Should the Pats be running up the score on everybody in garbage time?

[Salva135]

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chance of star player getting injured >>> chance of team coming back from one of those 30 point leads against the patriots

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I think this is a different point. It's one thing to say the Pats are being "immoral" or "evil" or bad sports by running up the score, and that they should somehow let up at some arbitrarily defined point in order to "respect" their opponents more. This is a baseless argument designed by Pats-haters this year, because they have nothing else to criticize right now. It's basically a bunch of C-students in high school getting pissed off at the kid in class who gets straight As and is ruining their curve. Pure pettiness.

It's another thing to argue that they're being idiots by exposing their stars to the risk of injury by unnecessarily leaving them out there. There's a balance of objectives between keeping players healthy and putting the game away, and Belichick must feel confident enough at the moment that he's struck the right balance. If someone gets hurt, they're going to have to deal it and accept it as a result of the decisions they made. But it's not my job or yours to make those judgements.

If the argument against Brady staying in is only because he might get hurt, would anyone have problems with Cassel coming out in a 4-wide shotgun formation in the red zone with a 40-point lead and 5 minutes left?

[kyro]

salva,

I agree. The "big bad belicheck" running up the score argument is dreck. The issue should be whether or not Belicheck is risking too much by keeping his stars out there.

[kyro]

Also, I doubt Belicheck would have Brady in there 38-0 in the fourth quarter if they hadn't won 3 SBs together. I think they're trying to do something remarkable, (as if 3 SBs in 4 years isn't remarkable enough)

[Semtex]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]

chance of star player getting injured >>> chance of team coming back from one of those 30 point leads against the patriots

[/ QUOTE ]

I think this is a different point. It's one thing to say the Pats are being "immoral" or "evil" or bad sports by running up the score, and that they should somehow let up at some arbitrarily defined point in order to "respect" their opponents more. This is a baseless argument designed by Pats-haters this year, because they have nothing else to criticize right now. It's basically a bunch of C-students in high school getting pissed off at the kid in class who gets straight As and is ruining their curve. Pure pettiness.

It's another thing to argue that they're being idiots by exposing their stars to the risk of injury by unnecessarily leaving them out there. There's a balance of objectives between keeping players healthy and putting the game away, and Belichick must feel confident enough at the moment that he's struck the right balance. If someone gets hurt, they're going to have to deal it and accept it as a result of the decisions they made. But it's not my job or yours to make those judgements.

If the argument against Brady staying in is only because he might get hurt, would anyone have problems with Cassel coming out in a 4-wide shotgun formation in the red zone with a 40-point lead and 5 minutes left?

[/ QUOTE ]
why would i? i don't have a problem with brady staying in either, like it doesn't offend me or anything like that, but i do think its retarded. the patriots have a chance to accomplish something really special here and if the whole ship comes crashing down because belichick wants to stick it to every team and win by 50 instead of 25 the colts will laugh all the way to the super bowl. one thing i do have a problem with are patriot fans who have denied and continue to deny that the patriots are trying to run up the score, while its been obvious to some of us for weeks now and is becoming more obvious to others as these games play out.

one thing, i loved the theory by one of simmons's readers that belichick is doing this because he is betting on every game and wants to make sure he covers every time. thats why he brought brady back in against miami. hilarious.