The Colts and the Saints: when will they lose a game?

[BRM]

And the scenario you lay out above - where a team that probably doesn't deserve to be in the post-season, but will probably make it simply because a team will "lay down" for them in the final two weeks - how is that good for football?

Again... I'm sure the fans of that team will love it; but what about the fans of a team fighting/competing for that same post-season spot, but are not in the fortunate position of playing a team where the opposition is laying down? Is that other team getting an unfair advantage because the oppostion is sitting their star players?

Some may contend - "Well, that's football". True; but the point raised is... is it good for the game?

It turns some late-season games into exhibitions. Tryouts for 2nd and 3rd stringers basically. No, it's not good for the game but what can be done? No way the league mandates teams play their starters. Owners would throw a fit. Besides, teams would just get creative with the Injury Report and keep their stars out anyway. The Jets get a gift this year so their fans should be thankful. It's just the way it is in the NFL.

[Razor Shines]

I didn't. I blamed it on the fact that nobody could tackle Darren Sproles, and no amount of "sit or no sit" is going to change that.

True, I don't know how much it affects the defense, if any. But the offense looked very out of sync, as it always seems to after they do the rest the starters thing at the end of the year.

[BRM]

Here's Jerome Bettis' perspective.

From the NFL's perspective, there is something wrong with the system when over the final two weeks of the season the Jets have to go through backup quarterbacks Curtis Painter and J.T. O'Sullivan to make the playoffs. Winning two games at the end of the year to get to the playoffs is supposed to be harder than that.

To a degree, they get the luck of the draw. But I will say that the Colts and Bengals of the world have earned the right to play these games a certain way. You cannot knock what they've done. The Bengals swept Baltimore and Pittsburgh. If they want to pull their front-line guys the final week, they've earned the right. I can't be mad at them for what they're doing.

But in the spirit of football, I would hope they would play their best players and the Colts would have done something different.

I did think it was revealing how Peyton Manning handled coming out of the game, the week after Brett Favre and Brad Childress had their sideline disagreement.

If that were me in Manning's shoes, I'm disappointed. I would want to do a little more and then maybe come out of the game. My competitive spirit would want to score another touchdown and win the game.

You knew Peyton was going to play it the way he did, because he said would play it that way. He didn't say anything. He didn't argue. But you saw the competitive spirit of the guy. You can appreciate it both ways. He understands the importance of resting and not getting hurt, but that spirit inside of him wanted to keep going and win the game.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...html?eref=sihp

[Razor Shines]

Here's Jerome Bettis' perspective.



http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...html?eref=sihp

Wait, I thought Tedy Bruschi saw that Peyton didn't want to play?

[BRM]

Wait, I thought Tedy Bruschi saw that Peyton didn't want to play?

Bruschi clearly didn't watch the same game the rest of us did.

[Captain Hook]

So if it's the last week of the season and the Reds have the best record in the NL (far-fetched I know) and Cueto is pitching a perfect game going into the ninth and the manager pulls him because he has pitched 100 pitches and want to prevent an injury, you're not disappointed? You won't wonder "what if"?

Or let's say the Orioles were heading into the playoffs and the manager decided to rest Cal Ripken Jr. after game 2100. As a fan you're not disappointed?

You can question my priorities as a fan all you want, but when I watch sports I hope to see something special. I want to see something I haven't seen before. That doesn't mean a championship isn't what I want to see more than anything else.

In the Cueto scenario I wouldn't mind one bit.It's likely that he wouldn't pitch pass the 6th if the team had nothing further to accomplish in the regular season.Sure I would wonder what if but I wouldn't blame the Reds.

In the Ripken scenario he would play the required innings to keep the streak alive then he would sit.

It's also not like 300 lb monsters are trying to rip Cueto or Ripkens head off.The NFL is an extremely violent sport and anytime you can sit your star player when there is nothing on the line for your team you should do it.

[Donder]

In the Cueto scenario I wouldn't mind one bit.It's likely that he wouldn't pitch pass the 6th if the team had nothing further to accomplish in the regular season.Sure I would wonder what if but I wouldn't blame the Reds.

