Would BB intentionally lose?

[The Gr8est]

In another thread poster "Speed" said "

Now, they would never, not try to win, thats ridiculous.

.

Now I didn't want to comment on this there as it would have hijacked the thread, but it is something I have been thinking about.

This season has been a big "Eff U" to the NFL and the media. The media with the constant harping on the whole undefeated thing, has added an element of misery that I wasn't expecting. This is the most dominant season in the history of the New England Patriots, but I have enjoyed it less than I should have, and have truly found other seasons more enjoyable.

The ultimate goal is to win the Superbowl, everything else is just window dressing. As other players from teams getting close to an undefeated season have said, there was actually relief when they finally lost, and as a result they played looser and better.

So, what if BB gave the NFL and the media , particularly the media, the ultimate "Eff U" and lost their final game....but of course, on our own terms.

Say the Pats go 15-0, and we pull the same thing we did to the Dolphins in 2005. Start Brady for one series, or one play, and then pull all of the starters.

The game won't mean anything playoff wise, at least for us. If it looks like it will, we do it one week earlier against the Dolphins, because we are NOT doing it against the Rats.

The media will be apoplectic. They will be stunned at the audacity of the Pats and how the Pats are dissing them. The 1972 Dolphins will be pissed because their their record will still stand, yet be as hollow as anything.

....and the Pats, and BB will be able to do the whole thing with big smiles on their faces. Imagine the angst of the media watching BB smile throughout an entire game.

Finally, the heat would be off, the starters would have more chances to be rested, and the chances to win the Superbowl improved.


...and maybe, just maybe, we win the game anyway.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

In case you missed it, if we were 15-0 then we'd have the BYE week secured. No way BB would want to 'rest' Brady et. al. and have them be 3 weeks rusty going into a playoff game. You might also want to listen to what Brady says on the topic of 'resting'.

 

[speed]

I've thought about this too and I see what you're saying.
And I think BB will do what he deems necessary to be in the best possible shape for a Superbowl run, not to have a perfect regular season even. If he believed resting guys would increase that chance he'd give two stuffs whether that would ruin a perfect regular season, imho.

I don't think he'd make a decision based on a screw you to the powers that be, at all, imho. just because there would be 200 opposing fans on this site at the end of the game to point out how <insert back up Pat player here> was owned, blah, blah, blah.

I think it's about the Superbowl to any owner, coach, player, and most fans.

Its a conudrum for sure, you never lose on purpose, ever, imo.

Too, losing a game the regular season;doesn't guarantee anything in the playoffs.

Whatever they do, and maybe its not rest Brady, but it likely could be to rest some of the defensive players who are in their 30s, I would guess.

Colts faced the same thing, if you rest them and lose in the playoffs-you should have played them cuz they were rusty.

If you play them and lose, you should have rested guys because they were tired, people will say.

I'm in the camp of playing guys unless they have any lingering injury, its completely subjective though.

Sounds like BB is in the camp of playing guys. We'll see when the time actually comes, but this place will explode if a key player gets hurt in a meaningless week 17 game.

 

[TIMEsteelersfan]

No way would he lose on purpose, but, once you have the #1 seed locked up his gameplans will no doubt become very vanilla so as to not give playoffs opponents any more film than they already have.

 

[SeanBruschi54]

No way would he lose on purpose, but, once you have the #1 seed locked up his gameplans will no doubt become very vanilla so as to not give playoffs opponents any more film than they already have.

Nothing to pick on of what you said. But i really like your sig picture.

 

[The Gr8est]

In case you missed it, if we were 15-0 then we'd have the BYE week secured. No way BB would want to 'rest' Brady et. al. and have them be 3 weeks rusty going into a playoff game. You might also want to listen to what Brady says on the topic of 'resting'.

OK, maybe we do it the week before against Miami. Handing them a gift win would work just as well, and more fans would be able to watch the game since it isn't on NFLN. Pats would still get some rest and be able to ratchet things back up against the Giants before the playoffs.

Pats' second string can probably beat the Dolphins anyway.

I like the idea of seeing BB smile for an entire game since the media will know he is laughing at them. They are the ones who always make a point about how dour BB is.

 

[fgssand]

I see the thought pattern here, but, no way.

NE has a chance here to re-write history.

19-0 baby!!

 

[JoeSixPat]

BB is a student of the game and has the greatest amount of respect for the institution of football.

No way would he ever turn his back on football immortality and disrespect the game just because of a pissing match with Goodell.

That being said, Belichick would, and I believe has, purposefully "not tried to win" to give himself a preferred playoff matchup as he did against Miami - but that's a very different matter.

In that case he lost to give himself the advantage to win later.

That's not what is being suggested here

 

[patsox23]

He would never, ever, ever, ever, EVER intentionally lose. EVER. Nope.

(Outside of the Miami thing a couple years ago when it TANGIBLY helps scheduling, which is an entirely different, and rare, situation.)

 

[Sunqueen212]

How do you think the players would feel if BB were to pull something like that? Also, do you think this move would increase or decrease the media circus around the team.

Tanking the last game of the season would be a horrible idea.

 

[alamo]

The media and fans nationwide wouldn't be shocked, they'd be celebrating and laughing at us for being so dumb. Our fans would feel cheated. The Miami Dolphins would finally get the sip of their champagne this year, and would be thrilled. The heat and attention on the team wouldn't decrease one bit, the stunt might even increase it. And the extra time off wouldn't do the team much good at all.

So, except for all that, it's a great idea!

 

[Cannon Arm]

Brady has said it's important to win games and to try to blast the doors off in games they win because those things have a psychological effect on your opposition. They get psyched up about getting a chance to beat the best team ever, but when they falter, they are consumed with self-doubt (This is the greatest team ever! We have to play a perfect game to beat them and we just threw a pick, fumbled, got a costly penalty, etc., so we're totally screwed now. We might as well just forfeit at this point.) and that's when the Pats can go for the kill. The Pats win the way they do so teams think they can't actually beat us, when they look deep inside them.

 

[PatsFaninAZ]

I could imagine a scenario where Belichick might consider intentionally dropping a game.

I think the most important thing to him and always will be winning a championship. If it were the end of the year and New England's position were solidified, there theoretically could arise a scenario where the Patriots could hold another team's destiny in its hands by losing a game -- for example they could be playing an opponent (let's say the Titans) that is neck and neck with another team (let's say the Broncos) for the last playoff spot. If Belichick thought the Broncos presented a particularly difficult matchup problem or something, I could see him trying to manipulate a situation like that to keep them out of the playoffs. Not saying he would or wouldn't, but I think the guy has a calculator in his head that punches out the odds of every scenario, with one result in mind -- the super bowl. I would think there are lots of negatives to throwing a game too that might ultimately make him play it straight up. But I don't think it's fair to say he'd never consider it.