[BigBlueBobcatFan]

I just got done watching the first half of the Bengals and Jets. It makes me sick at the way things transpired for instance the Jets needed to win their last two games to make it to the playoffs they played and beat the undefeated Colts in Indy but you have to wonder if the Colts had not rested nobody there is no way they beat the Colts in Indy, and tonight if the Bengals would have played to their potential instead of worrying about getting anyone hurt there is no way the Jets beat them, All i am trying to say is that I would rather see a Houston team that beat the Patriots with the Patriots actually trying, in the playoffs than the Jets, Houston needed to win and for Denver and NY Jets to lose well Denver got destroyed by the Chiefs and the Jets got a game handed to them it is not fair......Houston played their way into the playoffs but will not get to go because the Jets did not win their games they just had to show up and play because the Colts and bengals laid down and gave them the "W" and if you can catch the second half of the Jets and Bengals and watch the Jets players they are to stupid to realize that the Bengals are giving them the game but every time they get a first down or score or come up with a good defensive play they celebrate like they are the best or they have won the super bowl it just gets on my nerves bad....The Jets Will Lose Their 1st round playoff game and badly, HOUSTON was more deserving IMO

[MSU Eagle]

I know it may not be fair to sometimes, but really, that's just tough luck for them. The teams that clinch playoff births have earned the RIGHT to rest their players. The other teams only have themselves to blame for not clinching their playoff birth. The teams have earned the RIGHT to prepare to win in the playoffs, whatever that may mean.

This year, for example, the Colts earned the right to do whatever they felt would help them in the playoffs, because they went 14-0. And the Bengals earned the right to do whatever because they clinched the division. Yes, the Jets did get lucky, but that's just one of those thing that happens. Houston certainly can't blame the Colts or Bengals for them not making it to the playoffs, they can go back to 7 games and say "we should have won that" (one of those games is a LOSS to the JETS).

Sure this creates some disappointment to the fans, but you cannot make another team put their starters in jeopardy of injury when they don't want to. Or like tonight, they cannot make the Bengals bring their "A" gameplan when they don't want to.

[PC_You_Know]

Anyone have any idea how much money it cost people in fantasy football when Peyton Manning was benched the last two games? Me neither. But I would guess A LOT!

[outdoorsman43]

I'm just glad Pittsburgh didn't get in. Oh how I hate the Steelers and their stupid Terrible Towels.

[HAIL PIKEVILLE!]

From a fans perspective IMO some of these teams should give their fans a refund for these games where they sit their starters. Just let me give you a hypothetical. Lets just say there is a guy in Indianapolis who works hard all the time and wants to do something nice for his son who is an avid Colts fan. He able to buy some tickets to a game off a freind and wants to surprise his son with tickets to a Colts game. This kid had never been to a game before and was all geeked up to watch his undefeated Colts take on the New York Jets in their run to perfection. The boy is even more fired up when his beloved Colts take an early 15-0 lead on the Jets. The boy and his father are so excited that they might be able to say that they got to watch the undefeated '09 Colts play on their way to join the '72 Dolphins. But then the coach pulls out all the starters and puts in the 2nd Team, 3rd Team, Practice Squad, and an Indy High School All-Star team to finish the game. How disappointed that little boy must have been when his Colts or more appropriately a glorified Semi-Pro team wearing Colts uniforms blow the game while Peyton and Company watch on the sidelines. In these economic times the teams owe it to their fans to put the best product on the field no matter what theyve clinched or how "meaningless" the game may be.

[THOMCAT]

They interviewed the commissioner Sunday about this situation. He said teams should not be penalized for resting their starters, however they were looking at senerios to reward teams for not resting their starters and used the example of extra draft picks. If he means that the Colts would get an extra pick for not resting players against the Jets and so on, talk about a screwed up mess that could be.

[Midee1]

From a fans perspective IMO some of these teams should give their fans a refund for these games where they sit their starters. Just let me give you a hypothetical. Lets just say there is a guy in Indianapolis who works hard all the time and wants to do something nice for his son who is an avid Colts fan. He able to buy some tickets to a game off a freind and wants to surprise his son with tickets to a Colts game. This kid had never been to a game before and was all geeked up to watch his undefeated Colts take on the New York Jets in their run to perfection. The boy is even more fired up when his beloved Colts take an early 15-0 lead on the Jets. The boy and his father are so excited that they might be able to say that they got to watch the undefeated '09 Colts play on their way to join the '72 Dolphins. But then the coach pulls out all the starters and puts in the 2nd Team, 3rd Team, Practice Squad, and an Indy High School All-Star team to finish the game. How disappointed that little boy must have been when his Colts or more appropriately a glorified Semi-Pro team wearing Colts uniforms blow the game while Peyton and Company watch on the sidelines. In these economic times the teams owe it to their fans to put the best product on the field no matter what theyve clinched or how "meaningless" the game may be.

