Maybe NEW Dolphins fans expected them in the playoffs if all they had to do was beat the Jets or Bills. None of my friends from South FL who are longtime fans are in the least bit surprised. This is what the Dolphins do. Trash team with a few random good wins. Tannehill sucks. Jay Fiedler was a better QB (srs). Not sure why Tannehill gets so much undeserved love from the media, other than his hot wife.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The Dolphins have declined Andy Reid's generous offer of a playoff berth.</p>— John Hollinger (@johnhollinger) <a href="https://twitter.com/johnhollinger/statuses/417400111056965632">December 29, 2013</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Would be even dumber to risk injuring Charles or even Alex Smith in a game that wouldn't change anything in regards to seeding. They're opening up on the road no matter what. Might as well give these guys some much needed rest (even if guys like Charles and Bowe are "healthy", they've likely got some nagging things... along with half the defense). Also, even if they play at Indy... there's very little track record that the regular season head-to-head result carries forward to the playoffs. Finally, remember that Andy Reid is a true baller after a "bye" week (minus losing to Peyton this year)... that's basically what he is going to treat this as.
Injured players should absolutely rest. But resting Smith and the entire defense is silly. This whole "rest" thing almost never works out in team's favors. Teams that do this tend to go into the playoffs and get their asses kicked - especially when they weren't on a roll in the first place. It would be different if they were playing well, but they are 2-4 in the last 6 games, with all 4 losses to AFC playoff teams (assuming SD wins).
The whole "get on a roll" thing doesn't really happen that often either... especially with just one meaningless game left. 2 of the past 5 Super Bowl winners entered the playoffs on even a worse "roll" than KC is (including Baltimore last year). I honestly don't feel KC is as good as the other playoff teams... they won a lot of games with an opportunistic defense that ended up being picked apart as the season went on. They also beat a lot of bad teams. At this point, getting all players as healthy as possible gives them a better chance to win vs. "momentum" over one game.
Yeah, but what if any number of players that play today for KC, get injured? You then head into the playoffs, and lose the first game. Now, your team wasn't at full strength, and now you're wondering "what if X wasn't injured? Wouldn't we have won?" I'd rather lose a game with all my players healthy than lose with a few key players out. There wouldn't be lingering doubts nor "what-if" questions throughout the offseason.
They are likely the worst playoff team and have shown no ability all season to beat good teams - they are almost certain to lose early in the playoffs as-is. I guess if your goal is to not suck as bad, then sure - resting players works. But if your goal is to get good, they have an opportunity to play against a playoff caliber team and not care about the results. They should use the game to experiment with offensive and defensive wrinkles in full game-speed, without having to worry if they work or not. You're looking at what could go wrong. I'm looking at what could go right. Given that they are already at the bottom end of playoff teams, their goal should be to try to give them the best chance to get better, rather than the least chance to get worse.
Going into the playoffs completely healthy gives them the best chance to get better... vs. throwing in new wrinkles in the last week of the season, when teams spend all summer and throughout the season implementing the things that work. If anything, save those "wrinkles" for the playoffs and don't give another team a chance to scout against them. Again, more teams have benefited from being healthy and having "rest" in NFL history than have benefitted from "getting on a roll" late in the season (or simply winning the last game). Hell, they're holding their own in this game thus far... and a win (with their backups) would give them even MORE momentum (if there is such a thing), than a meaningless win with their regular players.
They don't get better healthy - they get to be exactly what they've been all season, which is terrible against good teams. Status quo does nothing for the Chiefs. I agree - in KC's case, they should throw in new wrinkles in the playoffs because odds are they are going to lose next week. But coaches very rarely are going to add new things in the playoffs. They would be much more likely to use them if they had at least seen things work once or twice. Plus, it forces the other team to prepare for more potential possibilities, even if you don't use them. Do you have any evidence of this? No it wouldn't - because none of these guys will play most of the game next week. It's a whole different team playing. It's not like a win here would give Alex Smith or the starting defense any confidence.
this Steelers scenario is playing out nicely. needed 4 things to happen. Steelers win. Ravens lost. Miami lost. San Diego losing early.
It's been 15 games, prior to today's game. No team is going to wait until now to deviate from their offensive / defensive systems to try something new. Alex Smith is not on the level of Manning / Brady / Rodgers, and KC's receivers are not Gordon / Megatron / AJ Green. Andy Reid has done all he can with the offense he was given. Furthermore, they've had the same players for a while - it's not like they just signed a star player that brings something completely different to the team, in which they can experiment with that particular player. Why wouldn't you think about what could go wrong more than what could go right? Look at Von Miller - dude is one of DEN's best defensive players, and he was injured last week, rendering him out for the post season. Obviously, you think differently, but I would rather have all my players healthy than work on trick plays or different situations. Game speed is game speed, sure, but it's not like these players don't also practice throughout the week.
Why do you keep using the regular season as justification for how teams in the postseason will do? By your logic, the 1 seed from both conferences should face each other in every single superbowl. In the past 20 years, there were only two instances in which the 1 seed from both conferences played against each other. Anything can happen in one game.
They haven't been healthy... especially the defense... for some time now. Largely coincides with their recent struggles. Charles has been a work-horse the entire season... just a matter of time before he could get an injury. Rest would help them a ton. Stagger lee flashbacks. The Chiefs may or may not introduce new wrinkles... doesn't mean they should throw their starters out there in a meaningless game for them. here is some regular season analysis of players after bye weeks. http://espn.go.com/fantasy/football/story/_/id/9748736/qbs-home-d-sts-road-show-most-improvement-coming-bye-weeks And even though I hate bleacher report, this article from last year goes over this exact debate (rest vs. momentum), and finds in favor of rest/recovery. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1480729-nfl-playoffs-the-bye-week-advantage-in-divisional-round-playoff-games Unless there's an injury in the playoffs, and one of these guys has to step up. But, I'll tend to agree with you here... its a meaningless game altogether for the Chiefs that they don't need to be risking injury to their best players for. Momentum is so sparse in the NFL largely due to the high injury rate of the game... and it rarely translates (or needs too translate) from the regular season to the playoffs.
Nfl needs to create some sort of common sense rule when it comes to what games are shown. The saints game is a blow out so why not switch over to the bears game?
They did something better... they make money off the people who want to implement the common sense rule by having them subscribe to red zone or sunday ticket.
