Do Great Teams Rest their Important Players When the Playoffs are Wrapped Up?

First off, I’ve never really heard of a team resting its starting quarterback before Week 16, let alone Week 11. I don’t know if it was your thought to start resting a lot of these players now, but we need to do everything we can to win games. If we’re up 35 – 0 in the third then, sure, throw Kaep or Tolzien in there; but otherwise Smith needs to play. And that time on the field WILL help him build chemistry and confidence with his receivers more than just practicing would.

This team honestly needs all the game-time experience it can get heading into its first post-season.

As for Gore, I agree that giving him a game off here or there is a fantastic idea because I feel more than confident in Hunter’s ability to carry the load; with Dixon getting his share of touches behind him. But you can’t just give your starting quarterback a game off until its Week 16 or 17 and there’s absolutely nothing left to play for (which likely won’t be the case for us, because we’ll still be in the hunt for the #1 seed).

And I would actually like to propose something else. We do our best to rest starters in late game situations, sure; but we do everything we can to win every game. This way we force Green Bay to start Raji; we force them to keep their starters in the game all season long, all the way into Week 17. They won’t be able to pull Rodgers out even once. What if they lose to the Giants, or Bears, or Lions?

We keep our foot on the pedal and let the Packers know: one slip up, and that #1 seed goes to us.

On the whole I agree with the sentiment of your post. Resting a couple players here or there in the right situation is a good idea. But, for the most part, I really think we just need to keep our foot on the gas and keep hammering away. There’s a lot to be said for resting starters, but there’s also a lot to be said for momentum. We want these guys playing every game hard and for 60 minutes, not getting the idea that they can take a game off because January is more important than this Sunday.

If you get me.

Sitting Gore vs giving him 15 carries
Sitting Smith vs mixing in some plays/series for Kaep

Players with nagging injuries should rest in almost all cases to come back 100% (i.e McDonald type injury if it was later in season, even now he should rest until 100% and play the last 3-4 games).

Unless that player has a nagging injury they need to heal up from. Competitors want to win every single game in front of them.

Smith (A) no. He isn’t injured. His protection is getting better and better. He’s the team leader so he has to play and wants to play.

Smith (J) won’t. Helluva a consecutive game streak going.

MacD yes. His hammy needs as much rest as it can get.

FWIW I’m talking starting. If we’re up 4 TDs I can see giving some backups some PT including Kaep.

and I think we are getting a little ahead of ourselves. I agree with some of these suggestions.

However, if everything goes as well as everybody is assuming, then the 49ers are going to get rest because they are going to have a bye. If they are far enough ahead to rest people then they are far enough ahead to get the 1st round bye.

I think the 49ers should mix in more Kendall Hunter with Frank anyway.

Alex’s arm shouldn’t be tired. Hasn’t the whole concern this year been that he hasn’t been throwing enough. So I don’t think that rest should be a concern for him at all.

Yes the some guys on the D could use some rest and that is the benefit of getting the bye.

But hell yes we should be resting Gore. I can’t believe we gave him close to 25 carries today.

If however we end up becoming the clear cut #2 seed we can afford to give the starters an extra week of rest after Pittsburgh and then have all our starters roll for the last week of the season to stay sharp. So we get 2 weeks of rest in 3 weeks but not 2 in a row.

And the only answer is:

Who knows?

Teams have rested players and WON/LOST. Teams have played players and WON/LOST. People point the finger screaming “See?!! See?!!” and second guess when either scenario doesn’t work out for their team, but there is no real answer to this question.

Couple of years ago, in fact, the Colts and Saints BOTH rested players to close the year. Saints LOST 3 straight and WON the Super Bowl, Colts lost their perfect season but at least GOT to the Super Bowl.

How often has a team LOST in the playoffs after resting players then vowed NEVER to do that again? As if resting players was AUTOMATICALLY the reason they were beat… Personally, I would simply play each game normally until the #1 seed (or the highest seed your team can potentially secure) is achieved. And that will typically take teams to week 16 or 17 anyway, so the overall question is moot.

But our playoff position won’t be set for a while yet. If Green Bay loses, we might be playing in the final week of the season with a shot at home field advantage throughout the playoffs. If they don’t, then we’re currently two games ahead of New Orleans for the second seed (which is a huge advantage: a bye week and HFA in the divisional round). If we were to drop one more game this season then we could conceivably enter the final game having to to earn the bye week.

Of course, we might not. It’s possible we could have the #2 seed locked up by that final week. In which case I’d like to see Smith and Gore play for at least a couple of series to stay sharp, and then bring in the backups.

What if Alex Smith gets crushed in the pocket trying to throw the ball? No matter, it’s just Alex.
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Should we rest Alex Smith for the playoffs? Wait. Read that one slowly back to your self.

Should we rest Alex Smith for the PLAYOFFS?

Insanity.