I sort of lived the same scenario yesterday. The family got together to get me tickets and room to go to Charlotte to see my Saints play the final regular season game because I have followed them for years and have never attended a professional football game. To my dismay I work up yesterday morning and checked the roster to find out that Brees had been benched along with Shockey and Sharper. I enjoyed the game and the experience but would have rather watched the entire team play. Brunell played horrible but I would suspect that it was because he has not played one game all year.

[Stardust]

This is just too easy to say you are against it considering what happened to Welker and and the Indy loss. It's cheating the fan who has to pay full price for this ticket and that is the biggest issue to me. As for resting players, I have no other issue with it at all. I'm going to do it in Travel baseball so why would I know expect profsionals to do it either.

[BigBlueBobcatFan]

to me if an injury happens it happens it don't matter if they are playing a meaningless game or walking to the gatorade cooler thats just something that happens, take wes welker for instance nobody touched him and he was injured but you'll say well he should have not been in there, but resting a player gets him mentally away from the game IMO they get stiff and have too much time too think about what they are going to do instead of just doing it. Peyton Manning had a lot of time on his hands to realize that Curtis Painter could not throw the football in the ocean standing on the peir so he will have to carry his team, now knowing this he will have that on his mind for instance when he sees a angry line backer coming at him he will be worried about getting rid of the ball or falling not to get hurt....same with the saints without brees over the weekend Brunell cant win for the saints...

[phoeniXX]

I really don't believe in benching or resting players for the whole game. I can't believe they would sit the great players for the whole game because thats what the fans come to see.
If a team has already made the playoffs, I think they should play at least one quarter or half, just for the fans. Also, not playing for a few games can throw off timing, and in the NFL, timing is just about everything when throwing the football. And doing it in practice is nothing like throwing in game speed. But I still believe they should play for the fans who pay to watch. We can't blame the players, these choices are made by the coach. I also can understand the coaches point as well. But play some for the people who pay..
Its unfortunate what happened to Welker yesterday, but I don't believe he would have wanted to be on the bench watching.

[BigBlueBobcatFan]

From a fans perspective IMO some of these teams should give their fans a refund for these games where they sit their starters. Just let me give you a hypothetical. Lets just say there is a guy in Indianapolis who works hard all the time and wants to do something nice for his son who is an avid Colts fan. He able to buy some tickets to a game off a freind and wants to surprise his son with tickets to a Colts game. This kid had never been to a game before and was all geeked up to watch his undefeated Colts take on the New York Jets in their run to perfection. The boy is even more fired up when his beloved Colts take an early 15-0 lead on the Jets. The boy and his father are so excited that they might be able to say that they got to watch the undefeated '09 Colts play on their way to join the '72 Dolphins. But then the coach pulls out all the starters and puts in the 2nd Team, 3rd Team, Practice Squad, and an Indy High School All-Star team to finish the game. How disappointed that little boy must have been when his Colts or more appropriately a glorified Semi-Pro team wearing Colts uniforms blow the game while Peyton and Company watch on the sidelines. In these economic times the teams owe it to their fans to put the best product on the field no matter what theyve clinched or how "meaningless" the game may be.

great point i would be really mad if i paid good money for good seats and didn't get to watch Manning, Addai, Wayne, Garcon, Collie, Clark and had to settle for Painter, Brown, Brackett, and even Santie the TE
Brown is a good back though or will be in a few years still would rather to see Addai

[TidesHoss32]

I'm just glad Pittsburgh didn't get in. Oh how I hate the Steelers and their stupid Terrible Towels.

Oh we'll be back next year, friend. The reckoning will take begin with game one, and it wont end until SB 45 is over. Promise that. All of you Steeler haters that had your prayers answered this year, with every last minute loss myself and other true Steelers fans had to deal with, are going to pay up next season. Enjoy your one and done Cincy. Enjoy being the worst playoff team in recent memory Jets. Enjoy going 14-2 and not making the superbowl like every season Indy. Enjoy sucking at life Patriot fans, with your marginally more popular than the devil head coach. Enjoy going to the playoffs knowing you havent beaten the Steelers in a hundred years San Diego. You better make this one count, because if you get in the way next eseason, your gonna take your annual beating and be done. Enjoy being "Steeler wannabes", only your not likeable Baltimore. Enjoy the playoffs AFC, because all of you know that this entire season was a fluke. A Steeler defense that gives up 20 points per game, six last minute losses, 2nd in the league in 4th quarter points allowed. All of that will be fixed next season...So throughout the playoffs, Go Packers!:redboxer::redboxer::redboxer::redboxer:

[MSU Eagle]

to me if an injury happens it happens it don't matter if they are playing a meaningless game or walking to the gatorade cooler thats just something that happens, take wes welker for instance nobody touched him and he was injured but you'll say well he should have not been in there, but resting a player gets him mentally away from the game IMO they get stiff and have too much time too think about what they are going to do instead of just doing it. Peyton Manning had a lot of time on his hands to realize that Curtis Painter could not throw the football in the ocean standing on the peir so he will have to carry his team, now knowing this he will have that on his mind for instance when he sees a angry line backer coming at him he will be worried about getting rid of the ball or falling not to get hurt....same with the saints without brees over the weekend Brunell cant win for the saints...

