Colts made the right call

There has been a lot of debate about the Colts coaching staff deciding to rest players during Sunday’s loss to the Jets. Writers all over the country derided the Colts leadership, basically saying they don’t know what they’re doing. The reasoning follows three predominant paths:

1. They had a chance a perfection. Nobody remember who won the Super Bowl in 1983, but everyone remembers the 1972 Dolphins. You denied your team a chance at immortality.
   
2. You’re messing with the team’s rhythm. These guys have been on a major roll, and you’re not preparing yourself properly for the playoffs.
   
3. You hurt other teams playoff chances by letting the Jets beat your scrubs. Shame on you for disturbing the competitive balance.

For No. 1, my strongest rebuttal is the 2007 Patriots. Remember them? 16-0 in the regular season, but eventual Super Bowl losers. Will they be an historic team 15 years from now? As a football team, your top priority should be winning the Super Bowl. You can’t control immortality, so you do whatever you think is best for your team. Jim Caldwell and Bill Polian did what they thought was best for their team. Are they wrong? Well, history will judge them on whether they win the Super Bowl or not.

No. 2 makes sense to me. The Colts have young WRs who could benefit from more in-game reps with Peyton Manning. And the defense is somewhat green, and could use polishing. But they played 2+ quarters. I really don’t think it will hurt rhythm that much.

No. 3 is purely ridiculous. Why should the Colts care about if who makes the playoffs (besides them)? That’s Houston’s or Jacksonville’s problem. The Colts have no obligation to keep their players in the game to be more ‘fair’ to someone else’s playoff chances.

This debate rages almost every season about this time. I don’t think it really matters that much. Coaches and GMs should do what they think is best. I would have probably done exactly what the Colts did, but I wouldn’t be revved up if they did it the other way.