Patriots Gridiron News: Belichick Bewildered about Notion of Resting Starters

New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is bewildered about the notion of resting starters going into the season finale against the Miami Dolphins.

Poised for another Super Bowl run, a fair question would be whether the Patriots will rest their starters having already clinched a first-round bye. According to head coach Bill Belichick, there is no logic to the question because the team doesn’t have enough players to rest starters.

Obviously, such a question is targeting resting their more important players like Tom Brady. Belichick, however, deflected away from the question by giving his reasoning on why resting starters wouldn’t make sense from a numbers perspective.

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"“Right. Look, I really don’t understand that question,” Belichick said via WEEI. “We have – I don’t know how many starters we have but we have a lot more than…We can only inactivate seven players so this isn’t like a preseason game where you have 75 guys on your roster. This is a regular season game.“I don’t really understand that whole line of questioning. I’m not saying I’m a great mathematician or anything but the numbers just add up for that type of conversation. So, there’s no use getting involved in it.”"

The Patriots are entering the New Year’s Day game against the Miami Dolphins at 13-2. They will be playing for the No. 1 overall seed which of course means the AFC champion would have to go through Foxborough.

With only 46 players active to play the game, Belichick won’t have the luxury of resting all starters, but that doesn’t mean the team won’t find a way to play it safe with the idea of preserving players like Brady, Julian Edelman and some of their key players on defense. Health will be just as important as securing home field advantage for the Patriots to reach the ultimate destination they are aiming for.

2017 schedule: The New England Patriots 2017 home and away opponents were finalized over the weekend. While the dates of each game will not be determined until the spring, the Patriots will have a tough schedule as the teams stand heading into the playoffs.

Home opponents: Houston Texans, Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons, San Diego Chargers, Kansas City Chiefs, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets.

Road opponents: Pittsburgh Steelers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Orleans Saints, Oakland Raiders, Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets.

The schedule includes six of this year’s playoff teams. Notable matchups is a date with Cam Newton and the Panthers as well as a Monday night showdown with the Raiders in Mexico City.

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