There appears to be a school of thought (if you can call it that) that the colts threw this year's superbowl. More specifically Manning threw the game. After all, Manning is perfect so he must have meant to throw the interception. THIS CAN NAWT BE DENIED.
Oh, yes, Absolutely I meant the team that eventually won the Super Bowl that year. If teams played for the matchup, the Bengals would have tried like hell to beat Kansas City in Week 17. They had big problems against Indianapolis that year. Also, they liked playing Pittsburgh. CIN-PIT had been one-sided for many years, but the rivalry was on big time in 2005. The Bengals, more so than New England, did not care about Week 17. If you are going to be fair here and insist that the Patriots tanked their Week 17 game, then you MUST acknowledge that the Bengals also tanked their Week 17 game and that the Bengals clearly gave a worse effort.
The NFL is pretty much a year to year league now. To surmise that they threw any games to get ready for the following season is crazy. You have an opportunity, you go for it. Who's to say what the landscape is next year, or that the scenario will be better for any team, let alone the Pats. Brady will be a year older, Moss is on the edge it seems, Welker will have to overcome a serious injury, the D has alot of holes. And yet fans think they tanked the Ravens game. What happened in the Ravens game is the cruxt of the Ravens offense. If you don't stop the running game and in particular, Ray Rice, you are in big trouble. The game was a synopsis of their season. With no cap next year, and a possible lockout in 2011, what are the Pats really hoping to gain? A better team in 2012?
You had a Superbowl to build a fan base on and pass it to the next generation. The Pats had nothing, just bad teams for most of 30+ years, so I'm sure you had a better fanbase from the 70's on. The Patriots haven't had a game blacked out in 20 years, so that means they sell out. You folks look up attendance, and use that as your criteria. Take a look at the attendance of Jets games in late December past when they have 3 or 4 wins and you'll see alot of no-shows also. I never said there aren't a lot of Pats front runners who started wearing the jerseys and whatnot after 2000, because I know a lot of them! But it happens everywhere. I took the family to Dinseyworld last week, and the place was crawling with Saints stuff....
That is true. NJ/NY is especially a big front running region. The area was littered with 49ers fans in the 1980s and 1990s and Cowboys fans in the 1990s. Where did they all go? :wink:
In all honesty, I don't remember the playoff dynamics in that much detail. I'm sure you're right about Cincy. All I really remember is that the Steelers were going in hot and the Jaguars were definitely the more favorable wildcard weekend matchup for NE. So when they had a chance to win or tie that last week, it was ridiculously obvious that Belichick didn't want to win the game. Then the Pats went out and trounced Jacksonville before losing the next week in Denver.
Ditka versus a hurricane? What if the name of the hurricane was Hurricane Ditka? Must be boring over in Pats land.
Soiled, stinky diapers. Do you and your fellow Patriots fans really think Bill Belichick purposefully had his team lose to avoid playing a home game against the Steelers on Wild Card weekend? Come back to earth, please. The Patriots had just won the past two Super Bowls. You really think they were scared? :rofl: This thread needs to be advertised elsewhere on this message board. Also, we have to consider adding a subtitle to it. "Wet, soiled Patriots diapers" or some shit. Bill Belichick's drawers were loaded with feces, Tom Kraft had diarrhea running down his legs, and Tom Brady wet his pants over the prospect of playing the Steelers in Foxborough. Are you people kidding me? If they were so damn afraid to face the Steelers in the Wild Card round, what made Belichick and company think the Patriots were not going to meet up with the Steelers later in the AFC playoffs anyway?!? This is unreal. Patriots fans want to prove Belichick is a genius by indicating that he threw games that would benefit the Patriots. Okay, well the problem with that theory is that when applied to the 2005 end of season situation it makes the Patriots look like a bunch of wet diapered pansies.
You're really exaggerating what people here are saying. Look, there's a gray area here. But in the game, Brady came out after the first quarter, Corey Dillion never played, and both Deion Branch and David Givens pretty much sat out the final three quarters. The Steelers certainly were a better team, but I haven't seen anyone here besides you try and chalk this up to another case of Belichick being a great tactician. Had the backups smoked the Dolphins, I don't think the coaching staff would have been sweating. That said, I remember that two point conversion and Cassel damn near sent it into the seats. Doug Flutie does not do a fucking dropkick in a game you care about winning, end of story. To say they tanked it on purpose is probably strong, but they sure as hell didn't seem to care that much about winning.
The Bengals gave even less of an effort that day and they were the team sitting in the 3 hole going into play on that Sunday!!! Write about that, Patriots fans! Write about that. I already addressed the Flutie dropkick. Nice that you ignored my comments on the matter. Wet, stinky, soiled, filthy fuckin' diapers.
I saw that and sure, it didn't really effect the score of the game. I still think it's telling of how seriously they were taking the game. Just because a team doesn't decide to completely shit the bed as bad as the Bengals did, doesn't mean they are necessarily invested in the game. Watch the video of that Flutie dropkick and the reaction and you can tell they don't care. It's really not earth shattering to claim a team was less than engaged in a week 17 game where starters could still be hurt and a win would mean a tougher match-up. No one looses on purpose, but watching that game it was so clear that it was the Dolphins to take. Or maybe since it was on New Years Day I was just really hungover and this is all projection. I don't know. Message board idiots aren't the only ones to bring up this idea, there have been plenty of rumblings from media members around these parts over the years about whether or not they mailed that game in.
I did not watch that MIA-NE game because it was not important and as a Sunday Ticket subscriber, I'm sorry, but Dolphins-Pates games are never viewed by me if other games are on. That said, I did not work the day after the game. I saw all the highlights that Sunday night and the following Monday. I heard numerous clips from coach press conferences on NFLN on that Monday. I saw the Flutie dropkick numerous times and the laughing and the high-fives. I faintly remember the failed two-point conversion. I stated earlier in the thread that when teams are locked into either the 3 or 4 seed- historically, the team in the 4 spot will not fight to move up to the 3 spot and historically, the team in the 3 spot will not fight to stay at the 3 spot. This is what played out on that Week 17 afternoon. Neither the Bengals nor the Patriots gave a full effort. Neither team particularly cared if they lost. The one thing I don't fully understand is why Belichick allowed Cassel to go down the field and throw a touchdown pass as time expired. I cannot buy the idea that he wanted Cassel to get experience in a 2-minute drill. That doesn't fly with me especially when we consider the notion that Belichick may have been wanting to protect against injuries and apparently had zero interest in winning the game anyway. Be that as it may, the issue brought up by those Patriots fans on the other message board is that they feel Belichick tanked the Week 17 2005 game to set up an easier matchup in the Wild Card playoffs. If Belichick really did that, then that is pretty darn sorry and it would indicate weakness and fear on his part.
Well the Pats had the chance to go 19-0 in 2007. But their arrogance and overconfidence, not to mention their cheating caught up with them!
this is amazing. they cant lose games! they only lose when they WANT TO LOSE! patsy fans are fucking amazing. good thing they wont exist in 5 years. they might have to go back to the bleachers at ole foxboro.
I've never heard any, and I mean any fan - say, think, write, murmur, mention, refer to, or fathom what has been posted on those sites. Lost on purpose..... blow me.
