I listened all week on talk radio to people trying to defend dogging it to keep players from being injured for the play offs. If a team does not do it's best to win a game , then they threw it. If thats the case then i thought that was a crime?

We know the NFL wants close games. But this was one the Jets were to win (by hook or crook) no matter how the Bengals played.

Hey Pete, I dont know if the BenGALS do win easily next week. Any team that comes up with that mangy dog performance deserves to get their butts kicked once again. That was just pathetic. Lost a lot of respect for Marvin after that. Guess Lamarr Woodly called it on this one at least.

Why is this "teams should try during every game" thing a big deal during playoff season? When a team that's bad, like the Redskins, starts dogging it during a bad season, obviously not playing to their full potential, nobody is screaming for their heads. It's just chalked up to bad play. But when a team that's had decent success throughout the season decides to preserve their players to make a championship run, everybody gets bothered. As a fan, I'd take a couple playoff wins over an almost meaningless week 16 victory in which several starters were injured.

Trying to legislate the appropriate level of "trying to win" is fruitless. Let's see...since the Colts and Bengals let their QBs play for about a half, that would be OK...but Drew Brees of the Saints never took a snap so that would be a case of not "trying" to win enough? And if the NFL proposes to award extra draft choices to teams that "try", that also penalizes other teams.

It's simply the nature of a team playing a violent sport when it doesn't need to win a game. Plus why, for example, should the Bengals show the Jets their hand when they will play them again next week?

Here's what I don't understand about pulling starters, etc...at least the Saints did it right. Two weeks in a row the Colts pulled Peyton Manning early, supposedly so he wouldn't get hurt? Um, you can't get hurt in the FIRST quarter?

Being able to rest starters if a team wishes is a reward for winning games early in the season. Teams like the Steelers who cried about other teams laying down to knock them out, hey, if you beat dregs like the Browns, Raiders and Chiefs you wouldn't be in the position you were in...so SHUT UP!

Pete.....Did you use "integrity" and NFL in the same sentence?

Pete - I hear where you are coming from, but there is nothing that can be done about this. The Texans have only themselves to blame for being in a position that they needed help from another team. If you don't earn a playoff berth on your own, you really can't complain.

Peter, I usually find your opinions hit pretty close to the mark. Here, I wonder if you'd had your coffee yet. I hope, after further consideration, that you will see that "integrity" and pro sports do not go together. In the case of the NFL, look no further than Micheal Vick!

I think the Ravens rested Mark Clayton yesterday, even though he played.

Watching Clayton run short hooks and outs and then standing there covered up like a blanket was pretty amazing.

We already know the Patriots defensive plan for Sunday...double team Mason and blitz Flacco from the corner and safety. I love Joe but he folds like an accordian under pressure. He could have run for an easy first down yesterday but for some strange reason decided to throw an incompleteion after he crossed the line of scrimmage.

As Pete pointed out, he ain't right. Of course, since the wide receivers, especially Clayton can't get open, it certainly limits Joe's options when he drops back.

Who did the Cards, Bengals, etc. think they were kidding with those 3rd rate performances by predominantly 2nd rate players yesterday. In Soccer in Europe a team can be docked points; fined or even disqualified for fielding substandard teams. Perhaps the Commissioner should take a look at the fleecing of fans by teams in several of the games in Week 17.

Well I'm going to have to bookmark this page and come back to see what you've written after the rematch. If the Jets win I suppose you won't back down from your statements here, you'll just make more excuses. If Ocho pretends he's hurt you can use that one. The Bengals may have not had the same heart last ight that they will have next Saturday, but they didn't lay down to the point that was reflected in the final score. You sound like Woodley who couldn't accept the premise that to be in you had to win. Sure the Texans have finished over 500 for the first time but when did that become good enough in the NFL for a playoff spot. Oh but yeah, the Colts laid down for us. Let's forget about the games we won with a rookie QB, new defensive coordinator, new head coach, new number one WR while missing two dominant forces on this team, Leon Washington and Kris Jenkins. The Colts laid down so everyone else must be right? I hope for the sanity of people in Baltimore you don't write this sort of garbage every week. If you knew anything about the misery of being a Jet fan, you'd know that after 40 years, we deserved some sort of a break from somewhere. But the Jets were the better team last night, despite the bitterness that the Colts have aparently left you with.

