Colts Are a Disgrace

[footey]

By purposely pulling their starters out with a lead in the second half and go on to lose, thereby forfeiting a chance at an historical undefeated season, the Colts have lost all respect from me and many other football fans.  If I was a Colt fan, I would be so angry at the coaching staff and management for doing this. To protect their key players from getting hurt?  That is the nature of football. You play to win the games. Each one of them. 

Would not be surprised to see them lose early in the play-offs. No cojanies. That is not the mark of a championship team.

Go Pats (or whoever else plays the Colts)!!

[Redz]

I don't have an issue with them not going for the undefeated season, as much as I do with them not respecting the amount of teams that had a stake in the Jets end of the bargain.  The season is so short, and making the playoffs such a big deal, that each team should feel some responsibility to play for the win.

That said, I recall the Pats taking a slightly more inconspicuous route a few years back in taking a loss in the final week to get a favorable matchup in round 1(the Flutie dropkick game).

[pearljammer10]

They game didnt mean anything whether they won or lost... Im sure if they kept their starters in for the second half you would say they are disgrace for pummeling the opposing team... What a dumb thread.

[Chris]

I don't have an issue with them not going for the undefeated season, as much as I do with them not respecting the amount of teams that had a stake in the Jets end of the bargain.  The season is so short, and making the playoffs such a big deal, that each team should feel some responsibility to play for the win.

That said, I recall the Pats taking a slightly more inconspicuous route a few years back in taking a loss in the final week to get a favorable matchup in round 1(the Flutie dropkick game).

I think we could be seeing a replay next week for the Pats.  It may be beneficial to the Pats to lose next week, and end up as the #4 seed, since that would line them up to play the Colts if they win the wild-card game, rather than the streaking Chargers, in the second round.  

I expect the Pats to be resting a lot of guys next week, allowing the Texans to possibly grab a wild card spot.

[Redz]

They game didnt mean anything whether they won or lost... Im sure if they kept their starters in for the second half you would say they are disgrace for pummeling the opposing team... What a dumb thread.

The fans were booing them and the players seemed a little disappointed.  If it meant something to them, then the game was far from meaningless.

As I said below though, I think the bigger "meaning" of the game was for the teams fighting with the Jets for the WC.

[Donoghus]

I know the Colts are stating "keep an eye on the bigger picture" but I think you can do that AND still go undefeated.

The thing I see is that its Week 16.  They still have to play next week and then they'll have a week off to rest their starters.  A much deserved bye week.  They're going to get plenty of rest down the road.  If anything, you could make the argument that too much rest time leads to rust.  I know there is the injury concern but that's a part of football. 

With the Bills looming next week, the Colts had an excellent shot to go undefeated for the regular season.  The shot at an undefeated season is so rare, I think you gotta have respect for the game and go for it rather than laying down like the Colts did yesterday. 

I don't buy the whole "pressure of going undefeated in the playoffs will lead to ruination" idea.  You ask the '07 Pats roster and 95 % of their fans and they will tell you that the Giants just outplayed them in the Super Bowl and that the pressure of going undefeated had nothing to do with them losing. 

The Colts may very well go on to win the Super Bowl this year (although, personally I think San Diego has an excellent shot of knocking them off) but in the end, winning it all with an 18-1 record is only going to leave the Colts and football fans with plenty of "what if" questions.  Enjoy your SB title but they'll be that lingering question over them.

[Greenbean]

They game didnt mean anything whether they won or lost... Im sure if they kept their starters in for the second half you would say they are disgrace for pummeling the opposing team... What a dumb thread.

I think there would have been near universal praise if they had kept the starters in. They only had a 5 pt lead and they were protecting an undefeated season. Why wouldnt the players want th chance to go down in history forever. A super bowl is one think but the chance to go undefeated might come along once or twice in a players career.

As mentioned I think the players wanted this and losing must feel terrible to them. The game meant something and the coaches didnt coach to win.

[Redz]

I know the Colts are stating "keep an eye on the bigger picture" but I think you can do that AND still go undefeated.

The thing I see is that its Week 16.  They still have to play next week and then they'll have a week off to rest their starters.  A much deserved bye week.  They're going to get plenty of rest down the road.  If anything, you could make the argument that too much rest time leads to rust.  I know there is the injury concern but that's a part of football. 

With the Bills looming next week, the Colts had an excellent shot to go undefeated for the regular season.  The shot at an undefeated season is so rare, I think you gotta have respect for the game and go for it rather than laying down like the Colts did yesterday. 

