Letters to the Editor
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Baseball and running up the score
Earlier someone asked if baseball is different when it comes to running up the score. There've also been people that mentioned the "mercy" rule in little league and in casual leagues.
The answer is yes, there is a difference and MLB already has a mercy rule. The Pats running up the score late in the 4th quarter is akin to the Red Sox or Yankees (Evil Empires North and the Original) insisting on playing out the bottom of the 9th even though they're already ahead 12-1 so they can pad their stats. In baseball if you're ahead and it is your turn to score and it is the last inning, everyone says "Nice game guys, lets go home!" Think of the records the big hitters might have set had they been able to keep batting in that last inning. Think of all the beanballs and brushback pitches that'd be thrown in that inning. Oh the chances for violence and stat-padding that have been thrown away.
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So let's say they don't run up the score...
So I looked at the scores of all 10 Patriots games and knocked off all of their 4th quarter points. The result is that they'd be 9-1 with the sole loss coming against the Colts. The average points against the Patriots so far this year is 15.7 points. So maybe they are running up the score. Or maybe their defense is so good (or the competition is so bad) that the offense is just bored so they have to amuse themselves by scoring touchdowns. Why is nobody asking why so few teams have been able to score against the Patriots' defense?
By the way, their total number of points scored in the 4th quarter? 114. So a case could be made that they are in fact running up the score. I did not look to see how many of those points were scored by the second team or the defense, but the real problem is that only one or two teams this year have been able to keep the ball out NE's offense's hands during that time. Even playing a conservative, run-based offense is going to net you some TDs and field goals late in the game if your opponents suck.
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Bad Analogy
Sorry Lynx, but that won't fly.
That's not a mercy rule, because that rule exists whether the score is 2-1 or 19-1. Once the trailing team has run out of offensive opportunities there's no point for the leading team to bat. The only way to do that in football would be to make an educated guess about how many points a team could reasonably score with x-number of minutes on the clock and, if they trailed by more than that number of points, the game would be called.
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Running it Up
In MLB, if you are up 8 runs in the 8th and try to steal a base or something viewed as trying to humiliate the opponent, the players take care of it by placing a fastball in someone's ear-hole. In the old NFL, before the days of massive fines for on field behavior, the defense would have sent a message by hitting him late when he threw the ball up 35 points. I know the old Redskins under Allen, would have gone at Brady's knees for throwing in the fourth quarter up 40+ points on fourth down. Thing is, if the Pats knew that was a consequence, they wouldn't try it.
The Patriots are a case study in the lack of class in sports today. Win at all costs, cheat if you can get a way with it and don't afford your opponents or the game any respect. Belichek doesn't care about any of it. He dresses like a hobo and barely mumbles response. He's a classless jerk, but he can get away with being a classless jerk, because our society rewards it.
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@ Lynx
When's the last time Brady was pulled from a blowout in the 4th qtr?
He was pulled last night in the 4th quarter...
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Madden was right
John Madden had a very point last night about the Pats running up the score.
He said it is not the offense's job to stop scoring. It is the defense's job to keep them from scoring. Want the Pats to stop scoring? Make a play. Any play. Sack Brady. Make an interception. Knock the ball down. Drop the runner for a loss. Keep them away from the 1st down marker. That's what defenses get paid for.
In this age of parity it is rare to see one team so head and shoulders above the rest but here they are. Pats are a great team. I may not like them but I admire their skill and their approach to the game. I didn't like the 1998 Yankees but I admired how good they were and how they made other teams pay for every little mistake.
Sports fans should recognize and appreciate the greatness they are witnessing.
Only question now once the Pats clinch home field advantage, will Belchick do the smart thing and play the scrubs? Screw 16-0. It's the Super Bowl that matters.
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@ Lynx 12:10
No, those were just the first two programs I looked up. These people get paid to score points. The other guys get paid to stop them from scoring points. This isn't Pop Warner or the AYSO - fragile egos need not apply. Heck, I don't even have a problem with college "running it up", if that's what you want to call it. It's all part of the process.
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@ pageiger
I especially liked Al's one-word response immediately following Madden's soliloquy. "Amen".
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Wait, what?
I was trying to stay away from this whole debate, but I couldn't get past this line:
The Patriots are a case study in the lack of class in sports today.
Setting aside whether the Patriots, or Belichick, or whoever, is classless, you think that it's a good thing that baseball players bean each other when an unspoken rule is broken? or that it was good back in the day that football players would purposefully harm opposing players--against the grain of play--because of a slight? And you think that the Patriots are classless because they're running up the score??
I listened to a radio show where John Riggins was talking about this a few weeks back, and he mentioned that one of the things that have changed for the better in the league, in his opinion, was that there isn't that level of lawlessness anymore. I would tend to agree...