General Week 17 question (1 Viewer)

[southeastjerome]

In general, with teams who have locked up a playoff spot and specific seed, how long do they play their defensive players. I own Shaun Phillips and Julian Peterson and am weighing whether or not I should roll with them in what would otherwise be good matchups (big play league). To be honest, I never really paid attention to when defensive studs get pulled. Its more glorified and obvious when a QB, RB or WR exits the game. Anyone have any insight on this? With Merriman dinged up, I guess one would expect Phillips to be out there for most, if not all of the game. Do either of these guys have backups (Jyles Tucker/Lance Laury) that would have a reason to play an entire half or more?

 

[Jene Bramel]

In general, with teams who have locked up a playoff spot and specific seed, how long do they play their defensive players. I own Shaun Phillips and Julian Peterson and am weighing whether or not I should roll with them in what would otherwise be good matchups (big play league). To be honest, I never really paid attention to when defensive studs get pulled. Its more glorified and obvious when a QB, RB or WR exits the game. Anyone have any insight on this? With Merriman dinged up, I guess one would expect Phillips to be out there for most, if not all of the game. Do either of these guys have backups (Jyles Tucker/Lance Laury) that would have a reason to play an entire half or more?

There's no way to know. As you noted, the mainstream and local media rarely make a big deal out of defensive players unless they're a stud like Ray Lewis or Bob Sanders. I'd consider any player with an injury that will require offseason surgery or who regularly misses practice during the week to rest, especially those with an upcoming playoff game (but not all) to be very high risk this weekend.I think you'll see guys like Ruud and Merriman and Sanders and others sit. But you may also see Burgess, Willis, Ryans, etc, etc, sit for long periods of time depending on whether they feel completely 100% or not.Phillips is an interesting case because he's had a groin injury off and on for two seasons. Wilhelm could sit more too to guard against another calf problem. Wouldn't surprise me a bit to see a lot of Marques Harris and Carlos Polk outside and Siler inside. Just impossible to predict, though. The only sure things would be current young players still learning the position or players without any kind of viable backup -- Gaines Adams, Jon Beason, Angelo Crowell and the like are going to get plenty of PT in all likelihood.BTW, I'm going to move this thread to the main forum. I think it's an excellent topic for general discussion that would benefit from the extra traffic.

 

[southeastjerome]

In general, with teams who have locked up a playoff spot and specific seed, how long do they play their defensive players. I own Shaun Phillips and Julian Peterson and am weighing whether or not I should roll with them in what would otherwise be good matchups (big play league). To be honest, I never really paid attention to when defensive studs get pulled. Its more glorified and obvious when a QB, RB or WR exits the game. Anyone have any insight on this? With Merriman dinged up, I guess one would expect Phillips to be out there for most, if not all of the game. Do either of these guys have backups (Jyles Tucker/Lance Laury) that would have a reason to play an entire half or more?

There's no way to know. As you noted, the mainstream and local media rarely make a big deal out of defensive players unless they're a stud like Ray Lewis or Bob Sanders. I'd consider any player with an injury that will require offseason surgery or who regularly misses practice during the week to rest, especially those with an upcoming playoff game (but not all) to be very high risk this weekend.I think you'll see guys like Ruud and Merriman and Sanders and others sit. But you may also see Burgess, Willis, Ryans, etc, etc, sit for long periods of time depending on whether they feel completely 100% or not.Phillips is an interesting case because he's had a groin injury off and on for two seasons. Wilhelm could sit more too to guard against another calf problem. Wouldn't surprise me a bit to see a lot of Marques Harris and Carlos Polk outside and Siler inside. Just impossible to predict, though. The only sure things would be current young players still learning the position or players without any kind of viable backup -- Gaines Adams, Jon Beason, Angelo Crowell and the like are going to get plenty of PT in all likelihood.BTW, I'm going to move this thread to the main forum. I think it's an excellent topic for general discussion that would benefit from the extra traffic.

Thanks for the reply. I read in the week 17 subscriber content "players in the news" that Marques Harris is not expected to play this weekend. Also, isn't Polk on the IR? I assume that would lead to Jyles Tucker being the only backup OLB. I think this could mean that Shaun Phillips could see a pretty full slate.

 

[Anthony Borbely]

The Chargers still have the #3 seed to play for. I'm not sure how much emphasis they are putting on it, but it is not a meaningless game for them. They play a bad Oakland team, so even with the game having meaning, they could blow them out in the first quarter and rest everyone, so I consider SD players to be a bit of a risk.

 

[Jene Bramel]

In general, with teams who have locked up a playoff spot and specific seed, how long do they play their defensive players. I own Shaun Phillips and Julian Peterson and am weighing whether or not I should roll with them in what would otherwise be good matchups (big play league). To be honest, I never really paid attention to when defensive studs get pulled. Its more glorified and obvious when a QB, RB or WR exits the game. Anyone have any insight on this? With Merriman dinged up, I guess one would expect Phillips to be out there for most, if not all of the game. Do either of these guys have backups (Jyles Tucker/Lance Laury) that would have a reason to play an entire half or more?

There's no way to know. As you noted, the mainstream and local media rarely make a big deal out of defensive players unless they're a stud like Ray Lewis or Bob Sanders. I'd consider any player with an injury that will require offseason surgery or who regularly misses practice during the week to rest, especially those with an upcoming playoff game (but not all) to be very high risk this weekend.I think you'll see guys like Ruud and Merriman and Sanders and others sit. But you may also see Burgess, Willis, Ryans, etc, etc, sit for long periods of time depending on whether they feel completely 100% or not.Phillips is an interesting case because he's had a groin injury off and on for two seasons. Wilhelm could sit more too to guard against another calf problem. Wouldn't surprise me a bit to see a lot of Marques Harris and Carlos Polk outside and Siler inside. Just impossible to predict, though. The only sure things would be current young players still learning the position or players without any kind of viable backup -- Gaines Adams, Jon Beason, Angelo Crowell and the like are going to get plenty of PT in all likelihood.BTW, I'm going to move this thread to the main forum. I think it's an excellent topic for general discussion that would benefit from the extra traffic.

Thanks for the reply. I read in the week 17 subscriber content "players in the news" that Marques Harris is not expected to play this weekend. Also, isn't Polk on the IR? I assume that would lead to Jyles Tucker being the only backup OLB. I think this could mean that Shaun Phillips could see a pretty full slate.

:cringe:You're right, my apologies. I had forgotten about Polk's shoulder injury and didn't know that Harris had surgery on his hand. I honestly know little about the Chargers third string. Looks like Merriman is healthy enough to go, it looks like the starters could get plenty of time tomorrow.