Crossing Broad
Mike Florio was on Dan Patrick’s show, talking about legal sports betting in regard to the Jordan Davis Thicc Six:
“Jordan Davis, here’s the reality, this is the direct result of the NFL going from hating and shunning anything to do with gambling, to jumping right in bed and loading the pockets. They’re the guy where, you know the old game show when you go into the booth and money is flying everywhere, they’re grabbing as many dollars as they can while they’re there, but yeah, we’re all aware now of the point spread. We’re all aware of the ramification. And how many millions of dollars changed hands because Jordan Davis decided to do, not the smart thing. The smart thing – the game’s over, just fall down, you got the win. In theory somebody comes up from behind and does the Don Beebe / Leon Lett thing, the ball comes out the Rams take it the other way. The smart thing to do is to go down. He runs it in for a touchdown, the Eagles cover. Uh oh! It was perfectly legitimate. But when you open Pandora’s Box, this is the kind of stuff that flies out. And people are aware of this. It’s just part of the stuff the NFL needs to be concerned about, and sometimes I wonder, Dan, are they as concerned as they should be.”
I’ve watched this clip three times and I’m not sure what the point is. He’s talking about Davis running the blocked field goal back for a touchdown, and covering the spread, but I can’t tell if he’s suggesting that Davis did this knowingly, with the thought of covering on his mind. Surely that’s not the take, is it? Trying to give the guy the benefit of the doubt here, because it’s a head scratcher.
I am one million percent sure that Davis was not thinking about the spread in this particular moment, because anybody who has played sport at any level knows you get lost in the heat of the moment and you’ve got adrenaline pumping and you’re just out there trying to make a play. It’s all a blur. Bang-bang plays that happen in the blink of an eye. And yes, it is true that Davis could have just fallen down to end the game, but the chance of a Peanut Tillman punch and return has to be 0.00001% in this particular case.
What’s more is that the “make the right football decision” topic was a thing long before sports betting ever became legal. It always has been a thing, whether you’re running back a fumble or sliding to stay in bounds to keep the clock running, or thinking about bringing an interception out of the end zone or opting for a touchback. These scenarios didn’t magically appear with the advent of wagering, all wagering did was open a pathway for conspiratorial blathering. It didn’t replace the existing “should he or shouldn’t he” of player decision making.
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