After going 14-0 the Colts decide to stop pursuing perfection when they sit their starters and lose their first game.
Coach Caldwell decided to sit his starters with five minutes left to go in the third quarter of a 15-10 game against the lowly Jets. Caldwell sat his best players to preserve their health for the upcoming playoffs. The Colts have clinched home field advantage throughout the playoffs and dont strategically need any more wins at all until they get to the playoffs. They ended up losing.
I dont like this decision the coach made. Sports are all about records and competition. You owe it to the players (who undoubtedly wanted to keep playing to win due to their facial expressions on the sideline when their coach made the decision to ultimately forfeit their game), and you owe it to the fans. If Peyton or any other crucial playmakers get injured from the last quarter and a half of football, I think it would be forgiveable. If the Colts win the Super Bowl this year, I don't know if the decision will be forgiveable.
Here is a link if you want any more information on this very important and hotly debated topic
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4776421
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They must have done it as a favor to their old coach Don Shula, who just happened to also be the coach of the undefeated '72 Dolphins!
ReplyDeleteWhy would anybody want to win? Winning is bad. Although not necessarily evident from this story, it seems like sports just like everything else is coming under the influence of government to a greater extent, player's association. I don't keep up with sports so I don't know much about this topic.
ReplyDeleteI heard that Congress is trying to make the College football league have playoffs instead of bowl games or something like that. What is the deal with that?
Basically, College Football has a tradition that is called the Bowl System. Instead of having a fair and balanced playoff like every other sport, it is all based off of polls and voting to see which two teams are eligible for the championship "Bowl". If there are three or four teams at the end of the season that are undefeated then the computer rankings, coach's poll, and AP poll all combine to determine who goes to the championship. This system has left teams out of the championship every year and those teams get pissed off. Its an annual debate. A lot of people say that the Bowl System will not be changed because of money. There is a lot of Good Ol Guys in the back rooms deciding who's organization goes to which bowl game and gets so and so amount of sponsorship money. A really slimy way of doing things in what is supposed to be a respected collegiate sport.
ReplyDeleteWhatever, GO DUCKS!
Good analysis of the Bowl System, ToeJamm.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it's clear that the Ducks should not be in consideration for national champions.