Teammates: Davis made decision to sit out

[WFE12 9,191]

Dang y'all still talking about this? Gonna be a pain stakingly long offseason.

[Mikey 16,615]

5 hours ago, DAG said:

That’s not what he asked you . If it were that easy, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.

Here's what he asked:" And if presented with the same decision, millionaire or play one last game, I'm pretty confident which the majority, if being honest, would take. "

The two are not mutually exclusive. Here are future millionaires who played in their team's "meaningless" bowl game. Louisville's Lamar Jackson and Penn State's Saquon Barkley, just for starters. There quite a few more who thought enough of their school and their team to play in their bowl game. It's a shame one of our own didn't care as much as those guys did.

[AU64 10,122]

If he could not play because of illness , that was fine and that's what he should have said.   

If he did not want to play because he was afraid he could get injured which would affect his NFL future, that's fine also and that is what he should have said.

There were media people all around him and  he could have made it clear about his motives rather than leave it to the coaches to cover for him and take the heat for possible misleading people. 

[aujeff11 6,243]

53 minutes ago, AU64 said:

If he could not play because of illness , that was fine and that's what he should have said.   

If he did not want to play because he was afraid he could get injured which would affect his NFL future, that's fine also and that is what he should have said.

There were media people all around him and  he could have made it clear about his motives rather than leave it to the coaches to cover for him and take the heat for possible misleading people. 

I can imagine Gus didnt want distractions. Gus is big on keeping things down home.

I changed my views on him skipping though. I am no longer indifferent to it and now straight disappointed with it. If winning doesn’t matter to our players then why should I care? 

[auskip07 930]

true competitors always want to play.    Given that is was an undefeated team i want people that want to go out play the game.   I get the money aspect but i dont think athletes of a sport should sit themselves 

[McLoofus 35,182]

14 hours ago, Mikey said:

All that, but not a guy I'd have over for a little fishing with burgers after. Hey, I might slip and fall in a cold lake and he couldn't risk his career by pulling me out.

Shame on you.
 

14 hours ago, Mikey said:

I' d choose millionaire AND play in the last game, every play at 100%,

 

53 minutes ago, AU64 said:

If he could not play because of illness , that was fine and that's what he should have said.   

If he did not want to play because he was afraid he could get injured which would affect his NFL future, that's fine also and that is what he should have said.

The guy might have been medically cleared but not 100%. We've seen how much help guys like Matthews, Johnson and Sean White have been when they've played at less than 100%. As in, they didn't play at 100%. I'm going to keep bringing this up until someone who knows what went down chimes in.

[AU64 10,122]

21 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

Shame on you.
 

 

The guy might have been medically cleared but not 100%. We've seen how much help guys like Matthews, Johnson and Sean White have been when they've played at less than 100%. As in, they didn't play at 100%. I'm going to keep bringing this up until someone who knows what went down chimes in.

JMO....but Davis could clear this up in 5 minutes if he wanted to....not cool leaving it to team mates or coaches to cover for him.

[aujeff11 6,243]

23 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

We've seen how much help guys like Matthews, Johnson and Sean White have been when they've played at less than 100%.

Carlton had nearly a month to recover from a concussion. He was fine but I guess you can continue to bring it up.

 

Johnson is your best example because he is a guy going to the draft and with a history of being injured and he still played.

[McLoofus 35,182]

3 minutes ago, AU64 said:

JMO....but Davis could clear this up in 5 minutes if he wanted to....not cool leaving it to team mates or coaches to cover for him.

Is it really so unusual? How often do college players have to publicly discuss their own health? Why should he have to say anything? How do you know that a room full of "adults" didn't council him on this and promise him they'd take care of it?

Also, he didn't leave anything to his teammates. They chose to talk about it. That's on them. Especially 2 seniors, both highly recruited guys and guys who have spent a lot of time with microphones in their faces. Those 2 guys are more media savvy than a lot of NFL rookies. Saying their comments are Davis's fault is truly just wanting to be mad at the guy.

[DAG 33,993]

45 minutes ago, AU64 said:

JMO....but Davis could clear this up in 5 minutes if he wanted to....not cool leaving it to team mates or coaches to cover for him.

His teammates did it themselves . They didn’t have to say crap to the media. I am sure he didn’t ask him to say anything. They easily could’ve said you need to ask CD that and moved on. And Gus is a grown ass man. He made his own decision.

[aujeff11 6,243]

I’ve never figured out why nobody ever liked Toby from the office. He was the equivalent of Meg from Family Guy. 

[AUIH1 1,515]

On 1/25/2018 at 10:01 AM, DAG said:

How did he not take accountability for his decision? CD has done absolutely nothing wrong nor has he said anything. It’s a group of adults behind a computer who seems to have an issue about it. He made a grown up decision for his future, assuming he chose to sit out . As another adult, you can either accept it or not accept it, but to sit here and make a big fuss about it because he didn’t do what you THINK you would’ve done in that position is kid stuff.  Most of you guys, if you saw CD walking down the street right now wouldn’t say anything to him as an adult. If you saw him, would you hold him accountable as an adult and auburn fan? If not then you shouldn’t be complaining.

