Roger Goodell to look into Colts case; perks may be offered to make late-season games more competitive
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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league will consider offering incentives to teams playing late-season games to discourage them from resting their starters for the playoffs.
The NFL received heavy criticism last week after the Indianapolis Colts, which had already clinched a playoff spot, used backups a week ago in a game they lost.
“It is something we’ll look at,” Goodell said Sunday. “We heard the fans loud and clear. It’s something our competition committee has looked at in the past, but we’re going to ask our competition committee to look at it again in the future. We want every game to be competitive.”
In an interview with CBS, Goodell said various incentives to prevent teams from benching starters will be considered. Such incentives could include awarding draft choices.
“We are considering a lot of different things,” Goodell said on CBS. “I don’t think you can punish them for not playing. The other thing that has to happen is you have to make it clear to the public that you are not going to be playing someone, like we do with our injury reports.”
-- Houston Mitchell