why couldn't Nigel kick?
In the last game, just before Nigel was going to kick, why did he shake his head when Falco asked him if he was ok? Was it something to do with the gambling?
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MovieChat Forums > The Replacements (2000) Discussion > why couldn't Nigel kick?
Yeah I think so. If he made the field goal and beat the team by a field goal, he wouldn't of covered the spread, and the bookies would of lost money
shareNigel was faced with a bad choice and a worse choice...
If he kicked the field goal, the replacement Sentinels would have won, what for them, would have been essentially their playoff game. But, he would have lost the bet for the Mob and the Mob has ways of punishing those that disappoint them.
If he had purposely missed the field goal, the replacement Sentinels would have lost. And, even if his teammates did not know the miss was intentional, Nigel knew. And that would have been a blow against his teammates.
So, as Nigel comes out to the field, he has a decision to make... does he do the honorable thing and try to make the field goal and get killed by the Mob as a result, or does he do the dishonorable thing and miss the field goal and betray his teammates.
Those were "loan collectors" in the stands, and in order for him to pay off his debt, he would have to fix games for them, i.e. miss field goals. If he kicks the final field goal, the loan collectors will punish him, but if he misses, then he let's the whole team down.
It's a catch-22, he could either win and be punished, or lose and betray his team.
Considering the entire Dallas team had crosssed the picket line... I'm sure Washington would have been a huge underdog... possibly by even 21 points. So, unless the "mob boys" had straight up action on Dallas (unlikely, because they'd be laying way too much money to win only a little), Gruff's kick wouldn't have mattered because Washington would have been already covering the huge point spread.
Also, in an earlier game... Nigel kicked a 65 yard field goal??? The all-time NFL record is 63 yards (Tom Dempsey & Jason Elam)... and his kick CLEARLY made it through the uprights with room to spare. It would have been good from 70 yards.
Highly unlikely... he would have been all over the news!
Just to point out everyone keeps saying the game winning field goal. Unless they were counting 4pts for field goals they wouldnt have won. If he did kick and make it they would have tied them. The score was 17-14. The announcers clearly state he's coming in to kick the tying point.
shareIt had to have been something with missing on purpose and tossing the game.
Say the Sentinels were three-point favorites....He makes the FG and then they kick a FG in overtime and they win by 3. They score the TD and since the movie didn't follow any REAL football rules (i.e. you kick the XP no matter what) and they win by 3.
Unless he made a bet on the game himself and he bet against his own team, but the spread wouldn't have been 3 vs. a "pro" team.
That's why I don't buy it. If Dallas' real team had crossed, Washington would have been huge underdogs with at least a 14 point spread. So wouldn't the mob had already won if they were within 3?
shareDepends on the bet. Since they needed Gruff to miss a kick, we can assume they bet on the Cowboys. They would have two possible bets and we'll assume a 14 point spread. The first bet would probably be with the spread. If that's the case then it wouldn't have mattered what Gruff did because they were already within the 14 points. They could have also just done a straight up pick'em bet, in which case, they would need the Cowboys to win, doesn't matter by how much. So, we would have to assume that it would be a pick'em
The other possibility is a proposition bet. An example could be that the bet a bunch of money on Nigel missing a field goal. Seeing how he had been kicking up to that point in the other games, the odds probably would have been pretty high against it.
I know some degenerates will gamble on anything. But who the hell bet on replacement games? I doubt they got much action.
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