Why the first round bye is so important

[TN05]

From David Newton on ESPN.com:

 

 

Carolina Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith, who missed Sunday's 21-20 victory over Atlanta with a sprained knee, did not participate in Wednesday's light practice and will be held out all week.
 

Running back Jonathan Stewart, who has missed the past three games with a knee injury, did participate.

Both are expected to play when the Panthers (12-4) play host to Philadelphia, Green Bay or San Francisco in a Jan. 12 playoff game.

Coach Ron Rivera is confident tight end Ben Hartsock (knee), defensive tackle Colin Cole (calf) and "all of our guys'' will be ready for the playoffs.

Smith is the most significant. The passing game struggled without him at Atlanta as wide receivers had only four catches for 22 yards.

Earning a first-round bye was key. Smith said he likely could not have played this weekend.

"Steve is right on schedule,'' Rivera said. "He's doing a great job. He's feeling better every day, at least that's what he's telling me. You know Steve. He's going to do everything he can.

"I really think Steve will be where he needs to be when it's time.''

Link

Looks like everyone is going to be healthy for our playoff game.

[Goondal]

Good news indeed.  Let us hope they are 100%.

[General_Purr]

Great news. Full team with everyone healthy is huge mentally. SQUAD READY. ADVANCE 

[Manos]

We also hadn't been off since week 4 so I am sure the players just need some rest period.

Sent from my XT907 using CarolinaHuddle mobile app

[Frizzy350]

I just hope we don't come out rusty and flat like we did against Arizona.

 

I can guarantee you that we won't be playing a defense as good as Arizona's in our first playoff game.  Of the teams we play the only one that is as physical as Arizona is San Francisco.

[camtheone]

Needed the bye for one reason.....Smitty.....KEEP POUNDING!!!!!

[PghPanther]

Any team that doesn't want a bye or comes off it rusty is their own fault.

 

How can you not want to have an extra week for recovery, strategy, and preparation for whom you might meet?

 

After the teams finish beating each other up mentally and physically on wild card weekend, the winners have to do a 180 and start prepping for the next game with no time off or rest..........plus the bye week team gets a playoff tape of their recent performance to add into their research.

 

I am convinced that the talent and competition is so close throughout the NFL that the old any team can beat any other team on a given Sunday really is determined by whoever has is the most prepared, disciplined in execution, healthy and most inspired as the best chance of winning. A bye gives you an opportunity to fine tune some of that and if you don't use that extra time to your advantage..........then its your own fault.

[dugbug]

We need ourselves some Steve

[Kuech the Sneak]

Just hope we don't lose any momentum

[caatfan]

I just hope we don't come out rusty and flat like we did against Arizona.

 

 

They know they've got a bad streak going after bye weeks. We'll see what they can do about changing that.