I touched on this briefly at FanHouse over the weekend, but it’s worth bringing up here again.

Three of the four Group Stage winners at EURO 2008 — Portugal, Croatia and the Netherlands — went out in the quarterfinals last week. The one thing those three teams had in common? They all clinched their groups after two games, then rested their starters for the third to avoid getting anyone else hurt before the Knockout Stage began. Result? They looked tentative and rusty, and their opponents, who all had to must-win third games in the Group Stage, looked sharper and played better.

This same sort of thing seems to happen to the Indianapolis Colts every year, doesn’t it? Most of the time, they clinch the AFC South with a few games to spare, and what does Tony Dungy do? He rests his players to avoid getting any of them injured. Every time he does that, the Colts get bounced out of the playoffs early.

Remember what happened the year the Colts won Super Bowl XLI? Dungy couldn’t rest his players. The Colts had to scrape and claw for playoff position right up until the end of the season, and they didn’t get a bye week in the playoffs, so they had to play right on through. They didn’t lose their edge, and they pushed through until they won it all.

I get that coaches don’t want their players to get hurt, but you know what? Injuries happen in football, and you can’t be scared of them. What’s worse: the risk losing a player to injury in a meaningless game, or the risk of losing your edge because all your players had a game off and bombing out early? This seems even more crucial in a competition as compressed as EURO 2008, which only lasts for a month. Are you telling me that these guys are so out of shape that they can’t play a full six games in 22 days?

So the next time anyone argues for resting players before a knockout stage, point them to the Indianapolis Colts. They’re as good a sign post as anyone here.