Carolina Panthers

Ron Rivera won't fully commit to resting starters if looking at 16-0

Published Dec. 8, 2015 12:54 a.m. ET

foxsports

When Ron Rivera was asked about the potential of playing Cam Newton and Jonathan Stewart in an attempt to go undefeated, his reply obviously showed that the focus isn't on an undefeated season.

As David Newton of ESPN reports, Rivera instead pointed out the real goal.

“The goal is not to go 16-0 or undefeated," Rivera told ESPN Monday. “The goal is to win the Super Bowl."

Now, he didn't say that he would sit his starters, but did say that it's a possibility.

“To me we’ve got to do it smart, we’ve got to be judicious about how we do it, hypothetically speaking. But that’s my thought process now. We’ll do it as we need it."

We're still a few games away from getting to that point, but it's going to be worth watching if this does happen. It's likely that Newton, Stewart and other big names like Josh Norman, Luke Kuechly and Thomas Davis would push to play, but Rivera may wind up pushing back.

Only time will tell on this one.