NFL will weigh incentives to make late-season games competitive

Commissioner Roger Goodell says the NFL will consider offering incentives to teams playing late-season games to discourage
them from resting their starters for the playoffs.

Goodell said the league was sensitive to criticism of the Indianapolis
Colts’ decision to use backups a week ago in a game they lost, ending their bid for a perfect season.

"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."

The league’s position has been that playoff-bound teams enjoy the right
to rest their starters to prepare for the postseason. Goodell said he didn’t blame the Colts for their decision.

The commissioner spoke before the game between the Dolphins and Steelers. Later, 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."

The Colts already had clinched home-field
advantage throughout the AFC playoffs when coach Jim Caldwell sat Peyton Manning and other starters in the second half, and
the Jets rallied to win. NFL purists were upset the Colts didn’t go all-out with a shot at a perfect season.

"We
want to make sure the integrity of the NFL is first and foremost in everyone’s mind, and try to find ways to make sure our
games are competitive at all points in the season, including the preseason," Goodell said.