Resting Starters

by Bryan Frye on January 11, 2022

Adam Steele is back again, this time with a look at teams resting their starters over the years. Bless him.

Over the past few years I’ve been documenting the historical instances of teams resting their starters in late season games. I like to remove such games when comparing teams since even a single upside down result can warp a club’s statistical profile (especially since these meaningless games disproportionately affect the best teams in a given season). Now that the 2021 regular season is complete, I figured I might as well share this database with FP readers in hopes that some of you might find it useful or interesting.

As of now the database covers the entire Super Bowl era. Since 1966, there have been 118 games that fit my definition of resting starters. There’s obviously an element of subjectivity in determining which games qualify, but my criteria is simple: any instance of a team not doing everything it can to win a game. This includes keeping starters on the bench, employing vanilla game plans, and giving preseason level effort.

It’s fascinating how the practice of resting has evolved over the years. In the 1980’s and 2010’s teams generally sat their starting QB and other key players, but still gave full effort to win the game with their backups (and sometimes they did win). In the 1990’s and 2000’s there were a lot of teams completely rolling over by sitting starters and barely scratching the surface of their playbooks. In the 1960’s and 1970’s teams usually kept their star players on the field but made little effort to actually win the game. The best example of this is the 1969 Rams; they went 11-1 in games that mattered then got blown out in their final two games despite MVP Roman Gabriel playing the majority of both.

The frequency of teams giving away late season games has stayed relatively steady throughout history, with one exception. From 2004 to 2009 there were 27 instances of resting starters, or a whopping 4.5 games per season. This is what spurred the NFL into scheduling nothing but divisional matchups in the final week of the season. Since that policy was implemented, there have been 2.5 resting games per season.

Anyway, here’s the list. I noted whether the full game was affected by rest or just the second half, and I included the p-f-r boxscore for each game for quick and easy reference. Enjoy!