Pete, I've been concerned about this for years. I don't blame coaches or GMs like Caldwell and Polian. They did what they thought was best within the rules of the league. I don't agree with them that they did what was best, but that's another discussion altogether. But I have thought for a long time that the league needs to change the rules to prevent teams from intentionally throwing a game (let's be real, that's what you are doing the minute you bench 10 starters) that ultimately determines who gets into the playoffs. The current system undermines much of what the league strives for. Yesterday was as bad as I can remember in terms of the number of games that were decided by the resting of key players. I'm thrilled that Goodell is even talking about it publicly. I won't call it lip service just yet. Let's give them a year to see if they actually come up with something to rectify the situation. As for the Green Titan, we're all not impressed with the accomplishments of this years Jets. I love Rex and Bart, and I'm sure the future is bright for Jets fans. But this year, they don't deserve a playoff berth. The Texans played the Colts twice COMPETETIVELY and ended up with the same record as the Jets. The Jets get in on tie-breakers. If you were the fan of any other team, you would realize the injustice.

Pete--As I wrote to you last night, what galled me was that Al Michaels and Cris Collingsworth insulted their audience by failing to speak intelligently about the Bengals obvious lack of effort to win. Let’s see one first down—and that by penalty—in the first half. Several dropped passes. A second and one but do the Bengals go for a first down? No they throw two incomplete passes so that they can punt it away. Carson Palmer 1 for 11 for zero yards. How many total yards did Cincinnati have in the first half? Five?

The “game” was a farce. Michaels and Collingsworth couldn’t even summon up a Monty Pythonesque wink-wink, nod-nod for us.

Can you imagine if Howard Cosell and Dandy Don Meredith were doing this game?

The Orioles could use some integrity and try to win some games!!

Pete
Why do you care if the bungles blew the game? The Orioles do it every year and you think the rebuilding phase is working out golden!

In Baseball, teams that are all but eliminated from contention{Like the Orioles annually}lay down by playing rookies, tading veterens and holding tryouts for next year.

I'm sure that teams involved in the pennant races feel the same way.

Look, I think this argument is way too subjective. You simply cannot start forcing a team to play starters if they don't want to. You may as well let the NFL front office coach the teams. As fans, you know going into a situation that a team might be in a position where they've already made the playoffs. That's the nature of the beast. Perhaps a team like Houston should have won some games they lost earlier in the season and they wouldn't have to worry about it.

Scheduling in professional sports works sometimes to a team's advantage and sometimes to its disadvantage. The Jets lucked out this year and picked up a couple easy wins at the end of the season. These games would have been likely losses if scheduled at the start of the season.

As a result, some mediocre teams were eliminated by the Jets' wins. These losers could have made the playoffs if they had played better foortball during the season. I'm not too sympathetic to the losers because too many average teams make the playoffs. A team only has to be in the top 12 out of 32 teams to make it. That's not a high threshold. Wild card teams should not be in the playoffs because wild cards are only for girl's card games.

Of course the Bengals also benefited from the scheduling and get to play the Jets again. The Ravens came out winners too because they get to play the Patirots instead of the superior Bengals.

Moral of the story: Life is not fair.. Go Ravens!

What are you people smoking?

You're crying for Houston, who played "pretty damn hard to overcome a 14 point deficit"? Because you think the Bengals laid down for the Jets (never mind that the Jets were the #1 rushing offense and #1 defense coming into the game, and that the Jets were up 27-0 on Cinci's starters).

Could somebody please tell me who was QBing the Pats for most of the Texans game? Because NFL.com has it as "Blaine Hoyer." Did Tom Brady change his name mid-game?

Or - just spitballing here, go with me for a moment - are you being just a tad hypocritical?

Maybe the Jets overwhelmed the Bengals last night? It was pretty clear that they didn't want to be out there after it was 24-0, but who exactly would want to be out there at 24-0 in 8 degree weather?

