The Running-Up-The-Score Fiction (1 Viewer)

RJ in Lafayette

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I attended the Eagles-Saints game. I have no memory of the Saints trying to run-up the score on the Eagles. And the scoring summary shows that we did not.

We won the game 48-7. We scored our last touchdown to go up 45-7 with 13:15 left in the fourth quarter. In the last 13 minutes of the game, we scored three points--a 19 yard field goal--to go up 48-7. And again my memory is that we were not trying to score another touchdown at the end and that Philadelphia kept its first-string in the game until the end.

Had Gregg Williams been coaching the Eagles, I would understand questions of whether we were trying to run-up the score. But to my knowledge, Payton and Doug Peterson are friends.

The talk that we ran up the score is (a) false; (b) demeaning to the Eagles as an NFL team, much less the defending Super Bowl champions--this is not eighth-grade football; and (c) misleading because it diminishes the extent of the Saints' domination of the game--we didn't score a cheap touchdown with two minutes to go, and the margin of victory could have been worse had we actually tried to run up the score. Simply stated, at what point in the game with how much time remaining should the Saints have tried to stopped scoring points.
 
We also yanked our starters after that fourth quarter TD. Wentz proceeded to get picked off by our 2nd team defense and our 2nd team offense moved the ball well against their starters.

What more were we supposed to do? Just take a knee every time we got the ball after pulling the starters and/or just let them score whenever they got the ball?
 
I think the whole issue was the last TD being on 4th down.

It was too close to punt and too far for a FG so go for it was the only real option. AK just broke open for a TD and that's on the Eagles.
 
Last I checked Philly's coaches were being paid millions to coach players, who also get paid millions, how to play defense.
 
Honestly, I think that any professional athlete who complains about an opponent "running up the score" is just pathetic.

I can understand the idea in the non-professional ranks - it's a matter of civility and sportsmanship. In the professional world, where you're paid millions of dollars to do your job and fans pay hundreds or thousands of dollars (season tickets) to watch you do your job, it's about execution. If the other team can't stop you, you still keep doing your job.

I heard Doug Pederson on Sirius yesterday, and he said he didn't share the view of a few of his players about it. He said "we couldn't stop them, plain and simple" and that he basically would never expect an NFL team to stop trying to score points.
 
I heard Doug Pederson on Sirius yesterday, and he said he didn't share the view of a few of his players about it. He said "we couldn't stop them, plain and simple" and that he basically would never expect an NFL team to stop trying to score points.

It's good to hear he at least lives in reality and isn't the one fueling this stupidity in their locker room. If we wanted to run up the score, it would have been much worse than it ended up being.
 
If that's what they believe you can't change that. I say to them "so what...do something about it"
 
09/16/1973
Falcons 62
Saints 7

Atlanta broke more team records in a single game than any other team in NFL history, something they still list in their official history on their website.

Running up the score does exist. This game was it. :soapbox:
 
More like a whine and cheese party than running up the score.
 
09/16/1973
Falcons 62
Saints 7

Atlanta broke more team records in a single game than any other team in NFL history, something they still list in their official history on their website.

Running up the score does exist. This game was it. :soapbox:

Actually, the score was 62-7.
Falcons website only lists 2 records for that game, largest margin of victory (55) and most interceptions by Falcons in a game (6).
Falcons replaced their starters in the 3rd quarter of that game, but the subs continued to pile it on.
Back then, there were real bounties and players got paid for production... not just for being on the roster.

One of my fondest memories of that game was the Falcons QB was named Dick Shiner and the Saints kicker was named Happy Feller.
Still cracks me up to this date.
 
Actually, the score was 62-7.
Falcons website only lists 2 records for that game, largest margin of victory (55) and most interceptions by Falcons in a game (6).
Falcons replaced their starters in the 3rd quarter of that game, but the subs continued to pile it on.
Back then, there were real bounties and players got paid for production... not just for being on the roster.

One of my fondest memories of that game was the Falcons QB was named Dick Shiner and the Saints kicker was named Happy Feller.
Still cracks me up to this date.

Look closer . . .

http://media.atlantafalcons.com/assets/History.pdf

Throw out both teams' records. Throw out everything you think you know.

OK, trivia heads: What team holds the single-game record for breaking the most of their own team records?

http://media.atlantafalcons.com/assets/History.pdf

Hint:
1537226053305.png

1537226460698.png

This is NOT a friendly rivalry.
 
Honestly, I think that any professional athlete who complains about an opponent "running up the score" is just pathetic.

I can understand the idea in the non-professional ranks - it's a matter of civility and sportsmanship. In the professional world, where you're paid millions of dollars to do your job and fans pay hundreds or thousands of dollars (season tickets) to watch you do your job, it's about execution. If the other team can't stop you, you still keep doing your job.

I heard Doug Pederson on Sirius yesterday, and he said he didn't share the view of a few of his players about it. He said "we couldn't stop them, plain and simple" and that he basically would never expect an NFL team to stop trying to score points.

You ain't lying. It has always seemed out of whack to me that players and fans of a sport that prides itself as much as anything else on its ruthless physicality and the "play till the whistle (and sometimes beyond)" ethos focus so much energy on what amounts to hurt feelings/humiliation from not being competitive. I agree with you that it has a place in lower levels of the sport, but it puzzles me why this Victorian ideal of a gentlemen's game should have any import in American football as it's currently constituted

You're asking an offensive minded head coach to intentionally fail on offense, for what? So that the other coach and players can save face? I guess the Eagles would have been less motivated for this game had we only beat them by 34, or 27, because we dilly-dallied around for half feeling bad for them. So there's that :rolleyes:
 

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