I sure hope this isn't one of the reasons for firing Mayo, despite it being implied in the article.
It would be illegal to purposely throw the game in order to protect their #1 draft pick. That would be effectively taking a dive for personal (team) gain. All sports teams have an obligation to play their hardest to win as a part of their league charters.
NASCAR driver Clint Boyer went through this many years ago when he was accused of purposely spinning out at Richmond in the last qualifying race the season in order to force a yellow flag and a restart to benefit another driver on the same ownership team.
Boyer never admitted to doing it, but the NASCAR competition committee held an emergency meeting and later reinforced to all of the teams the requirement to always be competitive and not have one driver take actions that are not competitive for themselves in order to benefit others.
The owner (Michael Waltrip) was forced to give up one of his three teams, Boyer was fined points, and Waltrip eventually closed up shop a few years later.
I'd hate for the Patriots to be accused of firing their head coach for NOT throwing a game.
-PJ
He knew he was toast. So he knew that winning the game would be the worst outcome.
Teams play to lose every season during the last week of the season. It’s not that difficult.
Mayo sucked. He’s sucked for a while. 1st pick or 4th…it’s not going to make THAT much difference.
The ownership needs to step up now and spend some money to get some talent around their young QB. That kid is good. But he is not any good if he is sacked 5 times a game.
Tell that to the Chiefs, who are tanking to make sure Burrow doesn’t get into the playoffs.
Hmm...I think auto racing and football are different things. There are ways to throw the game without throwing the game. Play the backups....just to get a look at them, or avoid injury to the starters.