Games are the easiest pre-season cuts
NFL must get in step with coaches, players who put safety over reps
PHILADELPHIA— It’s time to overhaul the NFL’s pre-season setup. Seriously.
If it wasn’t already evident, Week 3 of the 2019 pre-season made it painstakingly clear that it’s time for a change. It’s obvious that most of the league’s coaches and players feel that way already. Now, it’s time for the owners and league officials to acknowledge that there’s really no longer any need for four weeks of pre-season football.
Two weeks are enough. Then, let’s just get to the regular season. And I’m not saying the league needs to expand to an 18-game regular season slate. The 16-game regular season is taxing enough on the body.
But four games of pre-season action? That’s just two weeks of sloppy, miscue- and penaltyplagued football too many. When ... Many of the league’s starting players either didn’t dress at all, or merely log a dozen snaps or fewer.
Field conditions at Winnipeg’s IG Field were so poor that 33 Green Bay Packers were held out of the game against the Raiders, and the playing field was reduced to 80 yards and kickoffs were eliminated.
The Raiders left 24 players home rather than take them to the same game.
Former players, who understand that pre-season play can make or break a career, are saying it.
Pro scouts even say they’re gaining very little from attending pre-season matchups. ... you know, it’s time. Yes, there are a handful of bubble players who manage to punctuate off-season and training camp resumés with a couple of nice plays in Weeks 3 and 4 of the pre-season. And maybe a few backups gain some meaningful experience by playing in these games so they don’t go into the regular season — a time when they must be ready at a minute’s notice — completely green.
(I’m sure Baltimore Ravens backup Trace McSorley, who threw two touchdown passes against the Eagles, or Josh McCown, who is just days removed from coming out of retirement to become Philly’s No. 2 quarterback, certainly were glad to get the action.)
But players don’t get game cheques for pre-season play. And given the way we’ve seen seasons ended and careers threatened by injuries suffered in the pre-season, it’s clear that the risks certainly outweigh the rewards.
That’s why after years of using the third pre-season game as a dress rehearsal for the regularseason opener, many head coaches broke from that tradition and many of their starters out of the game.
Safety is more important than game reps, even in the case of the Eagles and Ravens, who both have young quarterbacks working to perfect their crafts.
Both Eagles coach Doug Pederson and Baltimore counterpart John Harbaugh deemed Monday and Tuesday’s joint practice action enough work for this week for quarterbacks Carson Wentz and Lamar Jackson.
“Listen, we’ve had a lot of good work with him in training camp,” Pederson said when asked about holding Wentz out of a third straight pre-season game, “and he had a lot of good work against Baltimore this week in practice. I’m real comfortable with him in his development and where he is.”
Harbaugh and Pederson rank among the growing number of coaches who have begun using joint practices as an alternative to pre-season action.
Last season, Rams coach Sean McVay showed it was possible to sit his starters the entire preseason and still start fast during the regular season and play at a high level throughout the year.
Under the joint-practice setup, the scheduled home team typically hosts the opponent of their upcoming exhibition matchup for a couple days of practice so their starters get meaningful reps against unfamiliar players and schemes. The backups get the exhibition game action.
These practices offer a safer and environment than a preseason game. Quarterbacks wear their noncontact jerseys and remain untouched. Running backs and pass-catchers get wrapped up but not taken to the ground. But players still get to run lots of plays during these 7 segments of practice. And coaches can stage the scenarios.
Under these joint practice arrangements, the starters actually wind up getting significantly more snaps in two days of joint practices than they would in a bite-sized portion of action in a pre-season game.
So, what is the value of a preseason game now?
“There’s always benefit getting these (young) guys actual film and live action out of starters,” Eagles safety Rodney McLeod said. “But I’d like to see more joint practices. You could maybe go to three pre-season games and two weeks of joint practices.”
Yes, some players still are auditioning for jobs. And as McLeod noted, the opportunity for those players to put work on film for other teams to evaluate for future signings is a plus.
But on most teams, the starters have cemented their positions midway through training camp — if not sooner — and coaches largely have a good idea of who belongs on their 53-man rosters after two contests.
The group that benefits most from four weeks of pre-season action are the NFL’s owners, who get to charge for ticket sales. Given the high number of starters in street clothes, sloppy play and the sight of stadiums with only a fraction of the seats filled, it’s really embarrassing that anyone has to pay to attend these games. Can anyone really deny that pre-season games represent a little more than a money grab for the owners?
The length of the pre-season will no doubt rank among the topics of discussion as the NFL’s owners and the players union negotiates toward a new collective bargaining agreement, which would take affect in 2021. It’s no secret the owners want an 18-game regular season. They’ll have a hard time getting the players to go along with such a proposal because of the safety concerns.
But for the benefit of all parties, cutting the pre-season down to two games is just a no-brainer.