He made a grown up decision to sit out, but used a middle excuse as to why he sat out.

wde

[AUIH1 1,515]

On 1/25/2018 at 10:19 AM, bigbird said:

And if presented with the same decision, millionaire or play one last game, I'm pretty confident which the majority, if being honest, would take.

Fine, but be honest about why you didn't play like Fournette or McCaffery instead of hiding behind the sick excuse.

wde

[AU64 10,122]

44 minutes ago, DAG said:

His teammates did it themselves . They didn’t have to say crap to the media. I am sure he didn’t ask him to say anything. They easily could’ve said you need to ask CD that and moved on. And Gus is a grown ass man. He made his own decision.

I'm guessing his "decision" as you call it,  was to believe what one of his players told him....

[McLoofus 35,182]

1 minute ago, AU64 said:

I'm guessing his "decision" as you call it,  was to believe what one of his players told him....

Well, it wouldn't be the first time that Gus believed what a player said about his injury despite overwhelming and obvious evidence to the contrary.

Quote

White was just 6 of 20 for 27 yards with an interception. As Auburn failed to gain a first down during the second half, White failed to complete nine straight passes, including a pick-six that tied the game in the opening minute of the third quarter, and went 2 of 11 for eight yards.

Thing is, that's probably not what happened here. Davis had no reason to lie to Gus about it, nor would his track record suggest that he's that kind of kid.

[AU64 10,122]

1 hour ago, McLoofus said:

Is it really so unusual? How often do college players have to publicly discuss their own health? Why should he have to say anything? How do you know that a room full of "adults" didn't council him on this and promise him they'd take care of it?

Also, he didn't leave anything to his teammates. They chose to talk about it. That's on them. Especially 2 seniors, both highly recruited guys and guys who have spent a lot of time with microphones in their faces. Those 2 guys are more media savvy than a lot of NFL rookies. Saying their comments are Davis's fault is truly just wanting to be mad at the guy.

Davis is also a media savy guy hoping to get into the NFL....missing a big time football game is not like cutting class 'cause you don't feel like going....folks making him sound like some kid of naïve kid who did not know what he was doing.  As for the other players....I guessing that not all of them were sympathetic to what he did. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

33 minutes ago, AU64 said:

Davis is also a media savy guy hoping to get into the NFL....missing a big time football game is not like cutting class 'cause you don't feel like going....folks making him sound like some kid of naïve kid who did not know what he was doing.  As for the other players....I guessing that not all of them were sympathetic to what he did. 

Clearly, the two guys in the OP didn't agree. And as I've demonstrated with visual aides, at least one of them showed why it's not always a good thing to play when you're not 100%. But I guess their judgment is a lot better and more meaningful than Davis's. Perhaps because they agree with you?

And no, I'm not making him out to be a naïve kid who doesn't know what he's doing. I'm absolutely suggesting, though, as a possibility that he was counseled by people in a position of authority in his life that this was in his best interests. Certainly you acknowledge that adults are allowed to and do accept and act on advice?

I'm not even interested in the specifics of that. The point is that a lot of y'all are more than happy to shoot before asking questions. What's funny is the overlap in the Venn diagram of 1) people who can't tolerate criticisms of obvious, idiotic and nationally televised mistakes made by a guy getting paid millions of dollars a year and 2) people who are more than happy to judge the players who actually bleed for the almighty W with very limited information to go on.

I'm not sure of the full extent to which you fall in the former group, but you would seem to be solidifying your position in the latter with each post. You've now said that Davis screwed his teammates, lied to his coach and didn't play because he was "afraid". This guy was one of our best and most consistent players for 3 years. He was tasked with covering NFL receivers every season he was here and never did anything other than show up and do his job. He decides not to play one game and suddenly he's a crappy teammate, a liar and "afraid"? On top of being disrespectful to an Auburn football player, that's just illogical to me. 

[DAG 33,993]

1 hour ago, AUIH1 said:

He made a grown up decision to sit out, but used a middle excuse as to why he sat out.

wde

I agree with that. I never really bought the sick thing. However, he and Gus ran with it so it is all we had 

[AUIH1 1,515]

1 minute ago, DAG said:

I agree with that. I never really bought the sick thing. However, he and Gus ran with it so it is all we had 

I don't think most of us really bought the sick thing other than those who always believe every thing AU players and coaches do is 100% above board and angelic.  My biggest complaint on this subject and in this long thread (which I have thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone's opinions including those that I disagree with) was that Davis and Gus were not honest as to why Davis was sitting out.

wde

[DAG 33,993]

5 minutes ago, AUIH1 said:

I don't think most of us really bought the sick thing other than those who always believe every thing AU players and coaches do is 100% above board and angelic.  My biggest complaint on this subject and in this long thread (which I have thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone's opinions including those that I disagree with) was that Davis and Gus were not honest as to why Davis was sitting out.

wde

Yep and I quite a few of us were critiqued for saying as such. Of course, he probably was sick and used it as a front to not play. Just being devils advocate to those who think Gus would never ever ever lie. Technically speaking they would be telling the truth. What I feel was he was indeed sick and really didn’t want to play, so didn’t . Perfect scenario. Could he have played through the sickness? Probably. Others did.

