Unsportsmanlike Stuff In The NFL

[Simpsons Scaper]

Did anyone else watch the Vikings game llast Sunday? Did anyone else see what they did with a 24 point lead and under 2 minutes left? It was 4th and 4 on the Dallas 22. Most teams would choose to pick a field goal, but the Vikings decided to go for it. Nothing wrong with trying to run up the gut or to the side, because then you could knee it for the win. However, the Vikings threw a 25 yard pass to Vinsante Shanko for a TD. Who finds this unsportsmanlike?

Aslo, do you find Chad Ochocinco unsportsmanlike, or is the leauge just too strict about him?

Side note: I understand that this could have gone in the NFL thread, but I wanted to make a poll.

Edit: Just want to say, I hold nothing against the Vikings. I'm not a Packers fan whos angry at Farve or anything. I'm a neutral Broncos fan.

[J4Jandar]

I feel that if you feild a team and the other team can't stop you then that's their bad. Score as much as you can, one team lost like a 32 point lead one year.

Chad 85 is an ass and should be slapped.

[Simpsons Scaper]

That's what the announcer said, that if you don't like it, stop them. I think the Cowboys were expecting a FG, so they were a tad unprepared. Then I think they were expecting a run, so a deep pass caught them off guard.

[jschild]

This isn't a kiddie league (where you might not want to crush another team - thats why they typically have mercy rules for when a team is going to blowout the other).

This is the NFL. Trying to score is never unsportsmanlike unless the other team had suffered multiple injuries or something all in one game (That's about the only time I would consider it bad form).

[nyys]

If you can't stop us, too bad. As has already been stated, this is the NFL. If you don't want the other team to score, then do something about it.

This also could have easily gone in the NFL thread.

[Buddy Lee]

"What is best in life?"
"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women."

Buddy Lee

[dok]

Kicking a field goal is, to me, more blatantly running up the score than going for it on 4th down is. At least you're giving the other team a chance to stop you (which they did successfully on the previous three plays) if you go for it.

This is not to say that it's not obnoxious that they went play action and tacked on a meaningless extra score. It definitely is. But I think the most sportsmanlike thing the Vikings could have done there would be to run up the middle with their fullback.

If the Cowboys want the game to be over, they should pull their starters, and they should run the ball and bleed clock when they have the ball.

I mean, seriously people, it's not like Brady throwing a TD to Welker up 38-0 in the 4th quarter or something...

[nyys]

...and even then, stop us if you don't like it.

[dok]

...and even then, stop us if you don't like it.
You mean like Bernard Pollard did?

Sorry, that was mean. And I basically agree with you.

[nyys]

No worries, if you can dish it, you have to be able to take it. I also speak this way about the Pats since I'm not a live and die with them fan. The Red Sox on the other hand, the word rational isn't in the fan handbook. :)

[dok]

I don't mean my response was irrational (although I guess maybe it was), I mean that pissed off defenders are more likely to make dirty plays when they feel like they are being shown up.

[nyys]

Yep, it's a balancing act. Whether to crush your opponent and risk their wrath (legal or not), or chalk up the win and get out.

[J4Jandar]

I don't mean my response was irrational (although I guess maybe it was), I mean that pissed off defenders are more likely to make dirty plays when they feel like they are being shown up.

And then Takeo and Haynesworth get huge fines and a bad reputation which screws them over with the refs later on. :p

[land.scape]

These guys get paid enough to deal with taking a big loss. The Vikes could have gone easy, but I don't see it as an obligation. Don't they say you play four quarters? As in, you play 'til the clock runs out. If the Vikes felt they couldn't assume the win was a lock, that's their call not the Cowboys.

[scorpiusx]

My high school football team lost the state game after being "comfortable" with a 16 point lead going into the fourth quarter. Talk about a double overtime heartbreaker.

I say no mercy is fine in the NFL.

-scorp