In the Ripken scenario he would play the required innings to keep the streak alive then he would sit.

It's also not like 300 lb monsters are trying to rip Cueto or Ripkens head off.The NFL is an extremely violent sport and anytime you can sit your star player when there is nothing on the line for your team you should do it.

I guess we'll just disagree. I understand that an injury could happen, sure, but with guys like Manning, Clark, and Wayne who never get injured it just seems like the risk isn't that great. Some people talk like an injury was inevitable if the starters stayed in. I just don't see that being so highly probable.

[blumj]

Wait, I thought Tedy Bruschi saw that Peyton didn't want to play?

I loved Bruschi as a player, but, I have to admit, not so much in his new job. The sad thing is that he's so close to this topic that he doesn't need to try to get into other players' heads and try to read body language and garbage like that, he could tell us honestly exactly what it would have felt like to him if the Pats had made the same choice at 14-0 in '07. And he doesn't.

[traderumor]

I guess we'll just disagree. I understand that an injury could happen, sure, but with guys like Manning, Clark, and Wayne who never get injured it just seems like the risk isn't that great. Some people talk like an injury was inevitable if the starters stayed in. I just don't see that being so highly probable.

My house hasn't caught on fire ever either, but I still pay my insurance just in case it does.

[blumj]

I think that there just isn't a lot of middle ground to be found in between seeing going undefeated as a major historic accomplishment or a meaningless record.

[redsfanmia]

I guess we'll just disagree. I understand that an injury could happen, sure, but with guys like Manning, Clark, and Wayne who never get injured it just seems like the risk isn't that great. Some people talk like an injury was inevitable if the starters stayed in. I just don't see that being so highly probable.

Wayne is nursing a foot injury and Dallas Clark is injury prone and takes some big hits. I was upset at first but am now fine with the decision.

[BRM]

Wayne is nursing a foot injury and Dallas Clark is injury prone and takes some big hits. I was upset at first but am now fine with the decision.

I'm fine with it only because I knew it was coming. I never believed Caldwell was going to "go for broke" concerning the undefeated season. Resting starters has never helped the Colts before but I sure hope it does this time around.

[gilpdawg]

In the Cueto scenario I wouldn't mind one bit.It's likely that he wouldn't pitch pass the 6th if the team had nothing further to accomplish in the regular season.Sure I would wonder what if but I wouldn't blame the Reds.

In the Ripken scenario he would play the required innings to keep the streak alive then he would sit.

It's also not like 300 lb monsters are trying to rip Cueto or Ripkens head off.The NFL is an extremely violent sport and anytime you can sit your star player when there is nothing on the line for your team you should do it.

Happened in 1975. The Vida Blue/bunch of other guys combined no-hitter on last weekend of the season. They pulled Blue so he would get extra rest before the ALCS.

[blumj]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ion/index.html

Posnanski:

The point, again, is I was prepared to not care at all if the Colts rested their starters in order to prepare for the playoffs. I felt sure that I was burned out on perfection.

And then they pulled Manning and the first-team guys, and a funny thing happened. Suddenly, inexplicably, I was furious. I yelled at the television. All of those feelings I had so clearly drawn up in my mind went out the window. It was one thing, in theory, to say that the Colts owed it to themselves to play it smart and do what they felt they had to do in order to make a Super Bowl run.

But it was quite another thing to watch an undefeated team pull its starters and throw a game against the New York Jets. I know what I WANTED to feel. But what I DID feel was that the Colts had spit in the eye of history. What I DID feel was that that Colts had cheated their fans and football fans. What I DID feel was that the Colts had cheated themselves.

You could see it on the faces of the players, too. They did not want to lost their undefeated streak this way. They KNEW that it was wrong to lose from the sidelines--they just knew it. Football players only have so many games. Football teams only have so many chances to do something memorable. Everyone in football only has so many shots at writing sports history. Laugh at the '72 Dolphins if you like, but here they are, 37 years later, and you know who they are, you know they went undefeated. They are men in later life who once a year get the chance to toast...themselves.