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

6 minutes ago, DAG said:

Yep and I quite a few of us were critiqued for saying as such. Of course, he probably was sick and used it as a front to not play. Just being devils advocate to those who think Gus would never ever ever lie. Technically speaking they would be telling the truth. What I feel was he was indeed sick and really didn’t want to play, so didn’t . Perfect scenario. Could he have played through the sickness? Probably. Others did.

 

On 1/23/2018 at 1:01 PM, abw0004 said:

Carlton Davis' reason for missing the Peach Bowl wasn't wholly due to the undisclosed illness coach Gus Malzahn cited -- at least according to two Auburn defenders......We're built different," Matthews said. "If it was me, I would've still played because it was my last game with my boys. Maybe, give or take, you never know how somebody's feeling, though. You don't know how his body was feeling."

 

[McLoofus 35,182]

3 minutes ago, DAG said:

Yep and I quite a few of us were critiqued for saying as such. Of course, he probably was sick and used it as a front to not play. Just being devils advocate to those who think Gus would never ever ever lie. Technically speaking they would be telling the truth. What I feel was he was indeed sick and really didn’t want to play, so didn’t . Perfect scenario. Could he have played through the sickness? Probably. Others did.

This is where I'm at.

Michael Jordan played with the flu in game 5 of the '97 NBA finals. Everyone was amazed. Absolutely heroic. That was game 5 of the NBA Finals. Would he have played with the flu on the road against, say, Milwaukee in an early regular season game? Helllll no.

Was Carlton as sick as Jordan? That's the thing. None of us know, except maybe one person who hasn't been in this thread. And he's probably not going to disclose that info, and there's no reason for him to.

Anyway. There's no reason that Davis should have played in the game if he wasn't 100%. And there's no reason he and/or Gus could have stated that would have made the pitchfork crowd happy so claiming illness- especially if true- is as good as anything.

[aubiefifty 16,803]

it seems like some think it is great that two players skipping their bowl games because they stated as such right? caff was one and i forgot the other. i still think it is the kids call. and gus has to try to protect his kids. some of you call it lying because you hate gus so much but there all kinds of things that no one is mentioning. what if the kid made the decision with his parents and they asked gus to keep it quiet? how many kids do you think would look unfavorable towards auburn if we publicly jump these kids every time something happens. laugh and say what you want but it is a very real possibility. and i do not understand why some people think if they buy tickets etc they are owed certain information at the expense of a student athlete? gus has never outed anyone that i ever know of and i bet it is a combination of class and maybe handling these thing as privately as he can because his bosses have told them this is the way they want things done. and we all know there have been some pretty bad things happen over the last few years and i believe he has always been this way. to be honest we have no idea either way if gus was pissed about the non playing thing. i am willing to believe he was but......again......tried to handle the situation with class. i disagree with the attacks on gus. even tho he beat jawja and the evile pods i am still on the fence. AND some seem ok with cd's decision other than the supposed lying which i have already covered. hey!  lets get in touch with the AD and see what his stance on it is.

[McLoofus 35,182]

 

2 minutes ago, aubiefifty said:

AND some seem ok with cd's decision other than the lying which i have already covered.

I know that it isn't your primary or even secondary point, but it is important to note that we don't know that Davis (or Gus) lied. As has been the theme of the last few posts, Davis being medically cleared doesn't mean he wasn't sick. It's been mentioned in many places throughout the thread that several players on the team who played were sick. (Pretty easy to believe, judging by the team's performance.)

When somebody who knows for a fact that Davis wasn't sick says so, I'll tuck my napkin in my collar and get ready for feathers.

And if someone is of the mind that "cleared to play" means "100% healthy", then I can go find some more gifs to demonstrate how abjectly ignorant that notion is. (Not directed at you, Fifty.)

[DAG 33,993]

30 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

This is where I'm at.

Michael Jordan played with the flu in game 5 of the '97 NBA finals. Everyone was amazed. Absolutely heroic. That was game 5 of the NBA Finals. Would he have played with the flu on the road against, say, Milwaukee in an early regular season game? Helllll no.

Was Carlton as sick as Jordan? That's the thing. None of us know, except maybe one person who hasn't been in this thread. And he's probably not going to disclose that info, and there's no reason for him to.

Anyway. There's no reason that Davis should have played in the game if he wasn't 100%. And there's no reason he and/or Gus could have stated that would have made the pitchfork crowd happy so claiming illness- especially if true- is as good as anything.

Exactly . He knows his body better than anybody . It is like the folks who crow about LF injuries in college. He knows his body. Who are you to say how and when he should go? I just don’t like this idea of turning your back on a player who went through and stuck it out with Auburn doing the very low times, one of the premier players when we needed a spark and stayed the route even when Muschamp (who got him here) left. As far as I am concerned CD is one of the faces of our revamped defense and he deserves whatever the NFL holds for his future. He also deserves the support of this fickle fan base. From all accounts he went to class, stayed out of trouble on and off the field and did all he could while he played for this team. That’s all you can ask.