Also, what exactly are you basing your "the Bengals will win easily" prediction on? Is it the fact that the mighty Ravens lost to them twice? The Jets are no world beaters, but neither are the Bengals... or anyone in the AFC outside of the Colts and Chargers.

"The Texans played the Colts twice COMPETETIVELY and ended up with the same record as the Jets."

Sweet - a lot of teams played the colts competitively this year, should they get into the playoffs? I'm not going to feel bad for any team that didn't make it, just as I would have not felt bad if the Jets didn't. The Jets had a number of awful losses, but all of the teams competiting for that spot did too.

By the way, the Jets destroyed the Texans in the opening game of the year, turn that game around and the Texans wouldn't have this problem.

This is obviously not a new phenomenon, nor is it limited to the NFL. Remember when all of the NBA teams eliminated from the playoffs used to fall over themselves (literally) to see who qualified for the highest draft pick? That was before the ping pong balls leveled the field a bit.

My own take is that the Texans had 15 prior games to qualify without expecting the Bengals to put their season at risk just to help them. Same would have been true had it been the Ravens. The Bengals, and the Pats, and the Colts, and the Saints, et al, had every right, even a duty, to do what was best for their own situation. Unfair to the fans? You can't possibly mean those fans who pay full price to watch meaningless, and starter-less, exhibition - er - preseason games, can you? The last fans to protest the only way that matters, with their wallets, were right here in good ol' Balmer. And, as I recall, that was one of Bob The Red Faced Owner's stated reasons to get out of Dodge. All 32 teams control their own destiny. Quit bitching and take care of business!

Could somebody please tell me who was QBing the Pats for most of the Texans game? Because NFL.com has it as "Blaine Hoyer." Did Tom Brady change his name mid-game?

Or - just spitballing here, go with me for a moment - are you being just a tad hypocritical?

I watched every play of the NE game and Tom Brady played almost the entire game. Hoyer did take the final drive of the game. I'm a Raven fan but I do think it stinks that Houston played the Colts twice when they gave full effort and the Jets played them when they laid down. Jets should have finished 8-8 and Houston would have been in.

Posted by: Akiva | January 4, 2010 11:23 AM

Pete,

If I didn't know any better, I'd think you have some kind of problem with the Jets (and obviously hadn't watched them at all before last night). Some things to chew on…

-> Don't cry for the Texans. Jets beat them Week #1 on their home turf when "the game meant something". Texans win THAT game and they are in the playoffs.
-> Patriots down 7 with 3 minutes to go and pull starters, including Brady, from the game. Game tying drive and resting your starters? Certainly the Patriots were playing to win the game.
-> Jets did what they always do to win games. Run the ball and play defense (both ranked #1 in the N.F.L.) Also helped that they were playing in the Meadowlands and not Cincy. You act like the Jets have played no D all year and Cincy laid down. Could it be that the Jets actually played the type of D they have played all year?

Bottom Line: Would the Jets have lost to Indy in Week 16? Probably (although down 15-10 through the 3rd was not exactly a guarantee of an Indy win). Jets came in a little hungrier for that game for obvious reasons and beat the snot out of the Bengals. Would it surprise me if the game was a lot closer next week or if Cincy won the game? No. Would it surprise me if the Jets got blown out (as you suggest)? Absolutely.

Pete,

If I didn't know any better, I'd think you have some kind of problem with the Jets (and obviously hadn't watched them at all before last night). Some things to chew on…

-> Don't cry for the Texans. Jets beat them Week #1 on their home turf when "the game meant something". Texans win THAT game and they are in the playoffs.
-> Patriots down 7 with 3 minutes to go and pull starters, including Brady, from the game. Game tying drive and resting your starters? Certainly the Patriots were playing to win the game.
-> Jets did what they always do to win games. Run the ball and play defense (both ranked #1 in the N.F.L.) Also helped that they were playing in the Meadowlands and not Cincy. You act like the Jets have played no D all year and Cincy laid down. Could it be that the Jets actually played the type of D they have played all year?

