To Rest, Or Not To Rest. That is the Question.

Now to answer you question. The choice should not be either or. There are times in a game when you can obviously take your starters out and coast to a victory. If the game starts getting a little shakey, back in they go.

Start your starters because one of ’em has that last coffin nail in his pants! When the last nail is driven, bring in the grave diggers!

Then head for the French Quarter, of course.

How do you define that? I define it, “given a three-touchdown lead in the first half against the Panthers, should Mark Brunell Jeff Charleston and Usama Young and Courtney Roby play the second half?” And the answer is “yes.”

If the game is tight and the outcome in doubt? Starters stay in. 16-0.

What time is it in Okinawa, JND? 8 in the evening?

We have some starters (eg. Reggie Bush) who are only good for like 2 games. Keep their action pretty limited. Same with people like Greer and Porter. We need those guys in the flow but we want to keep their action limited. They are already beat up. The coaching staff has done a great job up to this point so there’s not a lot of reason to change things up.

I remember when the Bobby Hebert – Dome Patrol Saints did really well. They rested players after clinching. It was painful to watch and we lost momentum.

So I think we need to rest, but not much.

If you do not rest and a key player gets injured, then you will never hear the end of it.
For the saints, it would be great for them to go undefeated and win the Superbowl.
However, there is a reason why only one team has done this.
Sometimes fans need to settle for 2nd best. 2nd best meaning a superbowl would not be a bad gig.

If you do rest, but loose a playoff game, at least you were smart about it.
I hope, Benson, Lommis, and Payton do not get too greedy, or lose sight of the bigger picture, and that is a superbowl.

What would the football world say if the Saints, went 19-0 then lost the superbowl?

What would the football world say if the Saints, went 14-2 or 15-1 and won the superbowl?
.
I believe it is time for NO to have a superbowl ring, but both the Saints, and fans need to take one step at a time.

Winning the Superbowl is the ultimate prize.

They rested their main starters and I felt when the playoffs came around they look pretty flat. Of course if we are up by 4 touchdowns in the remaining games then rest the starters, but I think each of them should at least have to play the first half of the remaining games. If you have a player like greer who is still hurt then definitely rest him, but I hate to have him come into a big game when he has been out for awhile. I feel the player might be rusty, but then again these players are playing against the best defense and offense in practice everyday.

not even letting them start a “meaningless” game (or pulling them after the first drive).

I was against holding starters out in 2006, and I’m against it now…

It goes contrary to Payton’s style and contrary to what got us here in the first place

treat every game like it’s the only one on the schedule…I’d rather lose to a fluke injury than come out flat and uninspired and rusty with starters that haven’t played in over a month.

…run over every opponent like an armadillo in the middle of I-55 at 2 am driving back to your dorm at SLU after an all-night bender in the Quarter!!!!

…whoops…sorry, flashed back to college there for a moment…

;-)

The real answer has already been put up in the first post to this thread:

Start your starters, once the game is “in hand” (definition, “no way in hell they can catch up in the time left”) put the backups in to get them a bit of game time experience.

If that time doesn’t come, keep the starters in and going forward.

I’ve seen too many teams “rest the starters” after clinching a spot in the playoffs and then come in flat.

The Saints need to hit the pavement with the wheels spinning when playoff time comes – NO PRISONERS, NO SURVIVORS!!!!

Holy bejeeeeeez. That would be someone’s final words!

The good Lord knows we need everyone healthy. When you have nothing left to achieve, why take that chance. I say let the starters go for a quarter, then pull’em.

Some of your finest work Dave – “The Datfields and McColts”. I love it !!

Random reasons:

Players have incentives built into contracts (sacks, TD’s, tackles, etc.), they naturally want to play.

We’re already assured (practically) a week One bye. That’s plenty of time for them to cycle down a bit and recover from any fatigue.

Rhythm. The group is playing at a high level. Plus, we can use this time to experiment with player packages/designs which will only add to the film study of the other team. Throwing off potential tendencies we’ve shown.

The invincibility cloak. The players think they’re wearing one….why take it off?

Here are words of the Falcoholic, himself:

Play hard
Always.

The prudent thing might be to bench starters, but I’m a firm believer that you should go out and try to win every game. Losing on purpose sends the wrong message to players and to fans alike in my mind, so even if they could move up a couple spots in the draft with a loss, I’d never root for it. Just ain’t in my nature.

I’d start anyone who was a.) 100% healthy and b.) started the prior week. If someone like Tracy Porter was ready to come back in Week 17, he wouldn’t play. He can shake off the rust over the bye week. Anyone nursing strains and sprains would be held out. Otherwise, full-tilt boogie.

Because you can bet Vikes,Zona,Cowboys or whoever is coming to town to play the Super Saints are gonna be ready for a knock down drag out.Get the bye. then we rest.

Play the 100% healthy ones for at least the first half and rest those who are a little nicked up. I’d rather they go for 16-0. Just protect Brees at all costs and hope no one rolls up on the leg of a lineman.

