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Rampage2K-
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9er8er
Playoff seeding is on the line. It's just not meaningful enough in McVay's estimation.
I'm not sure if Gurley would decide to play or not if McVay recommended he didn't but left the decision up to him. But that's the entire point. It may be wise to allow your superstar players to go for very meaningful individual goals if he wants to in a game that does still have some meaning to the team.
Regardless it is the right call.
Is the 3rd seed worth losing a key player like Goff, Gurley, Donald ???
That should be an easy answer.
Trust me, would love to see these guys hit all these milestones and kill the Niners at the same time, especially since I'm paying money to see it live, but I'd much rather see them next week healthy when it counts. It's a no brainier IMO
It might qualify more as a no brainer if the way you present the question were accurate, but it's not. You present it as if the decision is between losing key players and not losing them. But of course, it's not that at all. It's about weighing potential risks and rewards, not certainties. The very real and even likely possibility exists that they could play their starters and win and not lose any key players in the process.
The chances that they'd lose Goff, Gurley and/or Donald if they played Sunday are actually pretty low. Probably similar or lower, actually, than the chances that losing that game costs them a home playoff game. Other good coaches in similar positions are and have played their starters. Not a no brainer. Just something you agree with. It's only an easy answer if your answer is simply to defer McVay's judgment.
I'll reiterate my previous point. I think McVay risks losing some trust in the long run if he mandates they sacrifice such rare and lofty individual accomplishments as rushing and MVP titles and they are not rewarded with the intended team accomplishment in the process. The way I think of it is Gurley has earned the right to have some say in that matter by virtue of his contributions to the team this season that's put him and the team in this position to begin with. It's great that Gurley is playing the good soldier, but I wonder how long that will last if he ends up with no rushing title, no MVP and no playoff success?