All is well for the Seattle Seahawks as they have officially clinched a playoff spot in the NFC on Sunday by handing an upset loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. For a team who was ruled out as broken down and in re-build mode during the offseason, the Seahawks are undoubtedly having an ideal season considering the limited amount of talent on that team.
This isn’t your Legion of Boom Seattle Seahawks, but this team is still scary. A dark horse, if you will. Seattle is back, and they are not a team to be toyed with. Hopefully, they can stay healthy before playoffs though, because they have zero intentions of resting their starters for Week 17.
Why Wouldn’t They Rest Starters?
Typically, when teams are in the playoffs, there isn’t much more to play for in the regular season. Unless, of course, a team has one more shot at clinching the one or two seeds to acquire a first-round bye. Other than that, playing to win while already in the playoffs doesn’t really make much sense to most.
However, Seattle Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll sees it differently. According to Pro Football Talk, Carroll doesn’t see much of an advantage in resting starters. Of course, there’s the point where resting starters could avoid any injuries to key players ahead of the postseason, but that’s really the only reason. Other than that, there isn’t much upside to it.
“I don’t like doing that,” Carroll said today, citing a belief that it messes with a team’s momentum.
Basically, Week 17 could serve as a bye week for those teams who clinch early. Starters can get the week off and avoid getting injured. While that all makes sense, it could also be detrimental. As Carroll indicated, resting starters could be a momentum killer. Players get rusty, and there’s no reset button if that affects teams in the playoffs when it’s do-or-die. So if anybody was expecting an upset by Arizona this week, don’t. Seattle is coming in and playing as if it’s just another game.
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