Away	Home	Year	Wk	Type	Winner	Boxscore
DAL	PHI	2021	18	Full	DAL, 51-26	Boxscore
CIN	CLE	2021	18	Full	CLE, 21-16	Boxscore
GB	DET	2021	18	Half	DET, 37-30	Boxscore
PIT	CLE	2020	17	Full	CLE, 24-22	Boxscore
LAC	KC	2020	17	Full	LAC, 38-21	Boxscore
MIA	BUF	2020	17	Half	BUF, 56-26	Boxscore
NYJ	BUF	2019	17	Full	NYJ, 13-6	Boxscore
CHI	MIN	2019	17	Full	CHI, 21-19	Boxscore
PIT	BAL	2019	17	Full	BAL, 28-10	Boxscore
TEN	HOU	2019	17	Full	TEN, 35-14	Boxscore
CAR	NO	2018	17	Full	CAR, 33-14	Boxscore
DAL	PHI	2017	17	Full	DAL, 6-0	Boxscore
KC	DEN	2017	17	Full	KC, 27-24	Boxscore
CLE	PIT	2017	17	Full	PIT, 28-24	Boxscore
SF	LAR	2017	17	Full	SF, 34-13	Boxscore
CLE	PIT	2016	17	Full	PIT, 27-24	Boxscore
DAL	PHI	2016	17	Full	PHI, 27-13	Boxscore
HOU	TEN	2016	17	Full	TEN, 24-17	Boxscore
TEN	IND	2015	17	Full	IND, 30-24	Boxscore
SEA	ARI	2015	17	Full	SEA, 36-6	Boxscore
WAS	DAL	2015	17	Half	WAS, 34-23	Boxscore
BUF	NE	2014	17	Full	BUF, 17-9	Boxscore
KC	SD	2013	17	Full	SD, 27-24	Boxscore
DEN	OAK	2013	17	Half	DEN, 34-14	Boxscore
BAL	CIN	2012	17	Full	CIN, 23-17	Boxscore
DET	GB	2011	17	Full	GB, 45-41	Boxscore
TEN	HOU	2011	17	Full	TEN, 23-22	Boxscore
DAL	PHI	2010	17	Full	DAL, 14-13	Boxscore
MIA	NE	2010	17	Half	NE, 38-7	Boxscore
TB	NO	2010	17	Half	TB, 23-13	Boxscore
CIN	NYJ	2009	17	Full	NYJ, 37-0	Boxscore
GB	ARI	2009	17	Full	GB, 33-7	Boxscore
IND	BUF	2009	17	Full	BUF, 30-7	Boxscore
NO	CAR	2009	17	Full	CAR, 23-10	Boxscore
NE	HOU	2009	17	Half	HOU, 34-27	Boxscore
NYJ	IND	2009	16	Half	NYJ, 29-15	Boxscore
TB	NO	2009	16	Half	TB, 20-17	Boxscore
TEN	IND	2008	17	Full	IND, 23-0	Boxscore
NYG	MIN	2008	17	Half	MIN, 20-19	Boxscore
TEN	IND	2007	17	Full	TEN, 16-10	Boxscore
DAL	WAS	2007	17	Full	WAS, 27-6	Boxscore
PIT	BAL	2007	17	Full	BAL, 27-21	Boxscore
SEA	ATL	2007	17	Half	ATL, 44-41	Boxscore
CAR	NO	2006	17	Full	CAR, 31-21	Boxscore
GB	CHI	2006	17	Full	GB, 26-7	Boxscore
CIN	KC	2005	17	Full	KC, 37-3	Boxscore
ARI	IND	2005	17	Full	IND, 17-13	Boxscore
SEA	GB	2005	17	Full	GB, 23-17	Boxscore
MIA	NE	2005	17	Full	MIA, 28-26	Boxscore
IND	SEA	2005	16	Full	SEA, 28-13	Boxscore
ATL	SEA	2004	17	Full	SEA, 28-26	Boxscore
KC	SD	2004	17	Full	SD, 24-17	Boxscore
PIT	BUF	2004	17	Full	PIT, 29-24	Boxscore
IND	DEN	2004	17	Full	DEN, 33-14	Boxscore
CIN	PHI	2004	17	Full	CIN, 38-10	Boxscore
PHI	STL	2004	16	Full	STL, 20-7	Boxscore
ATL	NO	2004	16	Full	NO, 26-13	Boxscore
DEN	GB	2003	17	Full	GB, 31-3	Boxscore
PHI	TB	2001	17	Full	PHI, 17-13	Boxscore
TEN	PIT	1999	17	Half	TEN, 47-36	Boxscore
STL	PHI	1999	17	Half	PHI, 38-31	Boxscore
MIA	WAS	1999	17	Half	WAS, 21-10	Boxscore
SF	SEA	1997	17	Full	SEA, 38-9	Boxscore
PIT	TEN	1997	17	Full	TEN, 16-6	Boxscore
DEN	SD	1996	17	Full	SD, 16-10	Boxscore
DAL	WAS	1996	17	Full	WAS, 37-10	Boxscore
HOU	BUF	1995	17	Full	HOU, 28-17	Boxscore
SF	MIN	1994	17	Full	MIN, 21-14	Boxscore
DAL	NYG	1994	17	Full	NYG, 15-10	Boxscore
PIT	SD	1994	17	Half	SD, 37-34	Boxscore
PHI	SF	1993	18	Full	PHI. 37-34	Boxscore
BUF	HOU	1992	17	Full	HOU, 27-3	Boxscore
DET	BUF	1991	17	Full	DET, 17-14	Boxscore
WAS	PHI	1991	17	Half	PHI, 24-22	Boxscore
CHI	SF	1991	17	Half	SF, 52-14	Boxscore
KC	CHI	1990	17	Full	KC, 21-10	Boxscore
BUF	WAS	1990	17	Full	WAS, 29-14	Boxscore
PHI	PHO	1990	17	Half	PHI, 23-21	Boxscore
DEN	SD	1989	16	Half	SD, 19-16	Boxscore
RAM	SF	1988	16	Half	RAM, 38-16	Boxscore
RAM	SF	1987	16	Full	SF, 48-0	Boxscore
DEN	SEA	1986	16	Full	SEA, 41-16	Boxscore
CHI	DAL	1986	16	Full	CHI, 24-10	Boxscore
IND	RAI	1986	16	Half	IND, 30-24	Boxscore
NYJ	CIN	1986	16	Half	CIN, 52-21	Boxscore
DAL	SF	1985	16	Full	SF, 31-16	Boxscore
PIT	RAI	1984	16	Full	PIT, 13-7	Boxscore
PIT	CLE	1983	16	Full	CLE, 30-17	Boxscore
DAL	SF	1983	16	Full	SF, 42-17	Boxscore
NYJ	KC	1982	17	Full	KC, 37-13	Boxscore
SF	NO	1981	16	Half	SF, 21-17	Boxscore
NYJ	MIA	1979	16	Full	NYJ, 27-24	Boxscore
PHI	HOU	1979	16	Half	PHI, 26-20	Boxscore
NE	MIA	1978	16	Full	MIA, 23-3	Boxscore
ATL	STL	1978	16	Full	STL, 42-21	Boxscore
PIT	DEN	1978	16	Half	PIT, 21-17	Boxscore
DEN	DAL	1977	14	Full	DAL, 14-6	Boxscore
KC	OAK	1977	14	Full	OAK, 21-20	Boxscore
WAS	DAL	1976	14	Full	WAS, 27-14	Boxscore
PIT	LAR	1975	14	Full	LAR, 10-3	Boxscore
DAL	NYJ	1975	14	Full	DAL, 31-21	Boxscore
PHI	WAS	1975	14	Full	PHI, 26-3	Boxscore
DEN	SD	1974	14	Full	SD, 17-0	Boxscore
DAL	OAK	1974	14	Half	OAK, 27-23	Boxscore
NYG	DAL	1972	14	Full	NYG, 23-3	Boxscore
BUF	WAS	1972	14	Full	BUF, 24-17	Boxscore
NE	BAL	1971	14	Full	NE, 21-17	Boxscore
NYJ	BAL	1970	14	Full	BAL, 35-20	Boxscore
MIN	ATL	1969	14	Full	ATL, 10-3	Boxscore
BAL	LAR	1969	14	Full	BAL, 13-7	Boxscore
CLE	NYG	1969	14	Full	NYG, 27-14	Boxscore
KC	OAK	1969	14	Full	OAK, 10-6	Boxscore
LAR	DET	1969	13	Full	DET, 28-0	Boxscore
DAL	SF	1967	14	Full	SF, 24-16	Boxscore
PIT	GB	1967	14	Full	PIT, 24-17	Boxscore
CLE	PHI	1967	14	Full	PHI, 28-24	Boxscore
DAL	NYG	1966	15	Full	DAL, 17-7	Boxscore
GB	LAR	1966	15	Full	GB, 27-23	Boxscore

Tagged as: Adam Steele, Guest Posts

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