Tanking is a phenomenon that has taken over sports in recent years. Teams looking toward the future assemble a roster that simply isn’t competitive. The aim is to lose with an eye on a high draft pick that can get the franchise trending back in the right direction as quickly as possible.
With that being said, tanking is something a franchise will never admit to. Even if the product on the field is atrocious, a franchise will never openly state that it is effectively throwing a season in an effort to be better down the road. Furthermore, the players on the field are generally not going along with the strategy, but sometimes their talent — or lack thereof — makes their wishes moot.
The Miami Dolphins and Cincinnati Bengals have been accused of tanking this season. Objectively speaking, they’ve doing a pretty good job. Both teams are positioned to land high draft picks and a player who could potentially change their franchise for the better. There’s only one problem that has struck the two teams in their efforts to be as bad as possible in 2019.
They played against the Jets.
Remember how tanking is one of those things teams try to disguise? Well, if you need a way to do that, just take the field against good old Gang Green. New York has given both the Dolphins and the Bengals their first wins of the season at a point when both teams were winless. Miami was 0-7 when the Jets came to town in October, while Cincinnati sat at 0-11 entering Week 13.
Leave it to the Jets to lose to two teams that were in no position to win. The Dolphins have gone back and forth between Ryan Fitzpatrick and Josh Rosen at quarterback all season. That’s not exactly a recipe for success. The Bengals? Well…they’re just flawed in arguably every aspect of the game.
It’s one thing to lose to a bad team. It’s another to lose to an organization that wouldn’t be opposed to a loss. Sure, the players on the field are going to do everything in their power to win the game, but the front office won’t mind a loss if it positions the franchise for future success.
Ironically, New York’s loss on Sunday might make the Bengals the king of all tankers. Not only does Cincinnati now avoid the embarrassment of going 0-16, but it also still has a one-game lead on all of the teams vying for the No. 1 pick.
Either way, the point still stands. If you want to prove to the NFL that you’re not actually tanking — or make a half-measured effort at convincing your fans — just play the Jets. Things will go exactly how you want them to.