I am going to say something crazy and then try to prove it from just this weeks games. Getting to where we are is easier than taking advantage of our position. In other words, getting to where we are now is easier than winning the next two games that we SHOULD win.
Teams that "Control Their Own Destiny" (CTOD) who play underdog teams, feel so much pressure, that even the most seasoned teams rarely can hold serve. Lets look at just this week alone:
The Denver Donkeys came into this week and CTOD for homefield throughout the playoffs. They were at home playing a divisional opponent and hadn't lost to a divisional opponent since Peyton has been in Denver. What happened ?? They lost...
This gave the cheats homefield throughout. What happened ?? They lost....
The pats loss gave Cincy CTOD for the 2nd seed and first rd bye, playing a steelers team with almost no shot at the playoffs. What happened ?? They lost...
In the NFC east the eagles came into the week CTOD for the division and went to a bad Minnesota team, WITHOUT Peterson there best player by far, and found a way to get blownout. And they were one of the hottest teams in the league before that game.
The philly loss gave the cowgirls CTOD for the division, who turned around and lost a 26-3 halftime lead to a packer team without their best player.
The Saints CTOD with a game and tiebreaker lead over the panthers. They went to another team not in the playoff race and found a way to lose that game by two scores.
And the NY Jets lost. This isn't relevant to this conversation, but it is alway nice to be able to say, any time I get the chance. :idk:
The point is getting CTOD and being able to overcome the pressure that comes with it is hard for even the best teams. Young teams with very little experience have even less chance. And this isn't something that happens just this year. I have a friend who makes a killing every year off of betting the NFL who told me the best games to bet are teams late in the season who CTOD against teams that don't. Everyone always bets the team with something to play for, so the betting line starts to move towards the favorite. By the end of the week the favorite will be a BIG favorite. But when the game starts the team with nothing to play for plays loose, and the favorite is playing not to lose. The underdog often wins and covers the spread at nearly an 80% clip.
The point I make is that for those of you thinking the game vs the bills will be an easy game, or that if we lose it will be because we choked, need to understand there isn't many, if any, teams in the league that can play their best games under these conditions. I haven't talked to him since last week, but I know he bet FOR the dolphins vs the pats, I know his money will be on the bills this vs us next Sunday.
