OK for the most part everyone jokes about the NFL and fixes. Deep inside everyone wants/has to believe everything is on the level. Yet we live in a era where players and officials have been caught shaving points, there have been allegations of tampering and there is wide spread cheating in the form of performance enhancing drugs. Why then when situations arise that look suspiciously odd are there never any investigations? I won't go into details like officials and reversals or decisions to take game changing points off the board etc. etc.
Most recently how is it a player like Eric Decker who is chosen to perform tasks for the specific reason he has such good hands not even considered to possibly be doing things intentionally? If a trustworthy employee showed up at work periodically with a large shopping bag and every time he did a valuable item disappeared from the store would there not be an investigation?
On Sunday Mr. Decker fell to the ground untouched with nothing but a clear path to the end zone costing the Broncos 7 points. Later he had a pass bounce off his chest and ricochet in the hands of a Charger. Again costing the Broncos 7 and the INT cost 3. Finally he wiffed on an onside kick recovery that allowed SD to recover leading to 3 pts for SD and possibly costing the Broncos 3 or 7 with a possession near mid field. Those are the glaring examples of suspicious performance, how many times did he fail to perform on plays the spotlight wasn't on him? Yes it's embarrassing to the player to have to deal with allegations but no more embarrassing then the employee in the example I gave with the shopping bag. Yet that employee would have to deal with it.
When players are the best at doing what they do and they are paid large sums of money to do that task doesn't the public deserve to know that multiple gaffs that effect wagers are truly just coincidence? Just having the press or the league ask the question would go a long way towards preserving the integrity of the game. I believe the biggest deterrent to players shaving points or cheating is the risk. If questions were asked or suggested when things look blatantly odd it would make the players aware that oddities that occur over and over in a game aren't going unnoticed. If a performance like Decker's goes unquestioned why would a player that took money to shave points think there is any risk?
I'm not pushing the idea all those errors were intentional. However given the odds on 3 mistakes of that magnitude occurring by chance I think ignoring the possibility is just being blind. I know the NFL likes to ignore the fact point spreads and gambling is involved but not addressing it only underscores the issue.
Most recently how is it a player like Eric Decker who is chosen to perform tasks for the specific reason he has such good hands not even considered to possibly be doing things intentionally? If a trustworthy employee showed up at work periodically with a large shopping bag and every time he did a valuable item disappeared from the store would there not be an investigation?
On Sunday Mr. Decker fell to the ground untouched with nothing but a clear path to the end zone costing the Broncos 7 points. Later he had a pass bounce off his chest and ricochet in the hands of a Charger. Again costing the Broncos 7 and the INT cost 3. Finally he wiffed on an onside kick recovery that allowed SD to recover leading to 3 pts for SD and possibly costing the Broncos 3 or 7 with a possession near mid field. Those are the glaring examples of suspicious performance, how many times did he fail to perform on plays the spotlight wasn't on him? Yes it's embarrassing to the player to have to deal with allegations but no more embarrassing then the employee in the example I gave with the shopping bag. Yet that employee would have to deal with it.
When players are the best at doing what they do and they are paid large sums of money to do that task doesn't the public deserve to know that multiple gaffs that effect wagers are truly just coincidence? Just having the press or the league ask the question would go a long way towards preserving the integrity of the game. I believe the biggest deterrent to players shaving points or cheating is the risk. If questions were asked or suggested when things look blatantly odd it would make the players aware that oddities that occur over and over in a game aren't going unnoticed. If a performance like Decker's goes unquestioned why would a player that took money to shave points think there is any risk?
I'm not pushing the idea all those errors were intentional. However given the odds on 3 mistakes of that magnitude occurring by chance I think ignoring the possibility is just being blind. I know the NFL likes to ignore the fact point spreads and gambling is involved but not addressing it only underscores the issue.
