It’s time for the NFL to chop again on its preseason as soon as once more.
Two weeks of meaningless video games will formally be within the books as soon as the Inexperienced Bay Packers wrap up their assembly with the Denver Broncos and the clock hits zeros in a matchup between the New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
And what a boring week it’s been.
Aaron Rodgers hasn’t suited up for the New York Jets and sure gained’t till the common season. Josh Allen was held out of the Buffalo Payments’ 9-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday, and prime draft picks like Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye have been fortunate to have no less than 10 go makes an attempt on their ledgers.
Oh, and No. 4 total choose Marvin Harrison Jr. didn’t even play.
However that’s the secret, proper? Give your finest gamers a dose of motion and go away it at that. Take it straightforward, so nobody will get harm. In spite of everything, it’s simply the preseason.
Downside is, there actually is not any taking it straightforward out on the gridiron. One play can destroy an entire season for a crew, perhaps even a future.
Simply ask the Minnesota Vikings.
Minnesota chosen quarterback J.J. McCarthy out of Michigan with the tenth total choose on this yr’s draft, however the 21-year-old’s season is already over after he tore his proper meniscus in a 24-23 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Aug. 10.
Thankfully, no such accidents have occurred this week, and hopefully everybody has a clear invoice of well being following Sunday’s abbreviated slate of video games.
This isn’t a brand new problem. Gamers have been struggling season-ending accidents through the preseason for years. However after seeing simply how little a number of the prime expertise throughout the league has performed over the previous two weeks, do we actually want to sit down by way of three preseason video games every year?
We’re not saying the preseason must be utterly scrapped. Going into the common season with no tune-ups would possible result in much more accidents, so there clearly must be some type of reside sport motion over the summer time.
One preseason sport ought to do the trick, although. Or, if the league is so useless set on having a number of video games, how about two or three with 10-minute quarters? Possibly simply give every crew 5 drives per sport, and no matter occurs, occurs.
These video games don’t matter. Throw the principles out the window.
If the aim actually is to only get some gamers developed whereas others are merely there to shake the rust off, the league doesn’t want these guys out on the sphere for 60 minutes.
Nonetheless, there will likely be those that vouch for the preseason. It’s the primary soccer we get after a hiatus of about 5 months; stars do nonetheless get on the sphere, and ticket costs are cheaper you probably have nothing higher to do on a summer time night time on the finish of the week.
Sports activities bettors aren’t against a further three weeks of soccer, both.
However this week’s prime storyline? Jacksonville Jaguars backup quarterback Mac Jones threw for 210 yards and a pair of TDs in a 20-7 victory over the Atlanta Falcons.
Placing gamers like Patrick Mahomes in danger in video games that don’t depend simply so second- and third-stringers can get their time to shine simply feels fallacious. And perhaps it isn’t on the league to regulate its preseason guidelines. Maybe coaches ought to simply relaxation their finest gamers till issues begin to matter.
Fortunately, we’ve solely obtained to make it by way of yet one more week of this. Let’s simply hope it goes by rapidly.
