Screw the tank

daves

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Losing forces changes until it's hopefully right. Say, the Bills or other big turnarounds.
You picked an odd example to make your point... the Bills were 9-7 in Doug Marrone's last season (2014), fired him for Rex Ryan who went 8-8 in 2015, and fired him for Anthony Lynn who went 7-9 in 2016, before hiring Sean McDermott in 2017. They never bottomed out or made a "big turnaround" - they went 9-7 in 2017, dipped to 6-10 in 2018 (winning two of their final three games) before starting their run of 5 consecutive years of being a strong playoff contender.

...dave
 

Syracusecards

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Sorted & filtered by what criteria?
I wanted to see the difference between players being picked with the first pick of round 2 vs. 5-10 in round 2 and the other rounds. Some people are saying it doesn’t matter much having a top 4 vs top 10 pick in round 1 but I think it makes a big difference in the rest of the rounds.
 

Zalixar

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You picked an odd example to make your point... the Bills were 9-7 in Doug Marrone's last season (2014), fired him for Rex Ryan who went 8-8 in 2015, and fired him for Anthony Lynn who went 7-9 in 2016, before hiring Sean McDermott in 2017. They never bottomed out or made a "big turnaround" - they went 9-7 in 2017, dipped to 6-10 in 2018 (winning two of their final three games) before starting their run of 5 consecutive years of being a strong playoff contender.

...dave
And the many years before that they were perennial losers. It took a few years to find the right coach but they got there within those couple years you mentioned. It's rarely an immediate turnaround.

Although that's an unusually hot coaching carousel, they were on the right track for a few years. Lynn was just interim, no? Then took the Chargers job. Ryan I think was some other drama or whatever, but neither were the answer. But the franchise was starting to become respectable again.

Seems like they knew they had something with McDermott and kept him around.

Like Garrett stayed with Dallas forever with mediocre season, we could stay with Kliff for many mediocre seasons as well.

We are kind of looking for that turnaround as a franchise. We've had some great seasons since our SB run, but also some of the most god awful football teams sandwiched in. This franchise needs some consistency.
 
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GatorAZ

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Tanking this year isn’t just about a draft pick. It’s about making it beyond reason to bring back anyone involved with this horror show on the sidelines or in the front office.

There’s just nothing to be gained here. Kyler’s not playing so it’s not like we want there to be valuable time with his WRs and getting a rythym. And a new coaching staff brings in completely different schemes and probably a ton of new players as well. So, there’s nothing of note to hope for some kind of carryover to next year either.

And all we’ve seen as the season has worn on is devastating injuries which WILL effect next season taking place.

Considering all of that, there’s very little reason NOT to tank. Slate SHOULD be wiped mostly clean, so why put yourself in position that can possibly hurt yourself moving forward in this particular season?
1% of me wants to see the reaction when a meaningless win vs a bad Atlanta team gives the buffoon owner reason for more buffoonery.
 

Cardinal88

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I'm 61 years old. I could be dead by September, I want wins no matter what! If they lose out, I'll be happy our draft position improves, but I cannot pull for this team(my favorite sports team) to lose ever.
Couldn’t agree more! What I learned about this last loss was I felt myself engaged and wanting to win. I was upset when we made boneheaded plays, couldn’t stop them, turned the ball over, or couldn’t score but at the end of the day, I was at peace. I will cheer for us against Atlanta and San Francisco but won’t be disappointed for 3 days with a loss like normal.
 

SteveKeimFan

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Getting a blue chip draft prospect is the equivalent to winning a superbowl for me
 
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Brian in Mesa

Brian in Mesa

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Never forget the unforgettable franchise altering win of the last game of the 1997 season to secure the #2 pick.

With the 1st pick, the Indianapolis Colts select...
Franchise altering? LMAO.

Yeah, the Colts picked Peyton Manning, and at the time people questioned the selection because Ryan Leaf was thought to be the better pick.

All the reports said the Cardinals traded down to #3 from #2 because they had Jake Plummer and were not interested in drafting a QB, so we likely would have traded down even from #1 and still drafted Wadsworth. No change because of their late-season win.

