Letters to the Editor
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@ EWilson
OK, I'll take that bait.
I guess we first have to establish what constitutes a blowout, right? For argument's sake, let's say it a lead of 3.5 touchdowns early in the 4th.
Bill Walsh, between 1983 and 1986, did it 16 times. 48-0 v Rams, 51-7 v Vikes, 41-0 v Bears, to name a few.
Landry did it nine times over the course of 2 years.
There is definitely more where that came from.
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Actually, Lynx has one point in that
the one player on the Patriots who could use some practice is the field goal kicker.
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Intentional fouls?
Not unlike the end of every close NBA game.
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Blow outs
So, Rayon, we have on average Landry and Walsh doing it 4 to 5 times a year. A case could be made that the Pats have already exceeded that number in 10 games this season. But, even if you don't want to call those 38-14 games blow outs, it's pretty likely the Pats will end up with more than 5 blow outs this season.
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There is Karma in Football
It's called a 300 pound defensive end that doesn't really care about the $15,000 fine he is going to draw for snapping Brady's leg in two long after the ball is gone. Anyone that believes that in a game known for its rage, that the Pats are going to get away with showing up teams ad infinitum is delusional.
They are running up the score and somewhere down the line it is going to be Brady or Moss that pays for it in the form of a season ending injury. What's surprising to me is that Brady, who is by all accounts a pretty smart guy, is going along with it. It is after all his career on the line. No one is going to be taking out Belichek's knee.
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In Related News
Microsoft has announced it will be pulling back on marketing and distribution next year to cut profits so as not to appear to be running up the score on the compettion.
Good God, are we going to have to put up with this whining right through the Super Bowl?
Go watch golf, babies!
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Pat's injury
>No one is going to be taking out Belichek's knee.
Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if someone "misses" a tackle along the sideline and levels Belichick "by accident".
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Asinistra
Brilliant argument. Ignore all substance and call people "whiners" and "babies". And your allusion doesn't hold water. It isn't part of corporate america's culture to hold back and commerce isn't a sport. You're comparing apples and plungers.
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E Wilson
Ok, so do you think that Walsh "only" ran up the score 16 times in 3 years because he eased off the gas in those other games or because that was all he could get? So far this year, the Pats have brought in Cassell 6 games, which is on average more times than Walsh or Landry brought in their backups. I think it's highly doubtful that given the opportunity, they all wouldn't have been blowouts. Same goes for any of your High Order of Noble Head Coaches. I'm not saying Belichick is a member of that group (I personally think he's an asshole of the Tom Coughlin variety), but he's done nothing wrong with regards to his actual game management.
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WWJTD?
Tressel respects his opponents and the game.
We'll miss you Lloyd.
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A Modest Proposal (sans death)
I really cannot understand people getting upset at professionals kicking the crap out of one another.
I think the only logical way of handling this is to institute something like the 10-run rule from Little League. In fact, now that I think about that, how cool would that be? If you can get a 35 point lead, the game's over. Then players don't get hurt while "running up the score", egos are assuaged, and fans never have to know how bad their teams really are.
Side question: How often do participants in Fantasy Leagues "rest" their best players if they get a huge late-season lead? You know, just to be nice to their buddies.
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Rayon
1983-1986 is actually 4 years.
What makes the Pats look as if they're running up the score is the average margin of victory, which is significantly higher than any of those 49ers teams achieved.
The 15-1 49ers of 1984 averaged 29.6 points a game and gave up a little over 14. This year, the Pats are averaging 41.1 a game and giving up 15.7. That's a significant difference in margin of victory.
In fact, looking at those 49ers teams in comparison to this year's Pats, the defensive numbers are roughly equivalent, but the offensive numbers are not. And that's why, throwing out all the speculation about Belichick's motives, it appears the Patriots are running up the score.
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Rayon Fog
So you have 2 or 3 others to point to in 30 years of football and their blowouts weren't by as much.
That seems to support my theory that this is an abberation in the norms of the sport.
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morons
What is more important, winning each game by 5 touchdowns or keeping your star players injury free for the playoffs and the Super Bowl? It's going to be pretty pathetic if Moss or especially Brady goes down with a season ending injury just so Bellicheck can stoke his ego and win the season by a 400 point margin.
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Running up the score
Uberbah offers another argument suggesting the Pats are running up the score.
What possible incentive does Belichick have to risk an injury to one of his stars by having him on the field with a 42-7 lead? (And most of the Patriots DEFESIVE stars remain on the field well into the 4th quarter of games they have at hand?) Do people who think Belichick is a genius think he's that dumb?
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EWilson
When it comes to the cheating scandal, most people want it both ways too. First they call Bellicheck a genius and then state he wasn't cheating because they can't figure out how he was benefitting from it. Apparently he's not so much a genius that he can think of anything they can't think of.
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Other "Abberations"
Not in any order of importance:
(1) Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak.
(2) The 2007 Colorado Rockies 21-1 record on the way to the World Series. (Where, sure, they got creamed. Sports is funny that way.)
(3) Roger Bannister breaking the 4-minute mile.
(4) Bob Beamon leaping 29'2 1/2" in the long jump in 1968.
(5) The 1995-6 Chicago Bulls 72-10 regular season record.
(6) Babe Ruth. (See Stephen Jay Gould for details.)
(7) Bill Johnson's Downhill Gold medal in 1984.
(8) Villanova's 1985 NCAA men's basketball championship.
(9) Steve Carlton in 1972.
(10) UCLA basketball 1964-1975.
And many more!
Sometimes it's the underdog and sometimes it's the big dog; in either case, the unexpected result or the superlative achievement is really cool to watch.
And for those arguing that this is somehow why Brady's gonna get hurt, I have a two-part question for you:
Are you suggesting that for the first ten weeks of the season teams haven't been trying that hard to get to him? And that because some professional athletes are doing something exceedingly well -- something that any player would be part of if they could (see Rodriquez, NYY) -- that only now they're all going to try harder?