I guess I should have said "and they stay in shape (or they have no chance of making the team and get cut)".
Snoopy Bowl (under Rex) had the G-men complaining openly on how hard the Jets were playing. I recall some fights breaking out over how hard Rex had his players hitting. Players don't really expect to get hit until the reg season. Even in the tail end of a blowout players don't expect to get hit much. Preseason games should free and open to fans who can't normally afford reg season tic prices. Who knows, they may actually get more than 200 ppl in the stadium.
NFL product is def getting watered down. Think back to fewer teams playing 12 games, and only the best mading the playoffs. Every minute of every game MATTERED. Not any more. Now we have stadiums half full on a regular basis, and the NFL scrambling to embrace streaming and gambling to keep the cash flowing. Water it down AGAIN and it could be the beginning of the end. I know the NFL is huge and some see it as too big to fail, but with liberal policies, head injuries, kids no longer being allowed to play, racial issues like kneeling, on and on and I see cracks showing up.
Pretty sure there were no playoffs unless the top 2 teams in the conference had a tie record. There was only the championship game.
And the last sentence is my thinking. You can do all you want controlling all these "practice games" and you not only can get hurt, you can just as easily miss a year due to an injury in game . Its a violent sport and theres always an injury risk.
But you have more control over them then a game and you get the situations you want to work in. Preseason football is coming to an end. It’s no longer considered a viable way to get ready for the season. Joint practices looks like the way they are heading.
Personally I would rather see less games, less teams and less playoff teams. More high end talent across the board. Less attrition. More meaningful regular season games, better coaching and high quality teams that deserve to be in the playoffs. There's a point where more of a less gratifying product won't increase revenue. What that point is won't be apparent until we are looking at it in the rear view mirror. The Golden goose will eventually become dinner. In the meantime pre-season is a suck fest. One of the reasons I gave up my season tickets is I didn't realize how bad it was until I felt obligated to go watch it live. Live Scrimmages that season ticket holders get into for free would be a nice idea.
I wonder, if they had itemized the season ticket receipt to show the preseason games were free and then spread the two game costs across the other 8 games if the uproar would still be as loud. I agree that eventually this will go sideways for the league but we are not close to being there. Daily fantasy and soon to be in game betting will smooth over the schedule expansion.
It will be 3 games 100% next year and 14 teams make the playoffs with the top seed in each conference getting a bye week 1. Pretty much a lock Personally I would like to see 2 preseason games to give the underdog a chance still but not boring me to death with 4 games. 2 preseason, 18 regular season and 14 teams make the playoffs with only the top seed getting a bye
Man, preseason this year has sucked. While I dont think we are playoff bound yet, there should have been a lot to look forward to this preseason and it should have been an exciting one for us Jets fans. I was just never into it this year save maybe the first drive against the Giants. Between worrying about injuries, having some players not even play, and being unable to really gauge if this was an indication of being good or not, I just did not care. I think the league is just evolving past the need to give extended tryouts for bubble players. As for our team personally, hate to have to mention it, but our secondary is so bad after the starters. Watching 3rd string players throw on us on will like we were some kind of division III college team didnt really help my enjoyment of the games. While I am completely aware of our corner problem, it served as a reminder of how I think we probably aren't quite good enough to make the playoffs this year.
No, nothing except full price tickets forced upon season ticket holders and the TV revenue from unwatchable games played by numbers 54 and up.
Preseason is garbage in every sport. Just do some scrimmages against other teams and call it a day. Don't even need fans there. It's just a way to charge season ticket holders for a few games that no one wants to go to.
Which is why I said its all about money. Replace empty stadium in the preseason with jam packed stadiums for 2 games in the regular season and all the additional revenue it would bring to teams along with the added viewership for regular season games vs preseason games.
