Perhaps the perfect tank job?

[Shake n Blake]

(03-05-2020, 03:55 PM)Stewy Wrote: I suggested something similar as the OP, but with Taylor as the Mastermind, not MB.  And you're both likely right that it wasn't planned from the beginning, but was turned to once key injuries piled up.

#1 - You'd never tell the players about it.  Their livelihood is at stake, and the Players Union would step in.
#2 - It's almost impossible Taylor is THAT/THIS incompetent of a play caller.  Calling running plays when passing is needed.  Calling short passes on 3rd and long.  Etc.  If you're going to tank, purposefully and quietly, offensive play calling is the place to do it.  
#3 - If you don't score, it doesn't matter how good your Defense is, so IF it was purposeful, the Defensive staff was likely not in on it.
#4 - I think the FO might have stepped in and made Taylor put AD back in, for fear of losing the locker room.
#5 - I bet AD was doing a lot of audibling out of Taylor's play calls during the Miami game, which was the only reason for the comeback.  I bet Taylor was petrified AD was going to pull it off.....if he was behind it.
#6 - As others have pointed out, the Team suddenly started playing better, and Taylor calling better plays once the top pick was secured.  Coincidences are hooey.
#7 - Tanking is a thing.  It's real.  Happens in baseball all the time.  Taylor is a young guy.  Likely into analytics.  Him tanking for a top pick or the top pick is easily believable.

Regardless, we'll see the first few games of the season the likely truth.  If Taylor is incompetent, he'll stay that way regardless of who is at QB.  If he looks like a genius play caller and coach all of a sudden, then that will speak volumes as well.  

In the end it matters not really.  The team is where it is and after the bad season, they're in the enviable position to change the course of the organization for the next decade.

Happens in the NBA as well. Shoot, they invented the lottery system to discourage it, and it still happens.

I'm thoroughly convinced that teams like the Colts and Browns tanked recently. The Browns seemed to be trying a 76ers-like long rebuild. The Colts weren't trying to win games with Peyton out and Luck sitting there. The Raiders seemed to be tanking in Gruden's first year. Dumping salary (Khalil Mack) and stockpiling good picks.

I don't think it'll ever be as prominent in the NFL as other leagues, but I think it'd be naive to believe it doesn't happen.