Saturday Scorecard: Packers should push "play"

Welcome to Saturday Scorecard. We hope the bowl games -- and/or a quick dip in Lake Michigan -- cured your New Year's hangover and that you're ready for the playoff push.

On to the notes...

Quick question: Which comes first -- the BCS National Championship Game or the Winter Olympics?

Just push "play," Packers: This is one of the weirder regular season games in memory. The Packers play Arizona on Sunday and likely will have nothing at stake. They'll probably know their playoff fate before kickoff and it's likely that they'll be scheduled to open the postseason with a second straight game against the Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Unlike just about any other week, winning won't be the primary objective. Keeping key players healthy and not "tipping" any important strategy will be the main goals.

So, what should Mike McCarthy and company do?

From this corner, there are only two ways to go. The Packers should treat this like a regular game, playing the starters until they get a comfortable lead and then yanking them. Or... they should rest key players and let backups like Matt Flynn carry the day.

Anything else is folly.

To say "We're going to play our starters, but only for a (half, quarter, series or other pre-determined time element) is inviting trouble. What if you do that and a guy gets hurt during his brief window? If players are out strictly to avoid injury, they might as well not be on the field at all.

The truth is that there is no road map for this situation. History hasn't shown an advantage over resting players or "playing it straight." Therefore, the best thing to do is treat this like a regular game. That is, play hard until victory is secure.

Maybe the Cardinals will stand down and the Packers can run up an early lead against their backups and coast. Maybe both coaches will keep their top guns on the field until the other side relents.

The crux of the "Play 60" argument is simple. These are football players. They play every week with the threat of injury. Ask yourself this: if you're going to rest key players like Aaron Rodgers now, why do they play in the pre-season at all?

Well, the idea then is to get them read for the regular season.

This IS the regular season.

The goal is to win the Super Bowl, sure, but to me there is just no sense in treating this like a pre-season game. The starters either play to win or they don't play at all.

It will be interesting to see how Mike McCarthy handles things. No matter what happens, his decision will be viewed by what happens in the aftermath.

It's the ultimate second-guess opportunity. If the Packers rest their starters and lose in the first round, it'll be because they were flat. If the starters play and they lose, it'll be because they were tired.

Stats of the day: ESPN.com's Len Pasquarelli reports that there have been 240 games played in the NFL this season. Exactly one-fourth (60 of 240) were decided by 20 points or more. That's not good. Neither is the fact that there are four teams with three victories or fewer. Then again, three double-digit underdogs scored upsets in the past three weeks.

Tipping off: Marquette's women's team opens Big East play with a game against Pitt tonight at the Al McGuire Center. As part of the Centennial Celebration of Women at Marquette, the Golden Eagles (9-4) will will recognize members of the 1975-'76 women's basketball team, 1975 women's volleyball team, the 1965 women's golf team, and M Club Hall of Fame Coach Tat Shiely during halftime. Marquette also will wear jerseys from the late 1970s in pre-game warmups. Tickets, parking, hot dogs and soda are $1.

Going for gold: Three former Wisconsin hockey players -- San Jose forward Joe Pavelski and Detroit defensemen Brian Rafalski and Nashville blue-liner Ryan Suter,will compete for the US team at the upcoming Olympics. Rafalski will be playing in his third Olympics.

Suter, who played in 63 games with the Admirals during the 2004-05 season, is carrying on a family Olympic tradition.

His father, Bob, was a member of the 1980 "Miracle on Ice" team that upset the Soviet Union and eventually won the gold medal in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Ryan's uncle, Gary, was a member of the 1998 and 2002 U.S. teams, the latter which won the silver in Salt Lake City.

For the record: The 2010 Olympic Winter Games run Feb. 12 through the 28t in Vancouver, British Columbia. The men's hockey tournament runs Feb. 16-28.

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