Garbage time
 

It makes my blood boil when the Saints are down by 25 with 5 minutes left in the game, on the road and in the rain and cold ... and Brees is out there in an empty backfield set and throwing on every down!

I can handle losing, but lose with some grace. Play the game the right way. It's garbage time and we have our 100 million dollar QB methodically racking up 8-12 gains in a totally hopeless situation. What good can come of it, other than our team captain getting hurt?! Oh that's right, fantasy football! Well you can take your fantasy football and shove it somewhere. I'm done playing it and I'M NEVER GOING BACK BECAUSE I'M SICK of the mamby pamby picking up meaningless yards in meaningless situations. It's making a mockery of the game.

If Brees is peeved because he only threw one TD this game and wants to pick up a cheap one on the back end, well then his head and the coaches' heads are in wrong place. You want to talk about Goodell wussifying the league ... well we're doing our own part to wussify the game by putting FANTASY STATS ahead of team goals. Play it right and put in Chase and/or handoff to Ingram or perhaps Cadet.

Am I making too much of this?

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I never liked the Idea of FF.

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Yeah, I used to love Fantasy Football, but there's just too much of an infatuation with it in the general public and the media now. It has just become overkill.

Seriously, watching Brees try to rack up the extra yardage at the end of today's game was like watching a dog chase cars. I really don't care if some random dude in Columbus, Ohio won his fantasy game by one point because of Brees' last drive in garbage time.

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I will like EVERY post in this thread that shows disdain for F.K.N. Fantasy Football. I think it's for children and creates confusion in the mind of a fan.

Any debate? I didn't think so...

Alaska

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FF is like most any thing you do in your spare time, a nice littl diversion but a problem when it becomes an obsession. Drew should be on the bench late in that game and Chase should be in there throwing the ball. Kinda like the Bears did with Cutler and Campbell in their lossa against the Vikings.

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I like Fantasy football. The guy i played last night had Drew on his team. I still was pulling for Drew. My loyalty will always remain with my team.

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So you want the Saints to play their second string against an opponents starting line up?

I agree that the risk of injury to valuable players in a losing effort is pointless, but EVERY team does it.

I doubt that Brees/or any QB playing late has a damn thing to do with FF!!

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yes

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Yeah, I think u r making too much of this. I seriously don't believe Brees is in the huddle telling the guys, "Well, time to go for the Fantasy points!" I think he's just a competitor trying to show the rest of the team how not to give up. I agree it's dangerous to keep him in, but I bet he lobbies to stay in and I don't think Fantasy Football has anything to do with it.

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If you pull starters out when you "feel" the game is lost why not just concede and walk off the field at that point? heck why even play a second half....


Starters should start.

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Never played FF & never been a big fan of it. I hate it when I'm watching a game and some guy next to me starts talking up some player on another team, in another game. It's distracting. I wanna' shake him and say, "Focus! It's a team sport, not a game of individuals" ... but what can you do?

It's hard for me to believe that some of the things that are done on Sunday/Monday/Thursday are driven by FF and gambling, but they've managed to rig boxing matches, horse races, World Series and other sporting events, so I'm not saying it can't be done, eh?

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I usually don't play a player on my FF team if his team is playing the Saints. I will never mix allegiances like that an hope another guy does well against the Saints.

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It's called fighting another day. Brees gets hurt in a meaningless game will be ridiculous.

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We scored 14 points in about 3 minutes late in the 3rd yesterday so I guess you can say nothing's impossible.

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I hate losing so I'm going to try and score until the final gun.

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I agree that fantasy football is the last thing on these guys minds.

I can go my whole life w/o playing fantasy football, or collecting aps
on some little brain-sucky phone.

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I'm speculating that it has to do with Fantasy points and popularity. I don't know this but I can't come up with anything else. The "never give up" thing is fine for a while, but at times like the end of yesterday's game it gets ridiculous. IMO if you are getting blown out and you know you are going to lose a game, team goals should come ahead of winning the game. Game time is valuable. If you put Chase in during those last 5 minutes and run a balanced offense (calling plays as if the score were 0-0) with Ingram or Cadet in the backfield, you are developing those young players which is good for them and good for the team when they will be needed in the future. That playing time is 100 times for more valuable for Daniel than it is for Brees who has "been there, done that".

I'm a youth basketball coach and I don't like the message the Saints are sending that stats are more important than developing young players. Maybe in a few years Cadet and Daniel are with the Saints or with another NFL team or in the CFL or AFL or something. Yes, the NFL is a business, but don't you want to show them goodwill and demonstrate you did the best you could for them and developed them to the extend that you could? Don't you want to show the future young NFL players that the Saints are a team that cares about all it's players, even if their roles are small? The "never give up" argument is BS, because there is a point when you will know the game is lost and to pretend that it's not, IMO, is being unrealistic and arrogant. Padding stats is vain. That is the vibe the Saints are giving off at the end of games and I find it unsettling.

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no, i think its their job to try to win every game, unless we''ve wrapped up home field for the playoffs. somebody channel Herm Edwards.

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Yes I think your making too much of it. I don't think Brees gives a **** about FF. I don't think Brees would have let himself be taken out of the game. However, from this point on they need to look at splitting time with Chase.

