It’s time for the NFL to cut back on its preseason once again.
Two weeks of meaningless games will officially be in the books once the Green Bay Packers wrap up their meeting 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 likely won’t until the regular season. Josh Allen was held out of the Buffalo Bills’ 9-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday, and top draft picks like Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye were lucky to have at least 10 pass attempts on their ledgers.
Oh, and No. 4 overall pick Marvin Harrison Jr. didn’t even play.
But that’s the name of the game, right? Give your best players a dose of action and leave it at that. Take it easy, so no one gets hurt. After all, it’s just the preseason.
Problem is, there really is no taking it easy out on the gridiron. One play can ruin a whole season for a team, maybe even a future.
Just ask the Minnesota Vikings.
Minnesota selected quarterback J.J. McCarthy out of Michigan with the 10th overall pick in this year’s draft, but the 21-year-old’s season is already over after he tore his right meniscus in a 24-23 win over the Las Vegas Raiders on Aug. 10.
Fortunately, no such injuries have happened this week, and hopefully everyone has a clean bill of health following Sunday’s abbreviated slate of games.
This isn’t a new issue. Players have been suffering season-ending injuries during the preseason for years. But after seeing just how little some of the top talent across the league has played over the past two weeks, do we really need to sit through three preseason games each year?
We’re not saying the preseason needs to be completely scrapped. Going into the regular season with no tune-ups would likely lead to even more injuries, so there obviously needs to be some form of live game action over the summer.
One preseason game should do the trick, though. Or, if the league is so dead set on having multiple games, how about two or three with 10-minute quarters? Maybe just give each team five drives per game, and whatever happens, happens.
These games don’t matter. Throw the rules out the window.
If the goal really is to just get some players developed while others are simply there to shake the rust off, the league doesn’t need these guys out on the field for 60 minutes.
Still, there will be those who vouch for the preseason. It’s the first football we get after a hiatus of about five months; stars do still get on the field, and ticket prices are cheaper if you have nothing better to do on a summer night at the end of the week.
Sports bettors aren’t opposed to an additional three weeks of football, either.
But this week’s top 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.
Putting players like Patrick Mahomes at risk in games that don’t count just so second- and third-stringers can get their time to shine just feels wrong. And maybe it isn’t on the league to adjust its preseason rules. Perhaps coaches should just rest their best players until things start to matter.
Luckily, we’ve only got to make it through one more week of this. Let’s just hope it goes by quickly.
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