their opponent.

I do hope the Karma returns to them from their opponents and from the game.

To be fair, if i remember correctly, manning took a knee when indy played baltimore 2 yrs back in indy at the goal line and when he was 1 or 2 short of marino's record. So as much as i dislike the colts, the stat is not completely true.

 

[FloridaPatsFan]

I hate getting in a negative frame of mind so early in the season but the whole league knows that the Texans have not been able to muster up much of anything against the Colts since the Texans came into the league.

And the Colts enjoy humiliating them every chance they get.

It would not surprise me if this comes back to haunt the Colts later this year. If the Colts know they are going to win the game, then why are they trying to score again with a huge lead? I don't buy the tiebreaker theory this early in the season. Why not work on the running game and kill the clock? With Edgerrin James gone, maybe they could work on some new RB plays.

The Colts are going to score a ton of points, we all know this. Its not going to come down to a points tiebreaker. You mean to tell me that in December the Colts are going to look back to the 2nd week in September and say to themselves, "Damn, we should have run up the score on the Texans when we had the chance"? Its truly about padding the STATS in Indianapolis.

Its disrespect to your opponents. Its high school BS football rules.

With no running game to speak of yet in Indianapolis, defenses around the league are going to have to get after Peyton. If you rush 4 and drop everyone else into coverage, Manning can pick you apart.

Here's hoping that Manning and the Colts see blitzes in their nightmares. I know that he'll still hurt you with the quick slants, but picking yourself off the turf looking through the earhole of your helmet.......

 

[PatsDeb]

Its disrespect to your opponents. Its high school BS football rules.

With no running game to speak of yet in Indianapolis, defenses around the league are going to have to get after Peyton. If you rush 4 and drop everyone else into coverage, Manning can pick you apart.

Here's hoping that Manning and the Colts see blitzes in their nightmares. I know that he'll still hurt you with the quick slants, but picking yourself off the turf looking through the earhole of your helmet.......

I agree its about padding the stats in Indy. I do not agree that the blitz is the way to kill Manning. He kills you on the blitz. The way to get him is as the Pats have always done - rush 3 or 4 to flush him out of the pocket; bump his receivers at the line to throw off their timing and then drop everyone else into coverage. I can't wait to see Jacksonville go after his *****. Go Jacksonville (but only til Dec. 23rd).

 

[brady2brown]

Refresh my memory. When was net points ever used as an NFL tie-breaker for the playoffs?

I agree but, they had better hope that they don't need those points later on in the season for a tiebreaker. How are they going to feel if they miss the playoffs or get a lower seed because they didn't go for it. (see link)
I think it's a different situation from the Colts in that the Texans are not going anywhere but the Jags may find themselves facing the Steelers again.
As long as points factor in, even if it's the 6th tiebreaker and they are on the 2 yard line, I would not hve had a problem with them going for it.
Cowher would have been pi**ed in the post-game press conference but Del Rio could have defused it by saying " we may need the points later"....


Just my $0.02,


http://www.nfl.com/standings/tiebreakers

 

[Oswlek]

There is not a team in the league that wouldn't have knelt in those same situations. When all that is needed is 2-3 snaps and the clock will run out, that is all any team does. In the times that Indy runs up the score, they are usually doing so with a big lead, but more time on the clock. Considering how lowsy their D's have been, I don;t necessarily blame them for scoring as much as possible, I have more of a problem with analysts that think scoring 45 points on a defenseless team mean translates at all to beating a good team.

 

[flutie2phelan]

There is not a team in the league that wouldn't have knelt in those same situations. When all that is needed is 2-3 snaps and the clock will run out, that is all any team does.

And the reason is simple and obvious.
Avoid the chance of fumbling ... with a big runback.

 

[FloridaPatsFan]

I agree its about padding the stats in Indy. I do not agree that the blitz is the way to kill Manning. He kills you on the blitz. The way to get him is as the Pats have always done - rush 3 or 4 to flush him out of the pocket; bump his receivers at the line to throw off their timing and then drop everyone else into coverage. I can't wait to see Jacksonville go after his *****. Go Jacksonville (but only til Dec. 23rd).

Great point PD.

You gotta love a gal who knows NFL game scheeming. (spelling?)

Nice post.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

The two situations have absolutely nothing to do with respect, in my view.

Kneeling on the ball ensures the win. With the quarterback protection rules, teams don't even try to force a fumble. The chance of winning when you take a knee and your opponent can stop the clock before it expires is as close to 100 percent as you can get in football.

Scoring points, on the other hand, puts the chance of overtime or losing back on the table. No matter how great your lead, the onside kick and hail mary means you're also at least theoretically at risk of losing.

If the Pats had gone for a touchdown in the Bills game, it would have been an all-time stupid decision. What if they miss the extra point? Then the Bills are just 8 points behind and they get the ball back with two minutes to play. Even if they make the extra point, teams can score twice in two minutes with the onside kick. Sure, the chance isn't high -- but it's a heck of lot higher than your chances if the othere team takes a knee. If I were a Bills fan and the Pats scored a touchdown, I would have been happy to be back in the game, and if I were the Bills, I would have actually let the pats score if they wanted to there.

BB wins close games because he understands the clock. One of the all time biggest NFL blunders I can remember occurred in a game I actually went to, between the Cardinals and the Redskins. Cardinals had the ball down by 1 with about 1:20 to play, and they had burned all their timeouts. 4th down, and the QB throws a pick -- the defender streaks down the sideline 30 yards for a touchdown. He's jumping all over the place, the crowd is going nuts, and people head to the exit. If he'd just knocked the ball down, or, better, intercepted it and then run to the Cardinals 5 yard line and then sat down on the field, they could have taken the knee and run out the clock. Instead, they got flagged for celebration, the Cardinals got a nice kick off return, marched down the field, scored a touchdown, made the two point conversion, and won in overtime. (Or something that like -- I think that's pretty close to how it played out.)

There's been many times when I've seen teams that are down by 1 point and are facing an impossible 4th down, deep in their own territory, like after a sack. I've always thought the much smarter play in those situations rather than trying to force a hopeless 4th and 25 would be to have the QB take the snap, run back into his own end zone, and place the ball on the field hoping that the other team is so stupid that they grab it. So long as a defender closes his hands on it, it's a TD, and the other team can get the ball back in better filed position with a first down, needing only 8 to tie. The smart play for the defender there would be to bat the ball out of the end zone, but nobody can resist the glory of a touchdown.

 

[arrellbee]

PatsFanInAz
Great point and great example.

IIRC, there was a little bit of a similar situation yeterday between Steelers and Jaguars. Rothlisberger threw a ball on 4th down at the end that was close to intercepted. That would have been a really dumb interception. If he had got up and tried to run it, it opened the possibility of a fumble and recovery going the other way. Even if he had not tried to run the ball, it was still dumb to catch it since instead of getting the ball on downs near the Steelers goal line, it would have been way out at midfield. It wouldn't have mattered there, because they could kneel the clock out anyway. But just the idea of catching the ball would have been dumb.