Tanking vs. resting starters. | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Tanking vs. resting starters.

NBP81

NBP81

Its what you know for sure... that just aint so...
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Let me preface this by saying I have zero shits to give about KC resting their starters, they've earned it and I'm in no way shape or form trying to find excuses for the Fins missing the playoffs... I've been rooting for a miracle ever since Tua went on IR after his concussion and the miracle will fall short... alot like my miracle rooting interests for the Fins for my entire mature life. This is just about my wandering mind stumbling about this subject yesterday and not really coming on a definitive answer on my own since.

The question is pretty straight forward... What makes resting starters legal, and tanking illegal?

The way I see it, it's all about integrity of the game and teams being required to put their best effort to win regular season games. Let's say KC were playing a team that's in position to get the #1 overall pick in the subsequent draft. KC resting their starters would be perfectly legal, while the other team resting theirs could be investigated for tanking, and possibly facing consequences over it. Is this right? I'm literally not able to answer that question. Need some feedback.
 
BahamaFinFan78 said:
Resting your starters and tanking are two different things. Tanking means having your coaches and players actively trying to lose. You can rest starters, but the backups are still trying to win.
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Every player on the field always wants to win... For many reasons. Where do you draw the line between not trying to win vs trying to lose?

At first I thought player safety might be a reason why one is allowed and the other not... But that wouldn't make sense at all... It would mean that player safety is only a thing when the team is still in the thick of things so that's definitely not a reason...
 
Maybe it's that thing you claim is a main factor for success (successful tanking in this instance)... Luck.

Lol sorry, just had to
 
Because the concept of tanking isn’t really a thing. You can make a decision or two that may play a roll but the reality is most nfl players are brink roster players. Even the better ones have a very short window of actually being safe.

With that said I’m not sure KC rest completely. They played on wed which was unprecedented. They’d now have a 17-19 day window of no game football. They’ve rested before but it was only a regular 14 day window. Interesting to see what they do and if that potentially 5 day difference changes anything.
 
If I were a Chiefs fan I would not be opposed to them resting their starters in this situation since they have a legitimate chance of winning it all. To me , I think that is the difference between resting or tanking.
 
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Beach Bum said:
If I were a Chiefs fan I would not be opposed to them resting their starters in this situation since they gave a legitimate chance of winning it all. To me , I think that is the difference between resting or tanking.
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Oh I perfectly understand why they're doing it... I'm just trying to grasp why it's allowed in certain setups, and not in others...
 
Well the team played hard enough to have a winning season locked in and 1st seed in the playoffs. Which makes resting the starters a strategy of future winning. No team would win this much in the regular season to purposely lose in the playoffs. So it's a strategy to win as opposed to losing on purpose to gain a certain players in next year's draft.
 
MARINO1384 said:
Because the concept of tanking isn’t really a thing. You can make a decision or two that may play a roll but the reality is most nfl players are brink roster players. Even the better ones have a very short window of actually being safe.

With that said I’m not sure KC rest completely. They played on wed which was unprecedented. They’d now have a 17-19 day window of no game football. They’ve rested before but it was only a regular 14 day window. Interesting to see what they do and if that potentially 5 day difference changes anything.
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Even longer than that. December 25 to January 18. Over three weeks without a game for some starters.
 
NBP81 said:
Oh I perfectly understand why they're doing it... I'm just trying to grasp why it's allowed in certain setups, and not in others...
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Good teams get favorable treatment, bad teams get beaten down.

It’s a conspiracy.

J/K

But not really.
 
I doubt any team is trying to lose on purpose. Some teams just trade away their veterans for picks and are left with a bad team that will lose often. Not sure the NFL has ever punished a team for trying to "tank"
 
eMCee85 said:
Well the team played hard enough to have a winning season locked in and 1st seed in the playoffs. Which makes resting the starters a strategy of future winning. No team would win this much in the regular season to purposely lose in the playoffs. So it's a strategy to win as opposed to losing on purpose to gain a certain players in next year's draft.
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Good point...

Like I totally get that being able to secure a playoff spot before the season affords you the comfort of being able to sit starters. And it's well within the rules of the NFL. At the same time time, those actions changes the outcome for other teams involved through no actions of their own.

Like in this case, Denver gets an absolute advantage while it pretty much eliminates the Fins and Bengals. In other words, the seeding is based on all teams playing up to their standards for 17 games but the seeding also makes it so that it won't be the case.

The root game that decides the fate of 3 teams just went from what? KC favored by 5 (pulling a number out of my ass here, think it's ball park enough) to being 10 points dogs...

The thought that if you're good enough to get that power, good for you isn't to be discarded either, I do think there's some merit to that.
 
BahamaFinFan78 said:
Resting your starters and tanking are two different things. Tanking means having your coaches and players actively trying to lose. You can rest starters, but the backups are still trying to win.
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not necessarily - you can tank if the GM orders the coach to play QB3 all year. Doesn't matter if everyone tries their best, you're not making the playoffs. Literally by resting your starters the entire year you can 'tank' all year.
 
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