Even though, the Indianapolis Colts have clinched the AFC South that does not mean they will rest their starters. Despite having a record of 10-4 with two games remaining in the regular season, head coach Chuck Pagano will play his guys as he does not believe in resting his starters.
Today, reporters asked him if Andrew Luck should get time off since the team has wrapped up the division and will most likely not get a first round bye.
Pagano’s response was:
“To sit him? Why?” “You could walk out of this building and get run over tonight. You know what I mean. You’ve got to live. You go tell him. That’s the way he is. We’ve got to make decisions, do the right thing and protect guys from themselves in the right situation. But we’re going to try to win a football game and we’re going to play.”
You have to like Pagano’s approach to the last two games in the regular season as many coaches would have rested their starters but he believes in protecting his guys but trying to go out and win. Pagano also talked about the 2012 season, where in week 17, the Colts had nothing to play for but the starters still played.
“No, we could have done that in 2012. We’re going to play them all.” “Try to win them all because you never know what’s going to happen. All we can control is what we can control, and we can control how we go play on Sunday. I don’t what’s going to happen with the rest of the division and the conference. We’re going to do everything we can to give ourselves the best possible chance in the playoffs.”
One team that will be happy to hear this is the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles play Washington on Saturday and need to handle their business and hope for the Colts to beat the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday afternoon at 4:25 p.m. ET to keep their playoff chances alive.
If the Eagles win and the Cowboys lose, then all Philadelphia has to do is beat the New York Giants in week 17 and they will be a third seed heading into the playoffs.
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