The NFL is unique among sports leagues. The season is so short. If your team goes 0-4, you are pretty much done – or so “they’d” say.
It’s a league where you can wrap up the regular season with a 10-win-run, for example. So when you have the season wrapped up, but there is still a few pesky games to play, what do you do? You quit.
At weeks sixteen and seventeen there are teams that quit. “Quitting” is not what teams would prefer to call it. They “rest” their players. They “prepare” for the playoffs. Fine.
We all understand why they do what they do, but let’s call it what it is… Quitting.
The Colts quit against the Jets last week. Merry Christmas Jets Fans – you still have a chance at the playoffs.
The Bengals quit against the Jets in week 17. Happy New Year Jets, you’ll make the playoffs.
Had the Jets played a Colts or Bengals team that had any pride in actually winning a game, they would have lost both games, but this is not the nature of the NFL.
As a Charger fan, I agree with resting the starters. It’s a testament to the Chargers that they still won, against the Redskins starters.
However, if I was a Texans fan, how pissed would I have been that the opposition bent over and puckered up – giving the Jets a free pass to the playoffs that they clearly didn’t deserve- probably pretty pissed.
It’s an embarrassing part of the NFL. Expanding the season to 18 games could make it better, could make it worse.
Can you imagine. The Colts could lose their next two games and still be guaranteed a first round bye. This would make their last four games of the season completely inconsequential.
They could “Jake” the last four games of the season (instead of just the last two), caring less about playoff implications for other teams. They could have send Peyton Manning to Hawaii for four weeks that the time when many teams are playing their guts out and it wouldn’t matter a bit towards their final goal – making the playoffs.
This Boltaholic isn’t pointing fingers, necessarily, but lets all agree it’s a joke. The only consolation prize for those of us that want to watch real football, week in and week out, is that those teams that quit can carry their losses with them as any other loss.
How does it taste to be embarrassed by teams you could have beat easily? Not sure. I’m a Charger fan.
PS. Funny that college teams don’t use time off ( a bye or wait for a bowl game) as an excuse to play poorly. Also, I don’t see them parking their starters in “meaningless” games. Score one for college, but then again – at least the pro-game has a real winner…
