Rest Your Starters?

This seems to be the question of the week. NFL.com has an interesting article on this, and it just shows that a lot of intelligent people can disagree on anything.

My take is that teams might be able to get away with resting their starters for a single week, but resting for longer than that will cause problems. You can look at almost any past year and find examples of teams taking it easy for 3 or 4 weeks and then gagging in their first playoff game. As a Bronco fan, the '96 loss to the Jags is a painful reminder of how difficult it can be to turn on the intensity once it has been turned down.

In the case of the Colts, Chargers, and Packers it makes sense to play your starters for a series or two, then sit them. It is only a single week. The Colts have been saying that records don't mean as much as playoff victories, we'll see if Manning plays past the 1st quarter. If so, he is playing for a record and nothing else.

For the Eagles, however, it is a very different scenario. They have lost TO, who just happens to have most of their receptions this year. McNabb should be working on his timing with other receivers and the coaches should be experimenting with options to help make up for the loss of Owens. If Andy Reid takes another game off this week, it will mean the Eagles will return to the field for their first playoff game after not playing hard for 4 weeks. That is an entire month!! And they'll be doing it without the league's (possible) MVP.

It will be interesting to see how the Steelers' and Patriots' performances compare to the Eagles' and Falcons', who are also resting players this week. Both Pittsburgh and New England were playing all-out until this weekend. They should both be pretty sharp when they take the field in the post-season.

Finally, it is tempting to say that the Eagles and Falcons will not have a good team to challenge them in their first playoff games. The NFC has been persistently pathetic all season! But take a look at how Carolina has played recently! Atlanta should know better then to take them for granted. Green Bay has not played their best ball recently, but they have the offense (and Favre) that can beat anyone in a close game.

Philly could pay for the long rest-period with another disappointing exit from the playoffs. On the other hand, the banged up defense could heal up and come out playing great football. Intelligent people can disagree, but it always gets settled on the field. Only time will tell who is right.