The Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints are sitting at 13-0 and have already clinched their divisions and the playoff spots that come with them. At 13-0, the Colts have earned homefield advantage throughout the playoffs, while the Saints still have the Vikings on their heels – but at this point it looks like the Saints will wrap up homefield too. This brings us to an important question: Should the Colts and Saints start resting players?

In the case of the Saints, I would say no – at least not until they lock up homefield advantage. Even then, the Saints do not have a lot of playoff experience so they need to keep fresh and play with that sense of urgency. If the starters only play a half or 3 quarters then they could get relaxed and lose that edge they’ve been playing with all year.

The Colts are a different story though. They have a history of being in this position and in the playoffs. In years past, the Colts have mostly rested their starters once they’ve clinched homefield advantage. Though in most years, it doesn’t seem to work – they’ve only made it to the Super Bowl once since Peyton Manning arrived.

The one year the Colts won the Super Bowl they were 12-4 in the regular season. A great overall record, but it doesn’t feel as good when you see they lost 3 of their last 5 games and were not playing their best football at the end of the year. There was no resting players this year. The Colts were home in their first game but had to travel to Baltimore in the 2nd round of the playoffs. The Colts had to fight for everything – they could never ease up.

Do you think it’s beneficial for teams that have already clinched to rest their starters? Should guys like Manning and Brees only play 1/2 of a game from here on out? On one hand, they might get cold and relaxed, but on the other hand, you risk injury keeping them in there for a game that doesn’t matter.