Playing veterans in the preseason

[MrBigglesworth]

Is there any benefit to playing someone in the preseason that has already maxed out his potential? Can all my key veterans be on the inactive list during the preseason to avoid injury?

[gstelmack]

I've seen a mixed bag from this. Some teams seem to get away with it, others always seem to start slow when they do this. I haven't looked close enough to see if cohesion takes a hit (which could explain this), but I've always taken the stance that the substitution routines at least attempt to mimic preseason substitution patterns, so I leave my veterans at their normal positions. If anyone gets even a minor injury, though, they're benched until the regular season.

[Cap Ologist]

I try to protect my 14 best players by making them inactive. I think that most people started doing this because Jim did it in the IHOF.

[jbmagic]

Jim must have an advantage over others because he the programmer of his own game he knows all the in's and out's

[Cap Ologist]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

Jim must have an advantage over others because he the programmer of his own game he knows all the in's and out's

I don't think so, because I think he programmed alot of it blindfolded

[MIJB#19]

Some seemingly maxed-out veterans are not maxed out and still gain experience, while some non maxed-out players will never reach their potential.

[cthomer5000]

FWIW, Jim has routinely sat his big-time starters in IHOF. That probably says a lot about the importance of playing them in the pre-season.

[Vinatieri for Prez]

I still play stars a little bit. I do believe they start the regular season off quicker that way. That said, I only play them a LITTLE, not a lot. For instance, my starting QB probably plays 2 halves out of the 4 games.

[badger ken]

Another vote for the "play them a little" camp - I used to always sit all my top guys throughout all of preseason, and noticed for about 5 years most of my team's losses were in the first few games. Possibly coincidence, but i don't think so.

[mhass]

I have made them inactive until the last game. I go all-out in the last game with my 'opening day" roster.

[Alf]

sit all games. no need to risk an injury...

[Pyser]

I have always been in the school of "don't risk the injury".

But EaglesFan27 made it very public in the eNFL that he thinks sitting your starters in the pre-season results in a sluggish start to the regular season. So he played his starters, and then went on to go 19-0 and win the Super Bowl. So, in the eNFL, anyway, I expect to see many teams playing their starters in the pre-season.

[Masked]

I learned the hard way in the CFL to sit starters in preseason. Any cohesion hit is better than not having your star LT for a season.

As an aside, maybe online leagues should just turn injuries down for the preseason so that teams can try realistic lineups, get young players some experience, test out gameplans, etc.

[Celeval]

Originally Posted by cthomer5000

FWIW, Jim has routinely sat his big-time starters in IHOF. That probably says a lot about the importance of playing them in the pre-season.

Originally Posted by Pyser

But EaglesFan27 made it very public in the eNFL that he thinks sitting your starters in the pre-season results in a sluggish start to the regular season. So he played his starters, and then went on to go 19-0 and win the Super Bowl. So, in the eNFL, anyway, I expect to see many teams playing their starters in the pre-season.

Also FWIW, Jim's IHOF team is a notoriously slow starter.

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by Masked

I learned the hard way in the CFL to sit starters in preseason. Any cohesion hit is better than not having your star LT for a season.

As an aside, maybe online leagues should just turn injuries down for the preseason so that teams can try realistic lineups, get young players some experience, test out gameplans, etc.

If you check the injury report for a professional team, it comes close to looking like your teams do at the 200 setting...

[Pyser]

what exactly is the cohesion hit you take by resting starters in the pre-season?

i thought cohesion was based on how long the players had been together, not how long theyd been starting together.

if there is a hit, does it go away when you play your starters in week 1? or am i wrong on cohesion in general?

[cthomer5000]

Originally Posted by Pyser

what exactly is the cohesion hit you take by resting starters in the pre-season?

i thought cohesion was based on how long the players had been together, not how long theyd been starting together.

if there is a hit, does it go away when you play your starters in week 1? or am i wrong on cohesion in general?

That's also my understanding of cohesion. I'll believe the 'slow start' theory when someone can produce concrete evidence from a statistically significant sample size.