I don't buy the whole "pressure of going undefeated in the playoffs will lead to ruination" idea.  You ask the '07 Pats roster and 95 % of their fans and they will tell you that the Giants just outplayed them in the Super Bowl and that the pressure of going undefeated had nothing to do with them losing. 

The Colts may very well go on to win the Super Bowl this year (although, personally I think San Diego has an excellent shot of knocking them off) but in the end, winning it all with an 18-1 record is only going to leave the Colts and football fans with plenty of "what if" questions.  Enjoy your SB title but they'll be that lingering question over them.

yeh, don't buy the pressure thing in `07 either.  The Pats made a clutch drive to go ahead late in that game then the Giants needed a Houdini escape act from Eli and a freakish catch from Tyree to win (amongst other things).  The Pats did not choke in that game. 

[Chris]

I know the Colts are stating "keep an eye on the bigger picture" but I think you can do that AND still go undefeated.

The thing I see is that its Week 16.  They still have to play next week and then they'll have a week off to rest their starters.  A much deserved bye week.  They're going to get plenty of rest down the road.  If anything, you could make the argument that too much rest time leads to rust.  I know there is the injury concern but that's a part of football. 

With the Bills looming next week, the Colts had an excellent shot to go undefeated for the regular season.  The shot at an undefeated season is so rare, I think you gotta have respect for the game and go for it rather than laying down like the Colts did yesterday. 

I don't buy the whole "pressure of going undefeated in the playoffs will lead to ruination" idea.  You ask the '07 Pats roster and 95 % of their fans and they will tell you that the Giants just outplayed them in the Super Bowl and that the pressure of going undefeated had nothing to do with them losing. 

The Colts may very well go on to win the Super Bowl this year (although, personally I think San Diego has an excellent shot of knocking them off) but in the end, winning it all with an 18-1 record is only going to leave the Colts and football fans with plenty of "what if" questions.  Enjoy your SB title but they'll be that lingering question over them.

yeh, don't buy the pressure thing in `07 either.  The Pats made a clutch drive to go ahead late in that game then the Giants needed a Houdini escape act from Eli and a freakish catch from Tyree to win (amongst other things).  The Pats did not choke in that game. 

I'll pile on.  The Pats didn't choke.  They had been showing chinks in the armor for weeks before that, and the Giants matched up with them perfectly.  A couple bounces went the wrong way, that were going the right way earlier in the season and thats how you lose the superbowl. 

[Schupac]

At first I thought "disgrace" was to strong a word, but the more I think about it, the more it seems to fit.  For a historically good player like Peyton Manning, and for the team that has gotten through so many close games by the skin of their teeth, you need to show yourselves the respect of playing hard.

If they were 13-1, then yeah, you can rest if you want because you aren't on your way to history.  But it just seems disrespectful to the fans to not 'swing for the fences' in this situation.

Not to mention, a lot of people (including myself) feel it is actually harmful to rest your players so much.  They fall out of rhythm and lose momentum.

[Donoghus]

For historical perspective this decade.

The years that the Colts have these bye weeks in the playoffs and rest their starters, they have zero Super Bowl titles.

The one title they have this decade (2006).  They played their starters in Week 17 and had to play Wild Card weekend straight through. 

You have to at least consider that too much rest hurt the Colts in those years while the idea of "keeping the momentum" helped win them a title.  Certainly, a lot of variables can be pointed out but I think that's an important point.

[LB3533]

The Colts probably thought they could have beaten the Jets with their 2nd unit and backups.

I don't ever encourage or endorse sitting your best players until the very last game of the regular season (even hesitant on that), because players need to maintain a rhythm and their routine.

[yall hate]

who cares. 

They did what they think is best for their ultimate goal, winning a superbowl.  As the pats showed, going undefeated and then losing in the playoffs makes the accomplishment near worthless.  I actually say good for the colts for doing what they think is best for the overall goal of the team, not what the fans want.

[nickagneta]

Personally, I could care less what the Colts did but I do have to say that I think the coaching staff probably lost a lot of respect from the players and it is bone head decisions like not going for a win against an inferior team that can easily have a coach "lose" the players and control of his team. I think this is eventually going to spell a second round loss for the Colts and that the AFC Championship is going to be played either in San Diego or New England.

Thanks Colts coaching staff. You did what no other team in the league could do. You beat your own team and now probably have lost them and any chances you had at a Superbowl.

[footey]

They game didnt mean anything whether they won or lost... Im sure if they kept their starters in for the second half you would say they are disgrace for pummeling the opposing team... What a dumb thread.

Evidently not. Many, including you, have responded to it already.  But thanks for your feedback.