The Role of Spoiler

[JJT]

If we lose this week to Atlanta and get officially disqualified from playoff contention.. I'd rather not play spoiler this season. I'd rather lose a few games now, to win more games when it counts next year, and for several years down the road by picking up higher quality players, not only in the 1st round, but each round.

The more we win now, the more attractive we will be to free agents.

[Shotgun]

Never lose to get a better pick. Look at the Steelers they always get great talent with late round picks. You play to win the game!

[Happy Panther]

I don't know, if we win this week, we are very well still in the hunt with so many NFC teams collapsing.

Seriously?

No

Just No

[2plankingpanther]

If we lose this week to Atlanta and get officially disqualified from playoff contention.. I'd rather not play spoiler this season. I'd rather lose a few games now, to win more games when it counts next year, and for several years down the road by picking up higher quality players, not only in the 1st round, but each round.

:mad:That's a losers mentality,think about the Panthers record w/draft picks,yeah we have Smitty,Cam,Jon Beason.etc but most of the picks have been busts like Dawayne Jarrett,Sean G,etc!It's about momentum,if the Panthers last win was vs the skins and finnished 2-14,the next year they wouldn't be much better,maybe 4-12!This year,play spoilers and finnish strong,draft picks are a crapshoot!

[Herb]

I want to beat the Falcons so bad. I would love to win out, but I'll be satisfied just winning these two revenge games against the Falcons and Saints. To see the look on Mike Smith's face as the clock winds down on Sunday with us winning would bring me tears of joy.

[Riverboat Ron]

I just want our team to play hard every Sunday we go out there. Win or lose, if we show that we have a winning spirit to close out the season, that momentum will follow us into 2012.

[Guest]

Just want a win this Sunday and we'll go from there :)

[Procat]

I don't understand that kind of thinking. Sure I get the issue, but you never play to lose you play to win. You put it all out there and what happens happens. In my way of thinking the confidence and chemistry we get from win 2 or 3 more games more than makes up for the change in draft positions from 7th to 14th, for example. After all,once you get out of the top 5 differences between players levels out pretty quickly.

In the best Herm Edwards voice "YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME":hurray:

[boo7382]

Damn I wish we could have another chance to take the Giants out of the playoffs this year.

Good times. Gooood timesss.

[Guest]

that was an awesome beat-down, wasn't it?? :D

[dpm0409]

If we lose this week to Atlanta and get officially disqualified from playoff contention.. I'd rather not play spoiler this season. I'd rather lose a few games now, to win more games when it counts next year, and for several years down the road by picking up higher quality players, not only in the 1st round, but each round.

I don't understand that kind of thinking. Sure I get the issue, but you never play to lose you play to win. You put it all out there and what happens happens. In my way of thinking the confidence and chemistry we get from win 2 or 3 more games more than makes up for the change in draft positions from 7th to 14th, for example. After all,once you get out of the top 5 differences between players levels out pretty quickly.

:mad:That's a losers mentality,think about the Panthers record w/draft picks,yeah we have Smitty,Cam,Jon Beason.etc but most of the picks have been busts like Dawayne Jarrett,Sean G,etc!It's about momentum,if the Panthers last win was vs the skins and finnished 2-14,the next year they wouldn't be much better,maybe 4-12!This year,play spoilers and finnish strong,draft picks are a crapshoot!

Not only are these 2 right about the draft, but I think it's very apparent (esp. after that interview he did with ESPN the magazine) that Cam isn't going to be ok with losing for draft picks...

[rayzor]

If we lose this week to Atlanta and get officially disqualified from playoff contention.. I'd rather not play spoiler this season. I'd rather lose a few games now, to win more games when it counts next year, and for several years down the road by picking up higher quality players, not only in the 1st round, but each round.

except that it's been proven that you teams that take this route don't get better. "earning" low draft picks don't make teams better.

i posted this in a thread that disappeared a few days ago.

But do teams that win meaningless December games hurt their franchise? Do they cut off their nose to spite their face? I looked at a decade’s worth of teams that had losing records after 10 games, and then measured how much their draft position changed from what it would have been after 10 games to where it ended up based on their late performance. I used 1998 to 2007, so that I could then measure the three years afterward, to see how our teams did in the future, depending on whether they cost themselves draft position or gained it by losing late.

There were 135 teams with losing records at the ten-game mark from 1998 to 2007. None made the playoffs, and the range of outcomes ranged from winning all 6 games (Miami in 2005) to winning no more and improving draft position.

I’m going to give you the data on how teams did in the future, but sometimes, simpler statements are worth a 1,000 data points.

The best franchises at “improving” their draft position by losing rather than winning meaningless games during this period: Cleveland, Detroit, Arizona, and Oakland.

The dumb franchises that kept winning despite being virtually eliminated (each of these cost themselves at least 10 draft slots during this period): Carolina, Jacksonville, New York Jets, Tennessee and Green Bay.

You probably have a sense of where this is going after just looking at the names, but here is a summary of all 135 teams over the following three seasons, sorted by draft position lost or gained by late season performance, for all teams with losing records after 10 games.

Draft Position..........Win Pct...PO Pct....Champ Gm

Lost 5 or more..........0.566.....0.544.....0.140

Lost 2.5 to 4.5.........0.485.....0.373.....0.160

Lost 0.5 to 2.0.........0.452.....0.227.....0.093

Stayed the Same......0.436.....0.231.....0.051

Gain 0.5 to 2.0.........0.449.....0.286.....0.063

Gain 2.5 to 4.5.........0.441.....0.283.....0.083

Gain 5 or more..........0.403.....0.278.....0.028

Let’s break that down if you don’t like to look at numbers on a chart. Teams that cost themselves draft position by winning meaningless games performed substantially better across the board over the next three seasons. They won more games, made the playoffs a much higher percentage of the time, and advanced to conference championship games a much higher percentage of the time in the future.

http://thebiglead.com/index.php/2011/11/27/nfl-analysis-improving-draft-position-versus-winning-late-season-games/

I don't understand that kind of thinking. Sure I get the issue, but you never play to lose you play to win. You put it all out there and what happens happens. In my way of thinking the confidence and chemistry we get from win 2 or 3 more games more than makes up for the change in draft positions from 7th to 14th, for example. After all,once you get out of the top 5 differences between players levels out pretty quickly.

100% agreed. the article above said there were several reasons why this happened but it boiled down to this.

Good franchises try to win. Period. They don’t settle for having slim chances, and packing it up.

The more we win now, the more attractive we will be to free agents.

totally agreed and this is huge. no one wants to play for a team that is content with losing regardless of the reasons. desperate players will come, but usually those players are desperate for a reason and a losing team wouldn't be what they want...it would be what they have to settle for. i don't want to be "that" team.

[smitty_89]

I think we will go 6-10...I want us to win every game but realistically I think we will win 2 out of the last 4, which is not bad at all considering 3 of those teams are playoff contenders.