Manne wrote:
Late Sunday evening, many members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins no doubt were drinking champagne after they saw the unbeaten Colts go down to defeat against the New York Jets, thus assuring that the ’72 Fins will remain the NFL’s lone team to make it through an entire season unbeaten.
Of course the Colts, who already had clinched the AFC’s No. 1 seed, benched most of their starter in the third quarter Sunday with Indy up 15-10 at the time. As soon as QB Curtis Painter and not Peyton Manning came out on the field, you could just sense the air was let out of the Colts’ collective sails, and the crowd certainly didn’t like it. Of course the Jets rallied to win as the Indy offense was inept under Painter. Indy coach Jim Caldwell said a perfect season was never the goal and all the players toed the company line in their quotes, but their body language during the game was unmistakable – they wanted to win and have a chance at history. Caldwell simply wanted to ensure his players stayed healthy.
Perhaps Caldwell needs to look at recent history involving this team and resting starters in late-season meaningless games.
In 2007, Indy had home-field advantage wrapped up and benched its starters early (and also deactivated five starters entirely) in a Week 17 game against Tennessee. The result? A 16-10 Titans win that ended the Colts’ six-game winning streak and took away all their momentum. Two weeks later in the divisional round, Indy lost at home to San Diego.
In 2005, the Colts started 13-0 before losing to the Chargers. Indy, which had the No. 1 seed already wrapped up, then held out several starters the following two weeks, a loss to Seattle and a fortunate home win over a bad Arizona team that thoroughly outplayed Indianapolis. What happened two weeks later, with momentum gone, against the Steelers in the divisional round? A 21-18 Steeler upset win.
You sensing a trend here?
Look for Indy to actually be a road dog at Buffalo this week on Bodog’s NFL odds with zilch to play for and the winter elements to deal with — Indy’s inactive list could be chock full of starters for Week 17.
And would you bet on a team that ended the season with two straight losses to win a Super Bowl? I sure wouldn’t.
Get all your NFL football betting lines and odds at Bodog Sportsbook
:dirol
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2008/12/28
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