Bottom Line: Would the Jets have lost to Indy in Week 16? Probably (although down 15-10 through the 3rd was not exactly a guarantee of an Indy win). Jets came in a little hungrier for that game for obvious reasons and beat the snot out of the Bengals. Would it surprise me if the game was a lot closer next week or if Cincy won the game? No. Would it surprise me if the Jets got blown out (as you suggest)? Absolutely.

>>If you're willing to give the Bengals the benefit of the doubt here, you might consider the difference in time of possession in the first half -- 24:50 for the Jets and 5:10 for the Bengals. That doesn't happen by accident.

You're right...that doesn't happen by accident...have the #1 ranked rushing attack means you eat up lots of clock and having the #1 ranked Defense means your opponent stays off the field.

Sometimes, better play = lopsided stats

Bengals were outplayed badly during that first half buddy.

You're a clown. Maybe there is a journalist intergrity gap? I'm curious about how the Texans "played pretty hard to overcome a 14-point deficit to beat the Patriots and keep their playoff hopes alive on Sunday." Oh I didn't realize Hoyer threw more passes than JT O'Sullivan. If this trash is what Baltimore has to read week in and This article is hypocritical and and poorly written.

Then you speak of TOP. Do you know how it ended up that lopsided? The Jets had possesions that lasted 4:14, a 21 play 11:11 minute drive, and a 10 play 5:01 drive all in the first half. When you can't stop the run and allow for a drive to span 21 plays, you're not going to have the ball much on offense.

I'm going to use your rational and say the Ravens got in because the Raiders laid down and pulled their starting QB Charlie Frye for Jamarcus Russell. I'll say if they don't make that change the Ravens lose the game and you're sitting at home. Some integrity those Raiders have.

"Who did the Cards, Bengals, etc. think they were kidding with those 3rd rate performances by predominantly 2nd rate players yesterday. "

The Cards game is somewhat different in that at least it impacted nothing. The Cards and Packers were already locked into their playoff slots. Still, the Packers didn't pull starters until the game was well in-hand

"I'm curious about how the Texans "played pretty hard to overcome a 14-point deficit to beat the Patriots and keep their playoff hopes alive on Sunday." Oh I didn't realize Hoyer threw more passes than JT O'Sullivan."

The whole point of that sentence was that the Texans played hard and the Patriots didn't. If the Pats cared about winning that game, they wouldn't have given up a 14-point lead. If the Texans didn't care about winning the game, they wouldn't have overcome a 14-point deficit.

And to the people asking Pete where he came up with the Bengals "easily" winning next week against the Jets, try reading the last three words of the post.

Oh, and for the record:

O'Sullivan: 3/8, 31 yards

Hoyer: 8/12, 71 yards

Gotta love when all the blowhards come out. Hoyer played because the Pats had a two TD lead at one point. The Texans earned that win.

Pete, I agree that it destroys the competitive balance of the game, but there are two issues now:

1) How do you enforce it? The Bengals, for example, could easily say "What? We played our starters. We tried, we just got beat."

2) Wes Welker. Once the Pats lose to Baltimore next week without their "mini-Moss", everyone will have a long-time built in reason to rest their players once they clinch. Hell, Welker didn't even get hit...he blew out his knee making a cut.

I don't think there's any other way to do things, unfortunately. I'm a Bronco fan, and if they hadn't crapped the bed yesterday, then Indy laying down for the Jets would have kept them out of the postseason. But I hate when leagues meddle and create rules where there shouldn't be any.

If it's up to the commissioner's office to determine how hard teams should play - and if they're actually playing hard enough - that's bound to cause way more problems.

Let's be honest, this doesn't happen often where a team resting starters affects the whole playoff picture.

My proposed solution: Schedulers do their absolute best to not matchup the big guns with potential playoff teams in the last week of the season.

(ie: Make sure the Indys and San Diegos are playing the Clevelands and KCs, not potential WC teams.)

