This is a big why? for me
Giving away the first game to get the rust off is not building a strong foundation for a losing franchise
We should be doing anything and everything to improve over other teams that are working hard
This team has not earned anything and they don't deserve anything
They are trying to come out of a big hole and sometimes I question the FO and coaching staff for their decisions
McVay actually started the trend of not playing starters at all in the preseason, and almost everyone in the league has followed. Andy Reid, Tomlin and Sean Payton are the only coaches giving starters significant snaps during preseason. It would be much more shocking if Gannon was playing starters, the consensus around the league is you shouldn't play them.
The reason is basically wear and tear. The impact a football game has on a player physically is the basically the same as experiencing a car crash. Players are never fully healthy during a season, if they are lucky they are just healthy enough to be available. Every snap induces damage on their bodies, and there isnt enough time between games for any real recovery to occur. Why lessen the chance your starters will be available week 18 for games that don't count? Coaches want to limit the amount of wear and tear experienced over a course of a season to hopefully be one of the lucky teams with the majority of their starters available.
When you look at teams in the Superbowl it is always the teams with the best injury luck. 2022 Eagles and Chiefs both had at least 21 of their week 1 starters available for the Superbowl.
For what its worth, we were considered one of the sharpest teams in the league week 1, and Bills fans were also blaming their 1st half deficit on their starters on playing in the preseason.