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Week 17 Motivation - What Teams Have Something To Play For (1 Viewer)

Lots of motivation to go around. Really only the Saints and Cowboys can kick back and take the week off. And NO may not want to do that since they have a bye.

 
>>Saints (-9 at home vs. CAR) - Locked into home-field advantage but Sean Payton says they will play it like any regular season game. Spread is large but Bridgewater is a solid backup and Carolina has long since folded. Do not trust Payton here.<<

- This is kind of odd. The whole analysis says the Saints will cover but then ‘don’t trust Payton.’

-  The last time the Saints went down this road they pulled their starters very early Vs Carolina in week 17 and lost. However Mark Brunell had a terrible day. Local news is Brees hasn’t been told if he will play and the team will play it full steam, as noted above. Brees is expected to play a little bit, maybe 1-2 drives. Teddy Bridgewater should get a lot of playing time. I’m not sure anyone remembers who the Saints 3rd string RB is at this point, but it may be Dwayne Washington the ex-Lion. The o-line needs rest in a bad way also.

But I don’t think they are willing to blow this off and I’m not sure they could if they tried. Kyle Allen is playing QB for the cats. UDFA, rookie, it’s his first start and he was on the practice squad until last week. In the Dome Vs this defense... I don’t think the Saints offense resting starters should have much to do with it.

 
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SaintsInDome2006 said:
>>Saints (-9 at home vs. CAR) - Locked into home-field advantage but Sean Payton says they will play it like any regular season game. Spread is large but Bridgewater is a solid backup and Carolina has long since folded. Do not trust Payton here.<<

- This is kind of odd. The whole analysis says the Saints will cover but then ‘don’t trust Payton.’

-  The last time the Saints went down this road they pulled their starters very early Vs Carolina in week 17 and lost. However Mark Brunell had a terrible day. Local news is Brees hasn’t been told if he will play and the team will play it full steam, as noted above. Brees is expected to play a little bit, maybe 1-2 drives. Teddy Bridgewater should get a lot of playing time. I’m not sure anyone remembers who the Saints 3rd string RB is at this point, but it may be Dwayne Washington the ex-Lion. The o-line needs rest in a bad way also.

But I don’t think they are willing to blow this off and I’m not sure they could if they tried. Kyle Allen is playing QB for the cats. UDFA, rookie, it’s his first start and he was on the practice squad until last week. In the Dome Vs this defense... I don’t think the Saints offense resting starters should have much to do with it.
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Kamara needs 1 more TD for a team season record or something of the like..... any chance they work to get it for him? ..... (it's Kamara or Theo Riddick for me as my RB2 this week --standard---- VERY deep league)

Also, hearing rumors Jameis Winston might not play the entire game at QB, as Tampa wants to see what the 3 year third string QB can do in a regular season game (ugh)

 
leave a whisper said:
Kamara needs 1 more TD for a team season record or something of the like..... any chance they work to get it for him? ..... (it's Kamara or Theo Riddick for me as my RB2 this week --standard---- VERY deep league)
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No way to tell but the team is very goals oriented. Ingram is also about 120 yards from the all time team rushing record. Also again Washington has never been treated as part of the regular rotation and he’s a career sub 3.0 ypc runner. I do think they will try to win this game maybe by building up an early lead, so I’d see Kamara and Ingram playing perhaps a half with Kamara getting a shot at a TD.

 
@leave a whisper Thanks for the feedback. I updated the article to clarify my thinking.

Saints (-9 at home vs. CAR) - Locked into home-field advantage but Sean Payton says they will play it like any regular season game. The large spread could suggest Vegas believes Payton, but Teddy Bridgewater is a better backup than most and is capable of covering such a large number against Carolina third-string quarterback Kyle Allen. New Orleans covering and playing their starters are not mutually exclusive events, so it's best not take Payton at his word that the starters will play as usual with nothing on the line. 

 
Insein said:
Lots of motivation to go around. Really only the Saints and Cowboys can kick back and take the week off. And NO may not want to do that since they have a bye.
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As a Zeke owner with our Championship this week, I'm torn about him.  Start 1 RB, with a flex.  I have Zeke, J. Conner, P Barber, T. Coleman.  Looks like Conner is going to play, so putting him in.  The question is which one of the other 3?  Having a hard time benching Zeke, but it might be the best thing to do.

Thoughts from others?

 
One other factor to keep in mind: Some teams may know their fate by early in the second half based on other scores. For example, if KC is laying the smackdown on Oakland, LAC may know they're locked into their seed (and will be playing the following week), so they could pull starters early. Same with Bears/LAR.

Another potential issue with the Bears: They can basically pick their opponent in the wildcard round. If they beat the Vikings, they would likely play Philly. But if they lose, they'll have a rematch against Minnesota. Do I think they would deliberately tank in order to pick a potentially less scary opponent? No, I don't believe NFL teams think that way. However ... what they might do is come out in a completely vanilla scheme to avoid showing too much to their potential future opponent. I remember the Bengals doing something similar a decade ago to the Jets on the final SNF game of the year. (Of course, being the Bengals, it didn't help. They lost to the Jets to help them make the playoffs, and then lost to them again in the wildcard round the following week).

 
bryhamm said:
As a Zeke owner with our Championship this week, I'm torn about him.  Start 1 RB, with a flex.  I have Zeke, J. Conner, P Barber, T. Coleman.  Looks like Conner is going to play, so putting him in.  The question is which one of the other 3?  Having a hard time benching Zeke, but it might be the best thing to do.

Thoughts from others?
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I don't think Zeke plays & would probably bet money on it.

 
Cowboysfan8 said:
I believe he will play a series or 2
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I like the Cowboys.  Good young team with a lot of upside for the next 5 years or more.  Great fan base from all over the country including my son in Denver CO.  If they play Zeke at all they are stupid.  IMHO

 
irishidiot said:
I like the Cowboys.  Good young team with a lot of upside for the next 5 years or more.  Great fan base from all over the country including my son in Denver CO.  If they play Zeke at all they are stupid.  IMHO
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I didn't say I think he should play at all

I said I think they will play him a series or two

 
irishidiot said:
I like the Cowboys.  Good young team with a lot of upside for the next 5 years or more.  Great fan base from all over the country including my son in Denver CO.  If they play Zeke at all they are stupid.  IMHO
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There was a long time between the last time we played until the first playoff game,” Linehan said. “You can argue that is better to keep playing. Maybe the best way to look at as we don’t have a bye. We keep playing and stay on schedule. I think that can work in our favor.”

“We want to maintain momentum as a team playing it’s best football in the second half of the year,” Linehan said. “For us, we see a huge upside in playing the game the same way. It’s important to continue playing winning football. We are getting close to the tournament. Other than this week, you got to win to advance. You have to have that mentality.”

“This idea that you have a whole other team, we’re not going to play the starters, we’re going to play the backups, logistically, you can’t do that,” Garrett said. “The numbers don’t allow you to do that. We’re going to play our football team. Anybody who is healthy is going to play in this ballgame and play to the best of their ability. Our focus is on preparing the right way and then go play the right way and hopefully that will give us the best opportunity the following week in the first round of the playoffs.”

 
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I am benching CMC ... Carolina has nothing to play for and can't afford him hurt for next year, but Riverboat Ron might play him because that's just who he is.

 
BearsFan4Life said:
I am benching CMC ... Carolina has nothing to play for and can't afford him hurt for next year, but Riverboat Ron might play him because that's just who he is.
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I think he needs 75 yds for 2000 all purpose, and I think they will try to get him there. But I think I'm going to bench him too

Can't afford only a few points if he gets yanked early

 
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