Patriots (11-4) at Titans (8-7)

The main question I see looking ahead to next week’s matchup against the Tennessee Titans is whether to maintain the team’s health versus maintaining their performance edge. How often do we see a team that earns a bye come out flat when they finally show up to play?
The worst case scenario was hinted at during the tail end of this past game against the Jags when Tom Brady looked to be momentarily incapacitated and my heart leaped into my throat. If Brady went down during a game that is essentially immaterial to our post-season situation, that would really suck. And I also wouldn’t worry so much about Brady missing his stride if he missed, say, half of a game. But again the chances of him becoming injured in one game are very low since he never really does get injured, but the idea of Matt Cassel leading us to the Superbowl would be far fetched.
More probable a scenario is what we have seen all year: a member of the defense becoming injured. One problem is we aren’t exactly deep at many of those positions; especially at linebacker. On the Patriots site Mike Vrabel is listed as both second string Outside Linebacker and first string Inside Linebacker. The Safety, Cornerback, and Defensive Tackle positions are more deep, but the team will need all hands on deck to contain Vince Young, if winning the game at all is the goal.
But what about the wide receivers? It is not as if the receiving corps has blown us away all year and deserves to sit back and rest on their laurels. Out of anyone on the team it is the receivers who will need a consinstent amount of snaps to stay at their best. Last week was great, with receivers bailing out their QB with snazzy catches. But if anything that is more reason to keep everyone in the game to keep a good thing going.
Therefore, I say bench (if at all possible) as many defensive players as possible while keeping the starting receivers active. It looks as though they want Maroney playing to get back to full health, although his exact condition has always been rather foggy. Dillon is the work horse, but even with him playing there is some risk for injury and our one-two punch at running back.
Winning as many games as possible is really nice, but what do people remember more, how many games the St. Louis Rams won in 2001 or who won the Superbowl that year? We need to think of the big picture now that we are in to the playoffs.