Midway through the third quarter, the Indianapolis Colts were ahead of the New York Jets 15 to 10 well on their way to putting the game away maintaining their undefeated season, but something happened that will surely follow this team’s legacy for a long time. With the lead and victory in sight, Coach Jim Caldwell pulled Peyton Manning and other starters. Backup quarterback, Curtis Painter was inserted promptly giving up an interception to Jets’ cornerback Dwight Lowery with 4:52 left in the quarter.
Painter’s performance was beyond awful, absolutely incompetent, unprepared and unprofessional perhaps shaken by the awkward situation into which he was thrust, but never the less, the Jets would score 19 unanswered points to secure the win and vanquishing Indianapolis’s chance for a rendezvous with football history.
Is there something wrong with this picture?
We think so.
The Colts violated former coach and football philosopher Herm Edwards’ basic principle, “You play to win the game. HELLO!”
For the Colts, it was an early goodbye. While the intent was obvious, to protect players from possible injury having locked up home field advantage and a first round bye, was this a sound move from any position?
The Colts were facing a team in the playoff hunt. With the Ravens and Broncos at 8-6 and a six of teams including the Jets at 7-7 at the start of play, much was on the line with obvious post season consequences.
The Jets were all but out of contention, but with Tennessee, Miami, Jacksonville, Baltimore, and Denver all losing, the numbers added up to put the Jets in position to now secure a wild card birth. If they win next Sunday after yesterday’s results, they’re in. The loss to Pittsburgh and the Indianapolis surrender ultimately had little effect on the Baltimore Ravens who will still sneak into the playoffs with a win against Oakland since they have favorable tie-breakers.
The team most obviously impacted was Denver; they would remain slotted for the wild card had the Jets lost. The move all but eliminated the hopes of Pittsburgh and Houston who both stand at 8-7 but don’t have favorable tie-breakers.
In this context, is there any way to look at the Colts’ decision as a cowardly, ill-advised move?
Had there been a wide margin in the third quarter where the Colts were way out in front or way behind, such a move could be justified. Yes, to the victor goes the spoils, and the Colts did have the luxury of mailing this game in, but it appears to be a slap in the face for all we understand as basic sportsmanship.
Think of the pride of a quarterback like Peyton Manning who was visibly upset as the game fell to shreds. These are guys who are proud competitors with no sense of quit in their makeup.
Even more so, think of the fans at Lucas Oil Stadium. Would they invest in personal seat licenses, tickets, parking, refreshments, and maybe an ersatz souvenir or two giving up a Sunday afternoon to see Curtis Painter cough up a football game?
What could be a more arrogant thoughtless insult to the team’s loyal fans who rightly expect the team to put forth every effort to win every game? This isn’t baseball where there are 81 home dates where late September games could be of little consequence. There are only eight regular season games. With parking at $20.00, $7.50 for a draft beer, $3.50 for a hot dog, and tickets ranging from 44 bucks for the cheap seats way above the south end zone and 55 bucks for the nosebleeds to $129 for the really hot seats, we needn’t go into a song and dance about the sad state of the economy, NFL games are premium entertainment good times and bad.
Can or should NFL leadership attempt to ban the kind of practice employed by the Colts in their obvious forfeiture of a regular season game?
Probably not. It’s hard to imagine how a fair rule could be written. However, the Colts’ move surely shows that the sport is open to some very real forms of corruption if lineup manipulation was due to other motives. One would imagine Las Vegas and fantasy players are going berserk over yesterday’s fiasco.
The Indianapolis fans are in a miserable situation. They can proudly look forward to hosting the second round of the playoffs and the AFC championship game if they win their first playoff game. However, more than pride was robbed from them yesterday.
Let’s hope the tremendous uproar over the Colts’ management decision will serve to influence future teams not to consider such an ill-advised move. While Bronco fans surely should be more upset that their team lost to Philadelphia in a must win game yesterday, they can also feel some justified fury that their playoff status will be determined largely by a decision that was not the outcome of teams playing on the field with the intention to win.
Say it again, Herm, “You play to win the game, HELLO!!!!”
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