The Preseason Argument Redux

Maybe it's not this bad, but it ain't good

Clinton Portis will not be playing for the rest of the preseason. Even if his injury were not serious, I'd support this decision, but with the reporting indicating he might not be a go for the season opener, no duh. I am with Wilbon and Brandon on the whole 'get rid of the preseason' thing, but until the owners are willing to stand up to the, er, owners...ok hold on. Until the players are willing to stand up to the...union, no owners, no wait. Someone defintely needs to stand up for something for this to change. It's free money for the owners at the expense of the players and fans (it's standard practice for teams to force season ticket holders to purchase tickets to all home preseason games, games many veteran ticket holders skip but still pay another $200-$300 for). This argument comes up every season, just like the 'ooh is the NFL more violent now than ever?' chum paid sportswriters churn out every December when teams are running thin.

And one more thing. ESPN is running this shit:

There have been frequent calls in recent years to shorten the number of exhibition games from four to two. Critics cite the risk of injuries and that players no longer need the games to get in shape because most take part in year-round conditioning programs. Two years ago, the Redskins lost tackle Jon Jansen for the season with a ruptured Achilles' tendon in the first preseason game.

Ironically, Portis would be in greater danger of missing the opener if there were only two exhibition games. As it is, he has a nearly a month to heal for the regular season instead of a couple weeks.

This is bullpuckey. If there were two preseason games, they would be scheduled later in training camp, not earlier, to allow teams to evaluate talent in practice and in scrimmages, and so the Skins would not have played that game on that night. If you believe the determinist view, that this injury would have happened to Clinton no matter what, then you probly aren't a football fan.

Further, why the hell not tighten the rules in preseason games? The blatherati will say that teams need to be able to evaluate new talent with guys at full speed, yada yada.

Again, this argument is a turd. The most dangerous player on the field in preseason is a third-stringer on the bubble, and he will sacrifice your body or his to get into this league. If you write rules to protect players on the field, like with the Pro Bowl, where there's no blitzing, both teams must play 4-3 defense and there's no downfield contact and the receivers have to line up in certain formations (no three-man trips on a side), then you can evaluate talent in the main without risking injury. These coaches and scouts get paid big bucks to find the right guys, so if they can adjust to the chuck rule and the headslap, they can adjust to this.

It's not just the veterans either. As Brandon mentioned below, Kerry Carter, rookie (from Canada by way of Stanford no less) has just lost his season and likely his shot at the NFL tearing the ACL and MCL in his right knee. I don't assume anybody is coming to camp out of shape, and if they do, the coach will find out in practice.

The easiest way out is to take away two preseason games and convert them into fanfest scrimmages, like the Skins did against the Ravens on August 7th. That event drew 47,000 people and only Mike Anderson got hurt (Sean Taylor has only one gear). Don't gouge the fans and let them have some interaction with the team and ownership.

The harder and better solution is to tighten the preseason rules, convert two preseason games into regular season games, increase the salary cap and rosters accordingly. There used to be natural boundaries in the NFL season, from Labor Day to the last Sunday in January. Both of those are out the door now, so why not give us a longer season?


Shark injury photo: Dr. German Valenzuela