You couldn't be more wrong. The Jets manhandled a team trying to win last night. They have nothing to be sorry for. I said as much here: http://thevertexblog.com/display/below/jets-have-nothing-to-apologize-for

"If you're willing to give the Bengals the benefit of the doubt here, you might consider the difference in time of possession in the first half -- 24:50 for the Jets and 5:10 for the Bengals. That doesn't happen by accident."

it happens when you play the number 1 defense in the league that is in a must win situation. i was at the game, the jets dominated the first half whether anyone likes it or not, they beat the teams they had to beat to make the playoffs.

houston wouldnt be in the situation they were in if they won one more game and beat the teams they needed to beat, that's all there is to it.

this article is unbelievably biased and unconvincing

Listen, you set up the rules and then you live with them. I just finished replying to a Sun column where it was stated that the Ravens were somehow "undeserving" of a playoff spot. Hogwash. They did what they needed to do and are by definition deserving. The Bengals,and the Colts and all the other teams that were assured of their playoff status are doing what they feel is their best strategy for winning a ring according to the rules. Period. That's what they're paid to do and they should do it.
The fans in Houston know that the Titans had their chances earlier and if they had taken them they wouldn't have been in a position to be at the mercy of such strategies. You either take care of your own business or you find yourself at the mercy of others, that's the way sports work.

This is nonsense. Using the same logic, Mariano Rivera should be made to start every game.
Everybody on both sides of the field is being paid. When you worry about not getting hurt is usually when you do and teams that don't have a competitive edge when needed will go home at the appropriate time.

I think I speak for all the Orioles fans when I say winning is totally overrated in general. I mean what’s really important is growing your young players and watching them succeed. I say bring AAA to the major leagues. Losing is the new winning as far as Baltimore is concerned.

Brandon

Yep. You should read his articles on the Orioles for a real laugh!

Wow Pete!!

You are getting hammered mercilessly for this thread! Time to change the subject to the Orioles so we can trade insults amongst ourselves as usual.

I bet the post's author didn't bet on so many Jets fans reading this piece. Your anger is understandable. Just standing up for your team. Armed with the those #1 rushing and #1 defense statistics. Which I wasn't even aware of. That must mean that Sanchez and Edwards are a lot worse than I already thought they were!

The whole arguement is rediculous though. The Jets are in and that's it. You can't stop teams who've clinched playoff spots from resting their players in meaningless games. If the GM's and coaches of those teams didn't do such then they wouldn't be doing their job.

If the Ravens had missed the playoffs this year in a similar fashion to that of the Texans then I would say that they didn't deserve to be in. I would look back at 5 of their 7 losses and could point to one or two plays in each and said they should have done a better job all season long.

It will be interesting to see the score after next week's rematch though. I agree with Schmuck that Cincy will win without a whole lot of trouble.

OK Pete,
Let's get real - there is NO WAY to resolve this issue!
Now, regarding the credibility of the league, the rules are too subjective and therefore open to different interpretations - I saw at least 3 NOT CALLED violations yesterday where a player "held" to the same degree that KW did last week. As the NBA ref TimM revealed, refs don't like certain players/teams...ergo, the appearance of impropriety is always there. Now that's a credibility issue!
The owners should want Mr. Goodell to spend some time on this matter - or do they want to wait until their team loses the Super Bowl on a "hand on the receiver" call, across the field from the play, that brings back the winning touchdown???

Pete,

This can be fixed, to a certain extent. At least, this is a start.

One thing that could be done is to modify the road/home games in the playoffs. For instance, if Team A beats Team B in the regular season, Team A would then host Team B at home instead of going on the road, regardless of seeding.

Take for example, the Jets/Bengirls weekend. The Jets would get to host the Bengirls by virtue of their straight-up victory. There's no way the Bengals would have laid down last night if they knew the result of the game would determine location of the first round of playoffs.

People will argue that this "devalues" the seeding, but I'd argue there is no real advantage to the first round of the playoffs anyhow, except for determining who hosts and who goes on the road and the privilege of staying home should be determined not only on the seeding, but also by a head-to-head.