I don't really understand your argument. The majority of injuries happen when there is contact in a game. A player is MUCH more likely to get hurt if they play.

Answer this for me:

Would Jim Caldwell have recieved more criticism for benching Manning or for leaving him in there and him suffering a season-ending injury?

[TidesHoss32]

If my team is in the playoffs, and you dont have anything to play for, your seeding is set, then you rest them. No, as a fan, I dont like it at all, but as a fan of my team, I agree with it. I do think you give them reps to keep them from being rusty, but I think you rest them..I DONT think it helps though, when your team clinches with five weeks left and you keep them from getting reps. The Pittsburgh and Indy playoff game from '05 is a perfect example. Indy clinched with several weeks, and the starters hadnt played in three or four weeks, and the six seed Steelers whipped them. They should get reps, but just enough to keep their blood warm..

[Jarons]

From a fans perspective IMO some of these teams should give their fans a refund for these games where they sit their starters. Just let me give you a hypothetical. Lets just say there is a guy in Indianapolis who works hard all the time and wants to do something nice for his son who is an avid Colts fan. He able to buy some tickets to a game off a freind and wants to surprise his son with tickets to a Colts game. This kid had never been to a game before and was all geeked up to watch his undefeated Colts take on the New York Jets in their run to perfection. The boy is even more fired up when his beloved Colts take an early 15-0 lead on the Jets. The boy and his father are so excited that they might be able to say that they got to watch the undefeated '09 Colts play on their way to join the '72 Dolphins. But then the coach pulls out all the starters and puts in the 2nd Team, 3rd Team, Practice Squad, and an Indy High School All-Star team to finish the game. How disappointed that little boy must have been when his Colts or more appropriately a glorified Semi-Pro team wearing Colts uniforms blow the game while Peyton and Company watch on the sidelines. In these economic times the teams owe it to their fans to put the best product on the field no matter what theyve clinched or how "meaningless" the game may be.

One of the ministers at my church was at the Colts and Jets game. He was livid that he wasted his money to watch that game. He emailed the Colts' organization requesting his money back.

[Wildcatk23]

Bengals would rather play the jets than the steelers

[Jarons]

Anyone truly think the Jets are one of the 6 best teams in the AFC? At best they are the 8th team and probably the worst playoff team in history. They backed in because the Colts never learn their lesson rest everybody and lose the momentum they had built up and the Bengals, for whatever reason, did not play hard to build momentum. Tide Hoss mentioned 05, you can add 04, 07, 08 as other seasons where the colts laid down and choked in the playoffs because they cannot turn it on. As much as I dislike the Ravens, at least they earned their playoff bid.

[HAIL PIKEVILLE!]

If my team is in the playoffs, and you dont have anything to play for, your seeding is set, then you rest them. No, as a fan, I dont like it at all, but as a fan of my team, I agree with it. I do think you give them reps to keep them from being rusty, but I think you rest them..I DONT think it helps though, when your team clinches with five weeks left and you keep them from getting reps. The Pittsburgh and Indy playoff game from '05 is a perfect example. Indy clinched with several weeks, and the starters hadnt played in three or four weeks, and the six seed Steelers whipped them. They should get reps, but just enough to keep their blood warm..

If youll remember Hoss. Last year the Steelers already had the division and the first round Bye wrapped up when they played the Browns in the regular season finale and Tomlin didnt sit anyone out till late in the game with The Steelers already up big.

[back_in_black]

If u rest starters u open up oportunities 4 undeserving teams who make it and other teams dont IMO

[Jarons]

Bengals would rather play the jets than the steelers

I think you are right

[Jarons]

If youll remember Hoss. Last year the Steelers already had the division and the first round Bye wrapped up when they played the Browns in the regular season finale and Tomlin didnt sit anyone out till late in the game with The Steelers already up big.

I was thinking about the Super Bowl Champions of the last 10 years or so. I do not remember any of them resting their starters until they had a huge lead in a meaningless game.

[Jarons]

If u rest starters u open up oportunities 4 undeserving teams who make it and other teams dont IMO

The Jets are in the playoffs is exactly what you are talking about. Houston and Pittsburgh are both better teams than the Jets. I am disappointed that the Steelers are not in the playoffs. I would be less disappointed all the teams in the playoffs are better than the Steelers or at least won two games against opponents playing their first teams instead of playing against players who should be selling popcorn.

