Personally, I'd rather not finish the season with two consecutive division losses. For as bad as the Packers have looked this season, I don't want our team traveling to Lambeau to take on Aaron Rodgers right off of the bat. I'm not a big conspiracy guy but I'd be very nervous for that game because the NFL would probably like nothing more than one of their golden boys to send the Seahawks to an early exit.
Our coaches don't coach scared. It's not their philosophy. We're playing for the No. 5 seed, which is a pretty big deal, so I don't think they want this game to be DOA before the opening kickoff. Plus, Russ and the offense is on a roll, despite some hiccups last week, and I don't think sitting him would be that conducive to the continuing growth of the offense.
If you sit Russ, why not just sit most starters and roll with depth? I mean if you're handing the game to Arizona before the team plane touches down in the desert, guys like Bennett, Sherman, Earl, ADB, Wagner, Avril, Wright, and Irvin should sit as well. I guarantee all of them are nursing different types of injuries.
I mean, it's an honest and genuine question - if you sit Russ, why not just play mostly depth for the entire game?
I don't think we'll ever see a PC team not put their best team on the field. Maybe I'm wrong and he's confident in a belief that playoff seeding/opponents don't matter. But I really kind of doubt that.