Yeah I used to enjoy the preseason and watched games in the past with wide-eyed innocence expecting to see the next big star get his chance to shine for the first time on TV in an NFL uniform.
Except I’ve seen so many “preseason stars” that end up on practice squads or being shuffled from one team to another as eternal backups or slide off to the XFL or other one year upstart league, or just go work at a grocery store as a bagger.
There are people who do great in preseason when they’re against 2nd and 3rd string opponents, where people don’t care about winning because the result is meaningless, and where people aren’t using their true game plans because they’re saving them for real football. Once you have them compete in actual NFL games they just can’t succeed.
I think preseason games are extremely valuable for coaches to evaluate their rosters but for fans watching they mean only slightly more than the Pro Bowl. I don’t generally catch more than a few minutes of any given game.
While I don’t like the extra regular season game, I’m glad they got rid of the 4th preseason game where only the most fringe players will be playing. Plus, I don’t have to listen to sports talk radio bitch about it either.
In non-Tebow news, Washington is going to go with one of these eight names:
Armada
Brigade
Commanders
Defenders
Presidents
Redhogs
Redwolves
Football Team
Team management may have been a bit preoccupied, as they have been dealing with a lengthy sexual misconduct investigation, which ultimately led to Dan Snyder temporarily stepping down from day-to-day operations in early July.
Both are possible, but NFL teams are billion dollar operations. I’d think they would be able to focus on such an important branding decision – despite these distractions – with an eye toward having the new brand on the field this season.
With most teams, I’d agree. However, Dan Snyder has always been highly involved in team operations, and he was the one who was adamant, up until last summer, that the team would never change its nickname. I would suspect that, like many decisions that the team makes, decisions about the name would all go through his office.
There was some actual substantial pre-season action last night with the Patriots dominating the Eagles 35-0. I only saw the recap, but Cam Newton looked surprisingly sharp. Mac Jones also looked pretty good in two quarters of action. Mostly I saw him checking down, but he still moved the ball and the offense was scoring, with no big mistakes, so I’ll take it. And the defense pitched a shutout, so obviously that’s a good showing. Standard disclaimer: preseason, means nothing, blah blah blah.
A friend of mine, with whom I play the Final Fantasy XIV MMO, is a rabid Eagles fan, and she was watching the Eagles game last night while we were chatting in the MMO. She was really upset by how crappy the Eagles looked – when I mentioned “it’s only preseason,” she replied “yeah, but I think they’re going to suck just as much in the regular season at this rate.”
Hey now! Joe Flacco won a Super Bowl! (Okay, well, he was at least the starting QB when his team won it, he wasn’t the reason they won it despite being named MVP.)
And Nick Mullens! Uh… I’m pretty sure he was there when the 49ers went to the Super Bowl and lost to Kansas City. So he at least has been there.
That’s some pedigree!!!
(I wonder if at any point in that preseason game that the Eagles had a play called “Philly Special”.)
Rodgers used to be one of my favorite QBs, but he’s just turning into an ass. No doubt one of the more talented signal callers of his generation, but he’s not in same the category as Manning or Brady. He doesn’t have the leadership traits, and while I know his receivers probably have his back, I suspect his act is growing thin on some of the other players.