On the TunneySide of Sports October 21, 2019, #766 … Tanking
After further review… As the National Football League approaches its half-way point in the 2019 season, let’s hope your favorite T*E*A*M is in contention in its division to make the post-season playoffs. If not, have they considered tanking! Heavens no, I’m not suggesting it! From the TunneySide point of view, it is the ethics of the whole idea. By definition tanking is playing not to win or just not giving one’s best so that your team finishes at or near the bottom of the standing thereby creating an opportunity to select better players in next year’s NFL draft.
Tanking is morally reprehensible! Perhaps Herm Edwards said it best when he was the head coach of the New York Jets nearly 20 years ago. It was about mid-season and the Jets won-loss record had higher numbers in the loss column. In his weekly press conference, a reporter asked Edwards if he had thought about his team just not giving their best effort and finishing at or near the bottom of their division. Edwards “blew the roof off” as he exploded, “You play to win the game! You don’t just go out and play! Hello, you play to win the game!”
Tanking would never be considered by owners, coaches, and players who place “doing the right thing” versus a need to win-at-any-costs. Has winning overtaken just doing the right thing? The demand to select the highest draftee available is not necessarily the answer. Every team in the NFL has one or perhaps more players who were not high draft choices and who played well.
Here’s a couple of obvious examples:
Quarterback Tom Brady was drafted 199th in the 2000 NFL draft and has led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl victories. Quarterback Joe Montana, so often in the same conversation with Brady, led the San Francisco 49ers to four Super Bowl victories playing 14 years with the Niners. Joe was a third-round pick in the 1979 draft.
Personnel knowledgeable about drafting players say that it is not necessarily how high the draft pick, but the quality of the individual drafted. Edwards in the book I authored titled “It’s the Will, Not the Skill” emphases the importance of drafting a player who embodies traits that will determine his and his team’s success: Passion! Desire! Effort!
Owners and coaches who focus on “win at any costs” do a disservice to their current players who are asked to give their all without an intent to win. The average tenure for an NFL player is three-plus years and many leave the game with injuries that cripple them later in life.
Will you log-in your comments about tanking?
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