The 1st and 2nd seeds would still enjoy the first week bye, a worthy goal still. But adding this head-to-head element would ensure against crap games like when the Colts laid down against the Jets two weeks ago. You think the Colts would sit their starters if they knew they'd lose a home game based on getting beat head-to-head by NY?

Home field advantage through the playoffs would mean even more in this scenario because it would mean that a team not only had the best overall record, but that they also beat all the other teams in the playoffs during the regular season (assuming of course that they did play).

This wouldn't put a stop to all of the laying down, but it would be a step in the right direction.

Pete,

I'm just curious, but how does everyone here feel when it's a questionable penalty that seemingly cost the Ravens a game? Should Steve Hauschka still be the kicker because the team should have just gotten more first downs when it had the chance?

Just something to think about since there's an awful lot of "tough luck" when it's someone else.

Personally, I think it'd be impossible to enforce and if you let your fate rest in the hands of 4 other teams in week 17, then you deserve whatever happens. It's like feeling back for the 65th errr I mean 66th team in the NCAA tournament. Those that lose the wild card also lost the division. It's not like other chances weren't there.

The only teams I really feel bad for are the TCU's and Boise States of college football who do all they can do and still get snubbed for any shot at a title. That's a whole nother debate though I guess.

Not that there's an easy solution to this problem, but is there any reason why the Ravens were forced to play both Indy and New England so early in the season, when the games "mattered"?

Perhaps the Ravens would've come away with wins if they got to play Indy and NE late in the season when these teams sat their starters.

One "solution" would be to schedule division-opponents-only games in the last two or three weeks of the season. Not only would this keep the division titles in play for some divisions late in the season (a la Dallas vs. Philadelphia yesterday), but most teams would at least play hard as a matter of pride (a la the Chiefs vs. the Broncos yesterday).

Pete

Looks like you have a major credibility issue :)

Pete, I see your point about these late-season throwaway games, but I wouldn't be so sure that "the Bengals win easily" next week. They may not even win at all!

I think Order Matters has a pretty good idea about divisional play. Imagine if the Ravens, Bengals, Browns, and Steelers only played against each other during the last three weeks of the season. Not only would the AFC North title (and playoff spot) likely still be up in the air, but other playoff tie-breakers, like conference record, strength of opponent, etc. would still be in play.

And pure hatred - I mean "divisional rivalry" - would also be in play. Even a playoff-eliminated team like the Browns would be psyched to play spoiler against their division rivals. This would also provide an incentive for losing teams not to lie down in order to get a better draft pick.

Pete,
Based upon how the NFL does business, not sure if there is or will ever be a good chnage here to have teams play the season out. You can start with last week's game with Indy losing to the JETS, plus this week, NO not even playing Brees, SD, Rivers only played a series or two, then you come to the NE & Cincy game and throw in ARI for good measure. It's a shame, quite a few games maybe have differing outcomes. But to be honest, it still is a system which works. Of course the biggest losers were those fantasy football owners who made their league finals and didn't have their main players play??? AAAUUUGGHHH!!! Makes me wonder how the bookies made out this past weekend???

low class people in the NFL?
Shocker!
By the way, The Wizards are changing their name back to The Bullets.

There is honestly no criteria to regulate this situation in the late season meaningless game, "already in the playoffs", we don't care about winning, scenario.

How are you seriously going to determine who is playing hard and who just honestly stinks? Nowadays, NFL teams can stink up the stadium one week, and show up the next week winning a 35-0 blowout.

The NFL commissioner can say what he wants, but realistically can't do much about it.

Pete: Yes, while it's accurate to say that Houston's on the sideline as a result of the Bengals' performance last night, they also would be at the Big Dance if the Irsays hadn't pulled the chameleon-like performance they did last week. Is there a solution? I think so and I think this scenario would work: Starting next year, any team that has clinched the highest seed that it possibly could in the playoffs, and plays another team still competing to make the playoffs or improve its own seeding in the playoffs, must play its roster as if it had not clinched a playoff spot. Failure to do so will result in that team losing its homefield advantage for as many games as it dogs it while playing a still-competing team. Now consider whether you think the Irsays would have lain down against the Jets if they had known that, instead of playing the AFC Semi-Final game in the Lucas Oil Dome, they would have to journey to Cincinnati or New York for their first playoff game.