[TidesHoss32]

If youll remember Hoss. Last year the Steelers already had the division and the first round Bye wrapped up when they played the Browns in the regular season finale and Tomlin didnt sit anyone out till late in the game with The Steelers already up big.

Well theres always a theory behind Tomlins madness though..our offense played flat for the most part of the entire year, but was really struggling late in the season..they clicked against Cleveland and carried that momentum into the playoffs..Tomlin wouldnt rest anybody for very long anyway because well, he's Mike Tomlin, the greatest coach in the NFL.

[TidesHoss32]

Anyone truly think the Jets are one of the 6 best teams in the AFC? At best they are the 8th team and probably the worst playoff team in history. They backed in because the Colts never learn their lesson rest everybody and lose the momentum they had built up and the Bengals, for whatever reason, did not play hard to build momentum. Tide Hoss mentioned 05, you can add 04, 07, 08 as other seasons where the colts laid down and choked in the playoffs because they cannot turn it on. As much as I dislike the Ravens, at least they earned their playoff bid.

You are exactly right, but the 05 Colts wrapped their division up in like week 12, 13 or something ridiculous like that, so the starters rarely played for 5 weeks and got rusty. The Steelers had to play their way into the playoffs and carried that momentum through Cincinatti and past the Colts who had a first round bye. Thats the big negative with resting players..yeah, I think the Colts will get beat this year too. This is San Diego's year in the AFC..Chargers and Vikings in the Superbowl, although Im pullin for the Packers

[bigjim4packers]

I hate it, that the Steelers didn't get in. My boy took it pretty hard. I'm a Big Ben, Polamalu fan.
On the topic I think resting a player an entire game cheats the fan that buys the ticket.
They should at least play the first half.
I think it hurt the colts when they had a chance to make history and didn't. I could tell by the look on the players faces they wanted an undefeated season. I don't see how taking that away from them will help them in the playoffs.

[eagle dad 2014]

I hate it, that the Steelers didn't get in. My boy took it pretty hard. I'm a Big Ben, Polamalu fan.
On the topic I think resting a player an entire game cheats the fan that buys the ticket.
They should at least play the first half.
I think it hurt the colts when they had a chance to make history and didn't. I could tell by the look on the players faces they wanted an undefeated season. I don't see how taking that away from them will help them in the playoffs.

Bottom line is that the team big dogs know that the coach is resting players. The ticket prices should reflect that. On the other hand, Manning goes down, Pointer takes you to the Playoffs, Colts loose! As a fan, I say let them play, roll the dice, take the cards that are dealt you, ect. I'm tired of the 72 Dolphins.:zzz:

[Belfry0304]

Yes, rest 'em. As a fan you should be aware when buying tickets for late season games this could happen, and as a fan of the Tampa Bay Bucs it'll be a while before I worry about us resting starters for the playoffs, but I think as a fan I'd rather my big players like Wes Welker or Chad Ochocinco be healthy leading my team to a Super Bowl then entertaining me in Week 17.

[BigBlueBobcatFan]

If u rest starters u open up oportunities 4 undeserving teams who make it and other teams dont IMO

thats right as the case that the Texans deserved it more than the Jets, the jets had to teams lay down for them, resting players is just gutless football

[BigBlueBobcatFan]

I don't really understand your argument. The majority of injuries happen when there is contact in a game. A player is MUCH more likely to get hurt if they play.

Answer this for me:

Would Jim Caldwell have recieved more criticism for benching Manning or for leaving him in there and him suffering a season-ending injury?

of course for him getting the injury but he had played 14 or 15 games barley getting touched by a defender, so I guess they will rest their starters at practice too resting players are stupid< I guarantee they will lose their 1st game because Peyton had not played in 3 weeks besides walking up and down the sidelines watching Curtis Painter lose games for them.

[MSU Eagle]

of course for him getting the injury but he had played 14 or 15 games barley getting touched by a defender, so I guess they will rest their starters at practice too resting players are stupid< I guarantee they will lose their 1st game because Peyton had not played in 3 weeks besides walking up and down the sidelines watching Curtis Painter lose games for them.

I agree that in this situation, resting the starters was too early, and they probably will lose their first game.

But look at a team like the Bengals. They are very banged up going into the playoffs, why let that possibly get worse? They don't get a bye week, so they kind of used last week as that bye week, which they needed. As a Bengals fan, I like to see that, instead of them leaving key guys like ochocinco and palmer in there to get hurt. And benson didn't play at all.

As far as the Texans not gettin in, they can only blame themselves. Yes, the Jets got lucky, but there are 7 games on their schedule that they can look back and say "we should have won that."