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1. "team goals should come ahead of winning the game" -- the team goal is winning the game, that's why the team exists. To stop fighting is to quit, and quitting is not part of the dictionary for these people.

2. If you put Chase in during those last 5 minutes and run a balanced offense (calling plays as if the score were 0-0) with Ingram or Cadet in the backfield, the other team is going to CLOBBER them and eat Chase alive. This is the pros. They are not going to let up when a young backup player comes in late in the game, they're not going to switch into preseason mode, they are going to double down on attacking him.

3. Plus, even though this was an away game, as a paying customer I do not want to see Chase Daniels "getting reps" or "being groomed" = that's what preseason is for and I already have to pay full price for too many of those as it is. The playing time may be "valuable" for Chase, but not for the ones who are paying a lot of money to watch it in person. Or fans who have maybe traveled or spent a great deal of money to go to road games and see their heroes in faraway places. Terrible message to send to the fans.

4. As far as your idea of evaluation of players, a blowout game is a time when you really get to see what's in the heart of people on your team, their character, what they are made of. Of course sometimes the players are in situations where they're not going to win, and everyone knows it, and it's very ridiculous to look at. But do they lie down, phone it in, or do they go for it, push themselves harder even when the chips are down? This is something you might want to think about with your young players. Because it's very important, not just in football but in many lines of work. It's about looking within. Learning to lose, learning to walk away, learning how to bounce back the next week and come back from a loss or disappointment, learning how to rally and say in the huddle, "guys it doesn't look like it's our day today, but let's try and make this thing look presentable in the scoreboard the next day, let's not let them get out of here without a fight," and blah blah blah. Making sure you give the other guy a black eye, even if you lose the fist fight.



I get where you are coming from, and what you are saying is very noble, I'm glad you are a youth coach, but this is not AT ALL about padding stats or whatever you think it's all about. Your whole second paragraph there is great stuff, for a youth type of coach, doing what you do, which is a great thing. But it is nowhere near the world of what the Saints athletes and professional coaches are thinking.

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I seriouly doubt that fantasy football even crosses the minds of professionals who actually play!

Starters should start and play until the game is over.

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I was shocked to see Drew take a knee against Atlanta. The fantasy game I play has NOTHING to do with football!!! LOL

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It was good to see actual coaching last night on MNF.

With the Texans down 42 to 7 with 7:20 remaining in the 4th quarter (garbage time), Gary Kubiak brought in Schaub and backups at runningback and receiver. After a punt, Belicheck followed suit and brought in Ryan Mallett and some runningback I never heard of. Kubiak ran a balanced attack, and it wasn't always pretty, but Yates got a score on a QB keeper. Glad to see Kubiak and Schaub had some sense in the way they handled the end of that game.

I do not buy that Brees, down 52 to 27 with 5 minutes left in the 4th, is showing team spirit by trying to win an unwinnable game. On Sunday they were not trying to throw the ball deep downfield or get the ball out of bounds consistently to indicate that was the motive. Everything was to Jimmy Graham, Colston and Sproles in-bounds, no-huddle, clock running. It's pass stat padding for Brees and his top-line players, pure and simple. I fear one of them rolls an ankle and they learn the hard way.

Do you want to continue to play hard and possibly make the score more respectable? Of course, but do it with your backups who will appreciate coming off the bench and being on the field. What does Daniel ever learn by Brees hogging all the playing time? Very little. Maybe Brees will even learn from watching a play or a mistake that Daniel does.

As far as the fan perspective, any fan in attendance in NYC got to see plenty of Brees, both good plays and bad, for the first 55 minutes of clock time. Bringing in Daniel for the last drive attempt should not irritate anyone. On the contrary, many true fans like to see the backups play. In basketball, garbage time is kind of nice for the fans because you get to see minutes for guys who almost never play. At least you get to see something different at the end of the game. Very often you will see that they those bench players do suck and need to stay on the end of the bench, but once in a while a diamond in the rough emerges or at least someone has a hot hand that night to lift the spirits a bit in the arena.

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Down 52 to 27 with 5 minutes left, the game is over. To me the game is over when you reach a point where there is clearly not enough time left to win, not when the clock reaches 0:00. Four scores in 5 minutes, with the other time trying to run the clock is simply not going to happen. Thinking there is still a chance to win is delusional.

The only scenario in which we win is if the Giants intentionally throw the game. Eli Manning would literally have to start handing the ball off to our defensive players for us to win.

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Drew Brees

Rule #1 : "Never Give up"
Rule #2 : See Rule #1
That is all.

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"Never Give Up" ... on padding your stats. I can see through the facade that is going on at the end of blowout losses.

If you want a real example of Never Giving Up, there is Jim Valvano. And Steve Gleason.

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I blame Drew Brees for alot... mainly becaus he was hardcore in getting his contract so I expect that level of play from him all the time.
However I won't even dare to accuse him of padding his stats...
Thats just out right rude

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I like Drew Brees as much as the next Saints fan. But I also have an opinion about what I saw at the end of the Giants game. I condemn the decision, not the player. And it's a indictment of the Vitt and Carmichael, because I think right now Brees is running a little unchecked and the tail is wagging the dog. We need Payton back :(

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I couldn't agree more!