Thread: Resting players at the end of the season.

This was my comment on another message board prior to the Giants first playoff game:

They [Giants] played all their starters until the last moment and they sort of gained a little respect from me. I do not believe in resting players and I certainly do not believe in resting players for more than one week,

The Giants and Patriots played all their starters until the final moments of the regular season. It would seem to have paid off. On the other hand, the Bucs rested players and looked terrible. The Cowboys were playing bad and then still rested players for their final game of the regular season. When it came to playoff time, their whole team looked out of sync and could have won in the final moments but failed to execute. The Packers were not playing well before the final week but they decided to start their starters for the final game. It would appear that the teams who played their starts until the end played better than most of the teams who rested.

Does anyone else think resting players during the final weeks of the regular season is a bad idea?

I don't think the Bucs were that good of a team.....

BUT, on to the rest of the questions....


I do NOT like the idea of sitting players... not sitting LT/LJ/etc through the preseason, and not sitting people in Weeks 16 and 17.
I do think people CAN get rusty... not all do, but it happens - could be just bad games by chance.
However, do you play them all 4 quarters? Nah, probably not... limit their play time, rotate them in and get them a few reps, but that is it.
You keep people from checking out of the game and also minimize risks for injury....

"ThorSPL" wrote:

I don't think the Bucs were that good of a team.....

BUT, on to the rest of the questions....


I do NOT like the idea of sitting players... not sitting LT/LJ/etc through the preseason, and not sitting people in Weeks 16 and 17.
I do think people CAN get rusty... not all do, but it happens - could be just bad games by chance.
However, do you play them all 4 quarters? Nah, probably not... limit their play time, rotate them in and get them a few reps, but that is it.

You keep people from checking out of the game and also minimize risks for injury....

I don't think everyone should play in the pre-season. I just don't think it helps a lot of the veterans and elite players get better, while exposing them to risk and wearing them down.
The end of the season is different though, then I think it is important to try and win every game, even if it means wearing down some of your key players and risking injuries.

It always makes the playoffs BS in FF.
That's enough of a reason for them to play.

It depends on the team and the situation. There have been times where playing the players at the end of the season has helped and there have been times where key guys have gotten hurt and the team has suffered. There is no right answer.

training camp is the same way.. There are times and players who can sit out and still not hurt themselves or the team and there are others who need every minute.

Case in point is this past preseason. Going into the season with TJ as our starter I was pretty pissed when he only played a few series of our last preseason game and then went to the bench.

He needed all of the help he could get and so did the skill players on offense. Instead they were rested and went into the season lacking the time together that could have made them more prepared for their opponents. We did beat Atlanta in the opener but looked pretty bad for several games afterward. Now, would that have changed if TJ had played the majority of the preseason? I can't say but it would certainly have helped.