Same as the last-game heroics to defeat the Vikings. Larry Fitzgerald was going to be our pick whether we drafted first or third that year. No change because of another late-season win.
 
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Brian in Mesa

Brian in Mesa

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Ah, the age old questioning of fandom post. Not kosher, man. The answer is yes, as it always is, as you well know. If you root for your team to win and damn the draft/coach/GM consequences, bully for you. If you root for your team to tank because you want the higher pick/the coach and GM to be gone, bully for you. Different strokes for different folks, but they are all fans.
I am willing to bet it's much easier for fans to want the team to tank if they don't actually attend any games during the season. Just saying. Didn't see any Cards fans at the game rooting for a Tampa victory. Did see one with a bag on his head and many in the stadium booed Kliff when the coaching staff was announced, but then we cheered hard for the team to make plays and win the game.
 

Ouchie-Z-Clown

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I am willing to bet it's much easier for fans to want the team to tank if they don't actually attend any games during the season. Just saying. Didn't see any Cards fans at the game rooting for a Tampa victory. Did see one with a bag on his head and many in the stadium booed Kliff when the coaching staff was announced, but then we cheered hard for the team to make plays and win the game.
Nah. When I lived in AZ and attended every game in terrible seasons I was all for the tank. In buddy’s last season two old ladies that sat near us were angry with my voicing my displeasure with buddy and yelled “I bet you want them to lose so they’ll fire buddy!” My response was “you bet your life I do!” And I was right then, and I’m right now.
 

Zalixar

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Franchise altering? LMAO.

Yeah, the Colts picked Peyton Manning, and at the time people questioned the selection because Ryan Leaf was thought to be the better pick.

All the reports said the Cardinals traded down to #3 from #2 because they had Jake Plummer and were not interested in drafting a QB, so we likely would have traded down even from #1 and still drafted Wadsworth. No change because of their late-season win.

Same as the last-game heroics to defeat the Vikings. Larry Fitzgerald was going to be our pick whether we drafted first or third that year. No change because of another late-season win.

Clearly the Cards passed on Leaf, but Peyton Manning was cerebral one coming out. He was the safe pick, Leaf was the "higher ceiling" riskier, athleticism type. Sure, no one thought Leaf would be the worst QB to essentially exist. But he was always an asshat who didn't put football first, or even close to it.

The Chargers owner was even warned not to pick Leaf from someone they paid to learn specifically about each one and Colts were essentially always in on Manning once Ryan didn't show up for their meeting at the combine, which he didn't want to go to Indy anyway.

At worst, we would have gotten a bigger haul. Plumber wasn't anything crazy and he wasnt a high pick. Leaf wasn't the pick over Plumber.

If they would have passed on Manning then this is truly a poverty franchise. You never know what they would have done if they actually had it. Manning was the "safer" pick and that's up the the Card's alley. They traded out of 2nd pick the second Manning was taken, perhaps waiting to see if the Colts took Leaf? But we certainly made sure to never have that chance.

Yep, we got lucky with our win vs Vikings because the Lions also won. Slightly different timeline, they get Fitzgerald and we get Roy Williams. You remember him don't you? How would he look in Cardinal red? They messed up even more than us. As the Lions, I'd expect nothing less. But who knows if we go WR that route, Danny Green wanted Fitz. Rivers on the board.

But for Manning, it probably doesn't matter in the end. He would have sucked here and moved on elsewhere.

The whole point is to win every game to get a better seed in the playoffs to improve your chances (bye, home game, play a lower seeded team, etc). Once you are out of the race, a worse record gives you a better chance of selecting a better player to impact future seasons, or have better trade value to select multiple players. Losing is NEVER fun, but it's playing the long game. Nor is it intentionally tanking, but it's a good opportunity to test out all your backups or play rookies more to see what you got going into the next year. Evaluating depth is important and sparing major injuries to the starters.

Ever sacrifice chess pieces for the bigger picture?
 
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