Shank Starts The Year Off With Fire Takes About The Patriots Committing Consumer Fraud Yesterday

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Perhaps in a couple of weeks we’ll look back on this and make light of it. When the Patriots get their people back and beat the Chiefs or Texans in Foxborough to advance to the AFC Championship, maybe we’ll again cite the genius of Bill and wonder how we could have ever doubted him. But that’s not how it feels today. It feels as if the Patriots did not try to win their final game. They totally disrespected their opponent (easy to do vs. the Dolphins), committed consumer fraud on the 62,918 who paid to watch, and went through the motions in 60 minutes of half-buttocks football. It was a mockery. Integrity of the game? Roger Goodell should have Ted Wells look into this. If Goodell punished the Patriots on this one, Fanboy Judge Berman would probably support the Commish.

Wooooo, baby! Get the oven mitts out to read this one, folks. Yesterday we watched as the New England Patriots committed consumer fraud (on the same day the Packers and Vikings played “You take it.” “No, you take it.” “NO, YOU.” with a division championship) and ruined the integrity of the game (on the same day Peyton Manning, a man accused of HGH use, won homefield advantage). But it’s the Patriots who we should be thumbing our nose at. It’s the Patriots who have ruined this game of football that we love.

Injuries and player health should not be a concern before a playoff run. Miami shouldn’t have been a “Let’s just get out of here and get healthy” game, the Patriots should have left it all on the field and anything less is grand larceny. To be fair to Shank, his views on this are well-documented and he’s always been anti-tank. Every game has always been of the utmost importance to Dan Shaughnessy, as he made clear in March of 2014 when he said, “It’s supposed to be Tankapalooza. It’s supposed to be Refuse To Win (wonder if Coach Cal could patent that one?). They still have a chance to go 22-60 if they lose the rest. But on nights like Sunday, it looks like they didn’t get the memo,” in regards to the Boston Celtics. Shank values the integrity of the game above all else and not playing your best every single second is taking money right out of the pockets of the hard working fans. Doesn’t matter if it’s for a better draft spot, or perhaps a better divisional opponent, if you’re not trying then you’re cheating. Even that Fanboy – ahem – Federal judge from New York City would agree.