Originally posted by Chaswray
OMG, that's terrible news, whatever will the conspiracy theorists come up with now?
Given the game times, here's what will now happen... pretty simple, actually.
The Patriots will beat Buffalo in the early game. No problem there.
Knowing that the Patriots have won, the Jets will then contact the Ravens (who host Jacksonville).
The Jets, who would like to know the result of the Jax-Baltimore game prior to the conclusion of their game against the Dolphins, will tell the Ravens, "look guys, we don't care if you win or lose your game. Just make sure that: "
1) You run the ball on EVERY play (thereby minimizing stoppages of the clock and speeding up the game)
2) Do NOT take ANY time outs, and under NO CIRCUMSTANCES are you to challenge a call
3) If a Ravens player becomes injured, he is to stay on the field until a change of possession (again, minimizing clock stoppages)
4) You are not to commit any penalties, which also slow the game down
4) And, most importantly, NO OVERTIME!!! Make sure you decide your game in 60 minutes.
Meanwhile, the Jets DO use their time outs and challenges, dragging out the game as much as possible. They'll probably even commit a few penalties to ensure the game takes as long as possible to reach the latter stages of the 4th quarter.
Now, knowing the result of the Ravens-Jags game, the Jets can then proceed accordingly:
1) If the Ravens win, then the Jets can tank the game, allowing Miami to slip into the playoffs and knocking New England out.
2) If Jacksonville wins, then the winner of the Jets/Dolphins game will play New England in the Wild Card game (Dolphins would host the Patriots, the Jets would travel to New England)
Woah, wait a minute...if the Ravens lose, and the Jets win, then Mangini has to go to New England to face the Patriots.
Wow, I don't think he wants to do that.
ok, NEW theory.
Mangini will tank the game.
That way, if the Ravens win, New England is out, and Mangini will have his revenge.
And if the Ravens lose to the Jags, New England has to travel to Miami.
Either way, Mangini doesn't have to face his old boss.
Plus, he can make it look natural, by simply having Favre throw a few key 4th quarter interceptions. No one would be suspicious of that! In fact, he wouldn't even have to tell Favre to do it. Favre would do it naturally!
And you thought we couldn't come up with anything! π