Should we rest Players against Rams if Opportunity is there?

Hear me out here.... but week 16 against the Rams may be completely irrelevant. Let's say the Niners beat the Falcons next week and the Seahawks beat the Panthers next week so that we maintain our one game lead against the Seahawks in the division. Let's say for argument's sake both the Saints and the Packers win too maintaining our 1 game lead against them. Now week 16 rolls around against the Rams and we decide to rest our players. Why would we do that? Well, even if we lose to the Rams and the Seahawks, Saints and Packers all win tying records with us, whether we end up with the 1st or the 5th seed still comes down to whether we beat Seattle in week 17. Because in this scenario we would have the tie breaker against all of these teams whether or not we win against the Rams. (Packers & Saints = head to head, Seahawks = better record against Conference opponents [beat saints]).

Am I missing something, or could we potentially rest some of the dinged up guys and maybe even start Mullens with zero consequence?

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No

Originally posted by VaBeachNiner:
No

Why? Would you also never rest players in week 17 if you've locked up the #1 seed?

No you don't rest. Your playing a Saturday game and the Seahawks play Sunday. What happens if you rest and lose and Seattle loses at the same time? You could have wrapped up not only division but 1st place with a win in that scenario

I've been thinking about these permutations too. I think the answer is no, at least not if we're talking about healthy players. The ones that are banged up but can return (the various hamstrings like Ford) should sit anyway, but that holds for the Atlanta game too. To be frank, I don't think Ford should play again before the playoffs, hopefully with an extra week thrown in because we have a bye. The healthy players should play all out to win to put pressure on Seattle. We're playing Saturday, they're playing Sunday. I know it's Arizona and they're at home, but as we found out with our Arizona game these division games are never easy, especially when you're playing a young team trying to build for the future. Let Seattle get in that game 1.5 games back. Let them earn that winner takes all date on Week 17, with the added psychological pressure that they have to win out with no margin for error.

No. Young team, you want to sustain the momentum.

Um, no. It's impossible for the Rams game to be irrelevant.

Even if Niners beat Falcons (going to 12-2) and Seahawks lose to the Panthers (going to 10-4) the Niners play the Rams Saturday night before the Seahawks play the Cardinals on Sunday. Which means the Niners would have to win to clinch the division instead of waiting to hope that Seattle loses again.

Going into the Seattle game with SF 12-3 (SF losing because they rested players) and Seattle 11-4 (beating Cardinals) would mean Seattle wins the division if they beat us in W17.

Way better to use all efforts to beat the Rams in this scenario in order to make the Seahawks game in W17 irrelevant. They can then rest a few guys for that game instead.*

*-In the unlikely scenario that beating Seattle in W17 eliminates them from the playoffs entirely you rest less players, at least in the first half of the game.

If the She Cawks lose again, which they just might because they play horribly on the road, we may wrap up the division AND the number one seed by the second to last week.

However, for this to happen, the 49ers need to win the next two games against Atlanta and Los Angeles (Rams) and hope the Sea Chickens trip up on the road against Carolina.

At that point, we clinch everything. I can see Shanahan resting some key players in the final game in Seattle.

However, this is probably unlikely.

Originally posted by mattster03:

Hear me out here.... but week 16 against the Rams may be completely irrelevant. Let's say the Niners beat the Falcons next week and the Seahawks beat the Panthers next week so that we maintain our one game lead against the Seahawks in the division. Let's say for argument's sake both the Saints and the Packers win too maintaining our 1 game lead against them. Now week 16 rolls around against the Rams and we decide to rest our players. Why would we do that? Well, even if we lose to the Rams and the Seahawks, Saints and Packers all win tying records with us, whether we end up with the 1st or the 5th seed still comes down to whether we beat Seattle in week 17. Because in this scenario we would have the tie breaker against all of these teams whether or not we win against the Rams. (Packers & Saints = head to head, Seahawks = better record against Conference opponents [beat saints]).

Am I missing something, or could we potentially rest some of the dinged up guys and maybe even start Mullens with zero consequence?

Verify here:
http://www.espn.com/nfl/playoffs/machine

I see where you're coming from, but I don't see Shanahan doing that. While it's true that many players are banged up and nursing injuries, it will take more than one week for these types of injuries to properly heal. These types of injuries need a full offseason to heal up.

Example? Dee Ford. He had, what? Two weeks off to rest an injured hammy? As soon as he stepped on the field yesterday in New Orleans he reinjured it.

A one week break does not heal anything. It is just a one week break.

Originally posted by billbird2111:
If the She Cawks lose again, which they just might because they play horribly on the road, we may wrap up the division AND the number one seed by the second to last week.

However, for this to happen, the 49ers need to win the next two games against Atlanta and Los Angeles (Rams) and hope the Sea Chickens trip up on the road against Carolina.

At that point, we clinch everything. I can see Shanahan resting some key players in the final game in Seattle.

However, this is probably unlikely.

very unlikely.

Originally posted by SkyZer0:

Originally posted by billbird2111:

If the She Cawks lose again, which they just might because they play horribly on the road, we may wrap up the division AND the number one seed by the second to last week.

However, for this to happen, the 49ers need to win the next two games against Atlanta and Los Angeles (Rams) and hope the Sea Chickens trip up on the road against Carolina.

At that point, we clinch everything. I can see Shanahan resting some key players in the final game in Seattle.

However, this is probably unlikely.

very unlikely.

You're right, of course. But this 49er fan can dream, can't he?

Could you ever imagine a scenario where the 49ers drop BOTH games against the Sea Chickens, yet still win the NFC West AND wrap up the number one playoff seed?

Originally posted by billbird2111:

Originally posted by SkyZer0:

Originally posted by billbird2111:
If the She Cawks lose again, which they just might because they play horribly on the road, we may wrap up the division AND the number one seed by the second to last week.

However, for this to happen, the 49ers need to win the next two games against Atlanta and Los Angeles (Rams) and hope the Sea Chickens trip up on the road against Carolina.

At that point, we clinch everything. I can see Shanahan resting some key players in the final game in Seattle.

However, this is probably unlikely.

very unlikely.

You're right, of course. But this 49er fan can dream, can't he?

Could you ever imagine a scenario where the 49ers drop BOTH games against the Sea Chickens, yet still win the NFC West AND wrap up the number one playoff seed?

duh

just stop

The Rams game will be meaningful no matter what. Especially if we beat Atlanta and the SeaThots lose to Carolina next week, Rams game will be all for securing the division and HFA. Then perhaps we can rest starters week 17

No way. Now I wish we get in a situation where we can rest our players in the Seattle game.

That requires Seattle losing one more and us beating the Falcons and the Rams. I believe we will still have the #1 seed wrapped up even if we lose to Seattle.

Originally posted by Aj_hwd954:
just stop

The Rams game will be meaningful no matter what. Especially if we beat Atlanta and the SeaThots lose to Carolina next week, Rams game will be all for securing the division and HFA. Then perhaps we can rest starters week 17

Nope. The ONLY way it could be relevant to seeding is if the Seahawks Lose a game. It was a good point mentioned above that it may matter, but only because we play before Seattle in Week 16... otherwise I am still convinced that if we knew Seattle wins against the Tards my observation is true that this game is irrelevant to seeding. We will either be 1st or 5th depending on our week 17 matchup in Seattle.