A football game is 60 minutes long. If your opponent can't keep up, that's their problem. The team in the lead should not stop trying just because they're up by a few. If passing is what works, then pass for crying out loud.
WRONG. There's an unwritten code in football that you do not run up the score on your opponent. There is good reason for this custom. To illustrate, here's a story... I work for a high school team that last year beat its rival handily. With a big lead in the 4th quarter, they threw the ball on the 2nd and 1 and scored a TD. The opposing team was furious needless to say. This year, my team played their archrivals again. My team was 8-1 and only needed to win the game to make the state playoffs. The other team was 3-6 and a huge underdog. Long story short, the other team played the game like it was the state championship. There were signs all over the stadium reminding players and fans of the disrespect shown last year. And even though my team got off to a big lead, this other team drew upon the emotion of last year's humiliation and ended up scoring 20 points in the 4th quarter to win.So you tell me - was last year's extra TD pass worth it? Was it worth all the animosity? Was it worth the upset the following year? Was it worth a state title?? Unless you've played football, you can't really appreciate how much the game is about emotion and bulletin board material.Mark your calendars - in two weeks Peyton and the Colts will play Houston in Houston - after humiliating them a couple weeks ago - the infamous game when Peyton was gunning the ball up by 4 TD's late in the 4th quarter. Houston players took it personally. If the Colts lose in an upset in two weeks, it could significantly hurt their playoff seeding. You tell me - was it worth it??Football is a team sport. Individual records are silly in football. You gotta love the Patriots and Tom Brady. It's all about team with them - no individual accolades. And THAT is why they've won 2 Superbowls. Peyton will break the record, but the Colts team will suffer for it in the long run. Mark my words.
But don't you want your team to play with a killer instinct, go for the juggular, don't hold anything back attitude?You can't turn on and off intensity, when you the breaks on your offense it's a lot harder to get it going again.
A valid question, posted by someone who obviously has a modicum of class and interest in the truth.Here's my take on it, for what it's worth. It lies at the heart of why this thing ticks me off so much. The thing I love most about football is that it is the last true team sport. Baseball and basketball have become littered with "personal records" the last few years, with high paid wussies that have no idea what it means to work within the concept of a team. What's not to love about football - where 350 pound offensive linemen are just as important to winning as the flashy superstars? These guys put their bodies through hell every year and do so for relatively modest wages. They do it because they lovethe game - and they love working within the framework of a team.The NFL has been challenged recently by the very things that have turned off so many of us to the other sports - where the individual is put above the team. The same people who complain about TO's touchdown celebrations seem to have no problem with Manning obsessing over an individual record. Call me old fashioned, but I'd much rather see a guy like Daniel Graham - who was on pace for a record setting TD season for a TE - take a back seat individually and do what is best for the team to win (ie - blocking while some O-linemen are injured).Getting back to the ideaof "reigning it in". This is what annoys me the most in this thread - all the people who think it is "communist" or somehow un-American NOT to blow out a team when you have the chance. This is wrong on so many levels. For now, I'll only addres the aspect of this issue that some of you can undrstand - that it is counterproductive to winnin games down the road. If the idea is for the team to win, then running up the score defeats that goal. I'l explain it in military terms so that some of you can understand.Von Clausewitz postulated that to defeat an enemy you have to disable their "center of gravity". Center of gravity has been debated a lot over the years, but here is how Clausewitz defines it..."the hub of all movement, on which everything depends"I would argue that in a football game the "hub of all power and movement" is largely made up of emotional motivation. Obviously you have to win the game on the field, and if your opponent can't stop the pass - you pass on them. But at some point in the game, when the outcome is in hand, it becomes counterproductive to run up the score. When your opponent is defeated, you pull your starters and run the ball and end the gam. You shake your opponents' hands and tell them what a great game they played. You don't give them any added motivation for the next time you play them. It's intelligent, and it helps your team's chances down the road.What Manning did against Houston a couple weeks ago went counter to that. He humiliated his opponents and gave them added incentive to win in a few weeks. Now Houston may not win the game, but they will certainly play with added motivation. And THAT my friends - is undeniable proof that Manning's pursuit of the record is deliterious to the overall chances of his team winning.The trick to all of this is knowing when to "reign it in". The line is not set in stone, but like pornography, you tend to know it when you see it. Manning seems to have lost the ability to see this, and I blame the record. You reap what you sew. In the end, he'll get his personal record. But I can't help but wonder what effect it will have on his team, and on the kids who look up to him.
Let me get this straight. You work for a team that played it's rival and beat it easily with a TD pass that was not needed. The next year, the rival played you tough and beat you even though you should have won easily because of that TD? Do you really think the TD made that much of a difference? What kind of rivally is there if they need that spark? Never, ever did we need any extra incentive when playing a rival and they still don't. You talk to kids at my old HS and they need no incentive to play their hardest against our main rival. If you need extra incentive to go out and play any game hard then maybe you shouldn't be stepping out there. Maybe your team fell into the trap game especially after leading early.Maybe it's just my thought process is different from yours which is perfectly fine. My favorite coachs were always ones that played for the juggular. My junior year of baseball, we were hated beyound belief for scoring unneeded runs in blowouts. I went to a small school so we didn't have many subs so we couldn't pull all the starters but he would also use unneeded tatics ike suicide squeezes and such. Did those things piss teams off? Yes. Did they play harder the next time? If so, then they deserve the whipping they got last time for not trying their hardest. We no hit one team in 5 innings (mercy kill) one game like 22-0 scoring unneeded runs with our ace on the mound. They were pissed off and of course made some comments like they would enjoy returning the beating. This implies they would try their hardest and have extra reasons to beat us. Well, it was our #3 guys turn to go the only other time we played them and they showed up fired up. Even with the easy win last time, our coach always had us ready and we no hit them for a 15-0 victory that time so I guess maybe their extra incentive did help a bit, we scored 7 less runs. Many times we led big early but this coach never let up. It pissed people off but personally I'd rather play that way.In fact, 3 years ago on a work softball team we showed up with the minimum amount we could play with, 8. We were playing the best team and whom we beat the last time. 8 guys against a great team usually means doom and it did here. After 4 innings, we were down 26-5 or so. The 5th inning they came up and with the mercy rule clearly in site (10 run lead after 5, we were home obviously), they went up obviously bored with us and wanting to end it. They started swinging to hit pop-ups (no one wants to strike out, even on purpose) so we culd get them out and they could get us out and go home. We had some hot heads on our team but I'm not known to be one so when I went off, they were shocked. Why did I go off? You find it disrespecting when someone goes out and tries hard to score when they didn't need too but I got mad because I felt they were disrespecting us by not trying anymore. I would rather they score 10+ runs that inning if they could have. Anyway, I don't get why the Colts should run, run, run when they get a decent lead. I didn't hear anyone bash the Chiefs when they beat the Falcons 56-10. 6 rushng TDs and in the 4th Q, what did they do? They rushed the ball for 2 more TDs! 2 passes and 16 rush attempts! The bastards! Wasn't 6 rushing TDs enough going into the 4th quarter?As a player, #### simple. Don't want to see TO doing a dance, stop him. Don't want Manning throwing his 5th TD, stop him. I am in favor of teams calling plays to get them into the endzone no matter the score or time. No player should need extra incentive to play thier hardest on any level. When you put on that uniform, you should be going all out no matter the opponent, time, score, whatever. If you can beat me or my team in an embarrassing fashion, do it because we should be stopping you. We aren't doing our job and you are and there is no shame in doing your job.