Save your stars for the playoffs
Posted: Friday December 25, 1998 01:47 PM
Those few lucky NFL coaches out there whose teams have already secured the
best postseason scenario they can get face a tough decision this week: do
you play your stars, or let them have the week off?
There's a different answer for every team, but for the most part, I say
rest 'em. Let those nicks and bruises heal up and don't risk losing a key
player for a game that really means something.
My philosophy for a team like the Minnesota Vikings is to
treat this weekend like the last preseason game of the year. Start the
starters, give them a quarter, then let the backups take over. You'll need
your reserves to be ready for the playoffs, too, and it helps you evaluate
your talent for off-season personnel decisions.
An injured player like Randall Cunningham shouldn't
see any extensive time this week. Cunningham broke a bone in his left hand
last week and doesn't need to play -- Minnesota has a great backup in Brad Johnson who can shake
off the rust in case the Vikings need him in the playoffs.
The Broncos, however, having lost two in a row, need to get some momentum
back. They're not running the ball well, and opponents are moving the ball
too much on them. It's important that Denver goes into the postseason with
an upbeat, positive attitude, and a win against Seattle will help their
spirits during their bye week. Once the game is in hand, though, get those
starters out of there. Running the show
One common denominator among the NFL's six division winners this year --
nearly all have a head coach who's also making the big decisions in the
front office. To see the results from Mike Shanahan, Tom Coughlin, Bill
Parcells, Dennis Green and Dan Reeves really says something about autonomy
in the NFL. Even Cowboys coach Chan Gailey at least has a football man
looking over his shoulder in Jerry Jones.
It's no coincidence that the coaches that have complete control over their
teams are the ones doing well. They're not constantly fighting with a
personnel director or general manager about what is envisioned from the
owner's box vs. what's happening on the field.
That power struggle is what drove Dan Reeves and Bill Parcells away from
the Giants, and it's probably what will cost Green Bay its coach, Mike
Holmgren, after this year. If the 49ers don't give Steve Mariucci a say in
personnel decisions, they may lose him, too.
Historically, the great coaches -- Lombardi, Shula, Halas and Landry, to
name a few -- have run things from top to bottom. I like what Parcells says
-- if you're the chef, you want to be the guy picking out the groceries.
No place like home
One thing to keep in mind about the Broncos' two-game losing streak is
that both losses have come on the road, and Denver won't be on the road
again until the Super Bowl.
If you polled the league's coaches, I'm almost positive they'd say Mile
High Stadium is the toughest venue to win at. From my own experience, I can
say that bar-none, it's the hardest trip to make in the NFL. In the
postseason, it's an even bigger nightmare for opposing teams -- a loud
sellout crowd, bad weather, the altitude. I don't think I even won there in
the preseason when I was coaching.
The Broncos have always been a different team on the road. In 1988, I was
coaching the Colts and we had the Broncos in Indianapolis for a Monday
night game. We beat them 55-23 -- I think Eric Dickerson had four
touchdowns in the first half, and we could have put up 100 points if we
wanted. Nobody's scored that many points on Denver since 1968, when John Elway was 8 years old.
The thing is, had that game been at Mile High, we wouldn't have even
beaten them. A year later, we played the Broncos in Denver and lost 14-3.
Their home-field advantage is just astronomical.
There's a big difference between the home-field edge in the NFL vs. the
NCAA. In college, big schools have maybe 20,000 alumni to follow them
around -- it's rare you have that far of a road trip to worry about with
regional conferences, so you always have part of the stadium cheering for
you. But in the NFL, it's different. It's a long trek from San Francisco to
Foxboro or from Atlanta to Minnesota. If you're on the road in the NFL, you
may have two or three relatives up in the nosebleed seats cheering for you,
with 65,000 fans drowning them out. To any team facing playoff games on the
road next month, I say good luck, and to everyone, I wish you a Merry
Christmas.
Start your NFL Sunday by watching Ron Meyer, James Lofton, Sports
Illustrated's Peter King and host Bob Lorenz on CNN NFL Preview. At 10 a.m.
ET, it's the day's first look at all the NFL action.
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