It’s time once again for the NFL to cut its preseason short.
Two weeks of meaningless games will officially come to an end once the Green Bay Packers finish their match with the Denver Broncos and time reaches zero on Sunday’s matchup between the New Orleans Saints and the San Francisco 49ers.
And what a boring week it has been.
Aaron Rodgers has not decided whether to play for the New York Jets and likely won’t do so until the regular season. Josh Allen was held out of the Buffalo Bills’ 9-3 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday, and top draft picks like Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake May were lucky to have at least 10 pass attempts on their accounts.
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 then leave it at that. Take it easy so no one gets hurt. After all, it’s just the preseason.
The problem is that it is not possible to play comfortably on the gridiron. One game can ruin a team’s entire season, maybe even the future.
Just ask the Minnesota Vikings.
Minnesota selected quarterback JJ McCarthy out of Michigan with the 10th 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, there have been no such injuries this week, and hopefully, everyone will be healthy after Sunday’s abbreviated games.
This is nothing new. Players have been getting injured during the preseason for years, ending their seasons. But after seeing how little some of the league’s top players have played over the last two weeks, do we really need to play three preseason games every year?
We’re not saying the preseason should be scrapped entirely. Going into the regular season without any tune-ups would likely lead to even more injuries, so obviously there’s a need for some form of live game action in the summer.
However, a preseason game could work. Or, if the league is adamant about having multiple games, how about having two or three games with 10-minute quarters? Maybe give each team five drives per game, and whatever happens, happens.
These games have no point. Throw the rules out the window.
If the goal is truly to develop some players while simply moving others out of their old positions, then the league doesn’t need to keep these players on the field for 60 minutes.
Still, there will be those who are in favor of the preseason. It’s our first football match after a nearly five-month hiatus; the stars still take the field, and if you have nothing better to do on a weekend summer night, ticket prices are cheap.
Sports bettors are also not opposed to the additional three weeks of football.
But what’s the main story this week? The Jacksonville Jaguars backup quarterback Mac Jones threw for 210 yards and two 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 that second- and third-string players can get a chance to shine just feels wrong. And maybe the league doesn’t need to change its preseason rules. Maybe coaches should just rest their best players until things start to matter.
Luckily, we only have one more week to go. Let’s just hope it passes quickly.
