Medford Bronco
12-27-2007, 07:35 PM
To Rest or Start, That is the $64,000 Question
To start or sit is the question. The answer lies only with the coaches Wade Phillips, Tony Dungy, Jon Gruden, Bill Bellichek and Tom Coughlin. This is the time of the year that can be very frustrating to a lot of fans. When some teams seem to take the last game as a preseason contest and some others take it like they need it to make the playoffs. Haven’t coaches learned from the past years of mistakes and mishaps. The Broncos in 1996 clinched home field advantage with 3 weeks left in the regular season and then proceed to basically “rest up” for the playoffs by getting slaughtered at GB with no Elway playing, squeaking by an average Oakland team and then losing to an average Charger team to limp in at 2 out of 3 losses. Then the Broncos lost their edge and a huge game vs Jacksonville at Mile High when IMHO they were not in game mode for a long enough period of time in the last month of the season. You can not just turn intensity on when you want to.
The 2005 Indy Colts were undefeated at 13-0 and were cruising along and then all of a sudden lost to the Chargers but still had homefield advantage in the playoffs. They rested starters at Seattle, especially Peyton Manning, and got smoked. They barely beat a bad Arizona team 17-13 and then proceeded to lose at home to an upstart Pittsburgh team that had been in playoff mode since being 7-5.
The 2003 NE Patriots had nothing to play for the last week of the season at Home vs the Buffalo Bills. They played their starters into the 3rd Qtr and smoked the Bills 31-0 and in 2004 the same situation they had nothing to play for and beat SF 21-7. I think Bellichek handles these situations better than most coaches do. He plays the starters into the 2nd half and then pulls them in the 3rd Qtr, usually with the game in hand etc.
If I am the NY Giants I would want to potentially be a huge part of history and go hard vs NE this whole game. People are always going to remember who was the 16th victim in an undefeated season. I am not saying that the Giants can beat NE but they should at least try by letting Eli Manning go into the 3rd Qtr and not palying a very mediocre Jared Lorenzen, who looks more like a MLB than a QB. Go for a win Tom Coughlin and show guts, not turtle and give up history without even a fight. IF the Giants lose this game and then lose in the first round at Tampa, what will the point be in resting up, so you can lose when it counts. I thought the object is to win games, not "rest up". Just my personal feeling, it does not make it correct.
I feel that the Cowboys, Bucs, Colts, Pats and Giants should play their regulars at least a half and we all know that will not be the case for all of them. The Colts should learn from Denver and their own previous mishaps and at least play Manning a half and not mail it in like they did in 05 and 04 when at Denver, Manning played one series before departing for Jim Sorgi. Keep your team sharp and hope for no injury. Some will say that is not smart and I will counter that you can get injured at practice and not play scared
To start or sit is the question. The answer lies only with the coaches Wade Phillips, Tony Dungy, Jon Gruden, Bill Bellichek and Tom Coughlin. This is the time of the year that can be very frustrating to a lot of fans. When some teams seem to take the last game as a preseason contest and some others take it like they need it to make the playoffs. Haven’t coaches learned from the past years of mistakes and mishaps. The Broncos in 1996 clinched home field advantage with 3 weeks left in the regular season and then proceed to basically “rest up” for the playoffs by getting slaughtered at GB with no Elway playing, squeaking by an average Oakland team and then losing to an average Charger team to limp in at 2 out of 3 losses. Then the Broncos lost their edge and a huge game vs Jacksonville at Mile High when IMHO they were not in game mode for a long enough period of time in the last month of the season. You can not just turn intensity on when you want to.
The 2005 Indy Colts were undefeated at 13-0 and were cruising along and then all of a sudden lost to the Chargers but still had homefield advantage in the playoffs. They rested starters at Seattle, especially Peyton Manning, and got smoked. They barely beat a bad Arizona team 17-13 and then proceeded to lose at home to an upstart Pittsburgh team that had been in playoff mode since being 7-5.
The 2003 NE Patriots had nothing to play for the last week of the season at Home vs the Buffalo Bills. They played their starters into the 3rd Qtr and smoked the Bills 31-0 and in 2004 the same situation they had nothing to play for and beat SF 21-7. I think Bellichek handles these situations better than most coaches do. He plays the starters into the 2nd half and then pulls them in the 3rd Qtr, usually with the game in hand etc.
If I am the NY Giants I would want to potentially be a huge part of history and go hard vs NE this whole game. People are always going to remember who was the 16th victim in an undefeated season. I am not saying that the Giants can beat NE but they should at least try by letting Eli Manning go into the 3rd Qtr and not palying a very mediocre Jared Lorenzen, who looks more like a MLB than a QB. Go for a win Tom Coughlin and show guts, not turtle and give up history without even a fight. IF the Giants lose this game and then lose in the first round at Tampa, what will the point be in resting up, so you can lose when it counts. I thought the object is to win games, not "rest up". Just my personal feeling, it does not make it correct.
I feel that the Cowboys, Bucs, Colts, Pats and Giants should play their regulars at least a half and we all know that will not be the case for all of them. The Colts should learn from Denver and their own previous mishaps and at least play Manning a half and not mail it in like they did in 05 and 04 when at Denver, Manning played one series before departing for Jim Sorgi. Keep your team sharp and hope for no injury. Some will say that is not smart and I will counter that you can get injured at practice and not play scared