The root word for fan is “fanatic”. Yes, there are those who hold pre-season games to a similar regard as regulation games. It makes no logical sense but, then again, just remember... “fanatics”.
For a lot of players, the preseason is every bit as important as the regular season. It is where they get a chance to impress and make a team.
Exactly! Possibly even more important when it comes to seeing how the rest of the season will go. Yes, statistically speaking, preseason games mean nothing to a team's standing, but this is where the players show the coaches that they really "want it" and deserve a slot in the opening roster. If they don't have it in them to bring the rain, and enough of them flame out before the end of the first quarter, it doesn't bode well for the team's prospects, come time for the real competition to start. I get a lot more worried over the preseason than most, I guess, but writing them off entirely, simply because "they don't count" is a mistake, IMO.
It is. But saying that, for example, the Jaguars don’t look as good as they were two years ago based on a preseason game is, simply put, nonsensical.
The preseason indicates almost nothing about how a season will go. Starters are sitting the vast majority of the time and coaches keep their schemes as basic and vanilla as possible so as not to give anything away for the real games. The preseason is a chance for dozens of players to compete for highly limited roster spots and to a lesser extent, keep up game conditioning. That’s all.
In isolation? I would tend to agree. But this is a continuation of a Jaguars team that look disinterested for most of the 2018 regular season as well. Against Miami, the starting defense (especially Josh Allen) looked like they were there to play, the offense... not so much.
Lamar Miller of the Texans tore his ACL they believe. Was carted off the field during the game this evening.
It's likely Lamar Miller is out for the season, good thing the Texans picked up that RB from Cleveland. It doesn't matter though, after sitting through the 1st three preseason games of the Texans, I'm convinced their offensive line is even worse than last year. Now that Luck is retiring, the AFC South should be easy pickings for a lot of teams.
Okay, maybe not. HOWEVER, I will say that Brissett is better and will do better than a lot of people think.
Of course. In most stadiums, the face value for preseason games is drastically cheaper than regular seasons and they can be generally be had for less than face value. It's a good way for parents to take their kids to a game and get the NFL experience without having to fork over half their month's house payment. But yeah, 'garbage'.
Yeah that was a pretty bizarre thing. If he's really done, then good for him. Too many go past their shelf life.
From a discussion I was having elsewhere, and didn't get a full answer. Can an NFL player "unretire" and go play for another team? What kinds of restrictions, if any, are there? Does the player have to wait a certain amount of time? The Colts are apparently not recouping any money from Luck. Would that change if he tries to come back? The NFL seemed to give away the farm as far as their CBA goes. Players under contract can hold out for a better contract, so can they retire to get away from a team they may hate and go play for another team? I'm sure this has happened in recent years, I just don't know what to search for.
A retired player still has his contractual rights held by his former team; retirement essentially freezes the contract. So if Luck were to decide to un-retire next season and want to play again, the Colts would have the right of first refusal on him. Past examples would be Brett Favre, Deion Sanders and Marshawn Lynch, off the top of my head. (Sanders forfeited his signing bonus with Washington in order to sign with the Ravens; Lynch was traded, as was Favre.) Also, the NFL's CBA is ridiculously anti-player, which is why you see so many holdouts nowadays.
Holdouts aren't necessarily "legal," per se, under the CBA. The team is free to fine a player for every day missed. Holdouts are basically the one bargaining tool that players have.
Players got screwed in the last CBA. Looks like their lining up for another dose. An NFL team can terminate any players contract on a whim, with no ramifications beyond whatever is left of the signing bonus (which was already paid) that they have to count against the salary cap.