Regarding tanking: I've said this before. We have no rules against tanking. It is a legitimate strategy, in real life and in this game. However, in this league we also have a general "respect the game" type attitude. Even with no official rules, the "unwritten rules" that most people understand is that, because of effects on the rest of the league and league records and so on, there is a limit to how extreme your tank can go. There's no bright line rule. For example, Independence in its first season (2027) started its young QB, who had no business playing, even though they had an average QB on its roster. They got blown out every week and their QB had 88 INTs that season. That was pretty extreme tanking, but I did not say anything because they were at least starting a QB at QB, and yes, in real life teams try to develop young QBs in lost seasons. I didn't like it and I wouldn't do it, but to me that was legitimate.
On the other hand, benching your punter and putting another position player at punter to tank, seems to me, against the spirit of the game. That's not something people would do in real life. It's not the same as benching your starting punter and adding a young punter to get a tryout for one game. It is very clearly an effort to ensure defeat. The #1 pick was on the line and though it was very unlikely that Boston would have beaten the Kayfabe, you never know. So let me declare right now that tanking is ok, but you must tank within reason of the real NFL - so Boston could have started their backup QB (like the Eagles pulling Jalen hurts for Nate Sudfeld), benched their starters and all that to lose. But doing stuff like putting CB at kicker is a bridge too far I think. Do people agree? I will message Boston about it.
But as it probably did not affect the draft order and it was only for one game it seems, no punishment or anything. But warning for everyone, please respect the integrity of the game and try not to make your tanking too blatant that it rubs people the wrong way. Don't fill your OL with WRs. Don't make your DE your new kicker. Don't try out your kicker at QB.
The big picture: we don't want "tank wars" to break out. I mean next time, if Boston is starting a CB at punter, maybe South Brisbane counters with a CB at QB, kind of like what Waitwut was saying. So if 4 teams are tanking, you get 4 teams worth of players at crazy positions and meaningless games that are 100-0 final score.
Last edited at 5/20/2021 11:50 am