I still think the easiest solution is the schedule.

Like I said earlier, create the schedule with an educated guess as to where teams will be at season's end. There's a reason Indy was at Buffalo last week...anyone could have told you preseason that game wouldn't matter. And I doubt anyone figured Cincy would have won their division this season...so I'm sure schedulers (if they were looking ahead) figured it would be a good WC matchup last night.

What they need to do is extend that to the last two weeks of the season. Try to make an educated guess and matchup teams who will likely both have clinched, or the league's elite with basement dwellers.

Or, as Order Matters said, make the last two weeks of each season division games.

I think the schedule is the easiest way to cut down on the likelihood of such occurrences. I don't think it happens enough to warrant new rules and regulations.

All these comments about requiring a team to play its players after they're in is nonsense.

They earned the right to sit their starters. If you want to solve it, have play-in games versus conference records as tie-breakers.

Some team is always left out, and there's never a truly fair way to handle it. Does not being fair mean no integrity? No. It means everyone plays by the same rules and maybe, at the end of the year, one team is luckier than the other.

Pete, if Goodell wants to come up with a way to incent teams to show up, give him time to do just that. And in the meantime, everyone plays by the sames rules starting on Week One.

Speaking of Week One, didn't the Jets beat Houston AT Houston by 17......?

Let's ask Wes Welker what he thinks about sitting the first string if the result of the game doesn't affect their playoff position.

As for Cincy, my guess is wanting to keep their hand hidden was no match for a Jets team that was jacked up and playing most of the cards in its hand. I hope Cincy wins.They destroyed our Division and yet suffered much heartbreak.

Now Indy: that looks like a club with coaches and front office out of touch w/ their players. I find it hard to believe that the players wouldn't have wanted to shoot for history. And if it's about rest & safety, why play your Wes Welkers (Clark & Wayne) in search of stats??

The end of season schedule is bound to have mop-up games no matter what. No one can predict who will have what record by Weeks 16 and 17. Take a look at the 12 teams in the playoffs. Now, take a look at the four teams who had first round byes last year. Ta-da! No matches.

Still not convinced?

Count up the number of games in Week 17 that had "playoff implications" and divide by 16. Now, select any date after September 15 and compare the MLB schedule to the standings on that day. The percentage of games will be alarmingly less.

If the Jets don't "deserve" to be one of the 12, they'll be bounced soon enough. Methinks Cincinnati will tumble again, even at home.

Any team who is 9-7 and didn't get in can look at their seven losses once they stop dabbing their eyes. The Patriots didn't get in last year at 11-5, and the Browns (a suggested cupcake for late-season scheduling) was 10-6 the year before and didn't get into the postseason.

Unfortunately, tanking is a part of sports. Swimmers use certain events as a tune-up for other events. Tennis players tank a set when down a break to be fresher for the third set. Elrod Hendricks, Jose Canseco, Todd Cruz and others have been known to pitch.

It's funny the Ravens were the 11-5 team who kept New England out last year and are one of the 9-7 teams keeping Pittsburgh and Houston out. The suggestions offered here if they had been kept out both years certainly would have been entertaining. And equally useless.

Final Four Solution

The last four games of the season to be divisional games.

Top out right W L records get byes.

Other seedings to be determined not only by W L and head to head but also heavily weighted by on field stats plus W L records in the final four games.

If a team dogs it the stats will also go down and thus seedings.

I might understand why some of these guys were held back or didn't play up to their usual game. Unfortunately for the Ravens, Frank Walker played up to his usual game. Question; why is he on this team for the last two years, yet? Any team that has Frank Walker has no cornerbacks.

It is now official........Mark Clayton IS Travis Taylor. Don't ask me about the science needed to explain how two NFL receivers can actually be the same uninvolved and playing at half speed wide-out but it is the honest truth.

"I think you'll have a better sense of what I'm talking about when the Jets and Bengals play next week and the Bengals win easily."

OUCH!!!!!!!!