Like Herm says...YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!!!!
The Indianapolis Colts did not, and tonight they are a disgrace to the game of football.
It may have ended badly for the Pats on the last day of the 2007 football season, but at least they gave it all they had in trying to pull off an historic, 19-0 season. No one can accuse them of not giving their all in going for the brass ring. They fell short, but you surely have to respect their effort that year.
Same for the Giants. Knowing they had a playoff berth locked upon the last day of the 2007 regular season, they could have packed it in and handed the Pats the win, but instead they put up a fierce and unforgettable battle.
Except for a few linemen, the 14-0 Colts are sitting nearly every starter they have today. Instead of trying to make history, they are sitting on their asses, trying not to get hurt. What a bunch of pansies. Play it safe instead of playing for history. I never had any respect for them, but if I did, it would surely be gone now. What an effing joke this organization is.
During the game, the commentators justified Jim Caldwell's decision to bench his starters and allow a Colts loss, citing that the "big picture" is important and that what mattered was a Super Bowl win, not a perfect season.
I understand Caldwell's decision, but I don't agree with it at all. While it remains that Indy isn't going anywhere as a result of this loss, Caldwell should have looked at the "big picture" closer than he did, namely that he had an opportunity for the Colts to knock the New York Jets out of the playoffs. Everyone talks about the "big picture" in trying to justify Caldwell's choices, but I don't buy it. The Jets weren't playing dirty, so nobody on the Colts was in danger of getting intentionally injured. The Colts fans, some of the most courteous in football, were done a great disservice by having their hopes of a perfect season dashed not by a team The Colts just couldn't win against, but a team that the Colts' coaching staff decided to turn into a charity case on their own soil. This behavior indicates total ignorance of the "big picture".
If the Jets' standing in the playoffs weren't at stake depending on this game's outcome, I would have had less issue with Caldwell's decision to bench most of their starters so early into the second half, but that isn't the case, and the Colts have allowed a competing team's season to continue when they had the opportunity to end it tonight.
For shame!
Posted by: Kevin | December 27, 2009 at 04:39 PM
For sure. Being deliberately noncompetitive has consequences for more than just the Colts, and it is not the first year it has happened that way.
Posted by: Lisa K. | December 28, 2009 at 07:06 AM
No to mention, the Jets were handed a playoff advantage that other teams in the same situation were not.
The whole thing just sucks.
Posted by: Lisa K. | December 28, 2009 at 07:08 AM