If they hadn't played such good defense on the two previous possession, 9 wouldn't have had to keep throwing. Oh, wait, their defense kept playing? So why shouldn't our offense keep playing?
Another point. The Saints' final possession began at the Falcons' 33, because with 3:00 left and down by 22, the Falcons kept trying to win. They went for it on 4th down and the Saints stopped them. Had they conceded defeat and punted, the Saints could have thrown for 30 yards and the record and then killed the remainder of the clock from around midfield. It wasn't 7 points the Saints were trying to get at the end; it was 30 yards.
Great point Additionally, their coach, when interviewed after the game, took it in stride. He said something to the effect of "it's up to us to stop them".
Payton did what was best for his team. He got the record taken care of so they didn't have to deal with it all week. If you genuinely have a problem with that, you are an idiot. However, these guys just have some sour grapes. No big deal.
If it were AAU or little league, or pop warner I could see how you would want to teach good sportsmanship and values like that but dang, these are paid professionals. The best at what they do (well, maybe not the Falcons defense). The Saints didn't break any rules and acted professionally in all this, the Falcons did not. This is probably why they suck so much...they spend more time complaining about stuff like this rather than learning and improving on their mistakes.
Football is the only sport where the winning team is expected to stop playing before the game is over. Baseball teams still swing the bats with a 5-run lead in the 9th. Basketball teams may hold the ball until the shot clock is going to run out, but they do take the shot; they don't just stand around and turn the ball over.
They're trying to make something out of nothing to use as motivation, should we meet them again in the playoffs. If that's what it takes to get a team motivated, then they've basically already lost the game.
I can understand that the Falcons were feeling down and demoralized after losing like they were. But they are professionals being paid pretty good sums of money; it's up to them to stop the beatdown. I think it's just the sore feelings talking for them; anyone with an ounce of awareness would realize it wasn't being done to spite them.
That was all FABRICATED by Pete Prisco, writer for cbssports.com. He is a Falcon apologist and Saints hater. No need to read that garbage.
You are trying to reason with emotional morons who do not have the capacity for logical analysis, i.e. Falcons fans and Jawja Bulldong fans. Yours is a futile effort.