I don’t know that the Manning Era Colts rested their players every year heading into the playoffs, but with 3 Wild Card game losses, 4 Divisional Game losses, 1 AFC Championship loss, and 1 Super Bowl win, if they did then I think I’d prefer to just keep on keepin’ on. Here are the games:

Jan. 3, 2009 – AFC Wild Card – San Diego 23, Indianapolis 17 (OT)
Jan. 13, 2008 – AFC Divisional – San Diego 28, Indianapolis 24
Feb. 4, 2007 – Super Bowl XLI – Indianapolis 29, Chicago 17
Jan. 15, 2006 – AFC Divisional – Pittsburgh 21, Indianapolis 18
Jan. 16, 2005 – AFC Divisional – New England 20, Indianapolis 3
Jan. 18, 2004 – AFC Championship – New England 24, Indianapolis 14
Jan. 4, 2003 – AFC Wild Card – Jets 41, Indianapolis 0
Dec. 30, 2000 – AFC Wild Card – Miami 23, Indianapolis 17 (OT)
Jan 16, 2000 – AFC Divisional – Tennessee 19, Indianapolis 16

Rest is for the Bye Week. and the offseason.

 Seriously, more than 1 week off disrupts everything. If Saints lost one before then and if Saints locked up home field already, pull the starters in 2nd quarter or half of the game at Carolina. Plenty of rest on wild card weekend.

 Plus I and my brother-in-law have tickets to the Tampa game and I want to see a whoopin’

I always think from the perspective of the fan. Now say you got some hard working cat who can only get off work to go to one game he does the tailgate thing, buys his overpriced beer, buys a bunch mo stuff spending money he should be paying on a bill, gets to his seat and no Brees, no Thomas, no Sharper, no Colston. Come on now, that’s just WRONG!!
Agree with Mtn, hey we get a big lead on em quick, yeah sit em. But We play to win the game. And the Cajun Airmail must be delivered on time! This Team This Year.

But it does seem that throughout the last few weeks certain players have missed games due to injury but were back the next week. Maybe SP is doing some in season resting? Lance Moore should be ready to this week or next week……

Why not rest a few guys at the end of a blow out? That would make all parties happy? Would it not?

Being a former fighter, if you want the championship belt, you gotta fight. You can’t take time off. Screw that… Beat everyone with a knock-out punch. Send a message that we aren’t messing around.

Saints fan forever!

Recently on ESPN, Ditka said “dem Saints are a lot better than my Saints were” as a lead-in to his opinion that the Saints should go for the knock out punch and keep the pedal to the metal. If you’re like me, there’s a strong argument for doing the opposite of whatever Ditka thinks we should do. However, he did make a pretty good point when he said “Do you think an olympic runner who had a shot at breaking the world record would slow down because he knew he was going to win the race anyway?”

I think it messes up rhythm for the players. The Colts always rest their players. They almost always go out in their first game but sometimes make it to the second. Why did their players need rest? Peyton and crew were in rhythm and in sync, throwing up tons of points on ppl. Playoffs come and they can’t get over 17 hardly. Sure, no injuries for the starters but what does it matter if you’re out of sync and 1 and done in the playoffs? Don’t get me wrong, I think that they should have rested their players for some of those game but they hadn’t locked up HFA before they were benching ppl. In our case, we need to play against these teams that shouldn’t pose a threat and we could possibly blow out. In the TB and Carolina game I’d like to see our starters in at least the 1st half and if we have a good lead, pull some of them but not all. Pull ppl like Drew and PT, probably Henderson and Colston too. These are some of our best players on offense that have capable backups. On defense, pull Smith and Grant, Vilma and Shanle, and then Sharper and Harper. I say Smith, Grant, Vilma, and Harper because they’ve played almost every game and deserve a rest when they can get it. Sharper because he’s not 25 anymore and Usama is a more than capable backup. Also, we have McCray, Dunbar and Prioleau to back up these players. If Porter and Greer are healthy, play them the whole game and anyone else coming off injuries to get them back to game speed and condition. That way, we have all of our players rested yet up to speed on games. Also, blowing these teams out will have us clicking and riding high on confidence when we go into the playoffs.

But go for it. You are in a once-in-a-lifetime situation. You have a chance to seize a 16-0 season, and that’s something you can tell your kids and grandkids about for the remainder of your gumbo-infused days. Sean Payton is making the right choice.

Absolutely not! DO NOT rest the starters! This is the chance of a lifetime, a perfict season doesn’t happen very often, and if our Saints are able to get a perfict season, then by all means, GO FOR IT!!!!!!!! The way they have been playing the good teams this season, I really don’t think it will effect them in the post season. I’m thinking the way they have built this program they will have another shot at another Super Bowl title, but a perfict season is just like winning the lotto- you always hope it happens, of course, but, it’s just not something you can count on. They may never have another chance to have a perfict season. GEAUX SAINTS!!!!!!!!!

These guys are pumped up and there is no such thing in the NFL as coasting to victory, so let ‘em play. They can rest at the end of January after they win the Super Bowl.. Hell I doubt that the’ll get any sleep for 48 hours or so after the game. I know that I won’t..Saints kick ass……..