The Preseason Debate

[SmootSmack]

This seems to be a common debate every summer. Is the preseason too long. From what I've gathered it seems like Illdefined says yes and JWSleep say no. What about the rest of you?

I don't think it's too long.

It's football, it's a rough contact sport and people are going to get hurt. You can't avoid that. It totally sucks that Jon Jansen is out for the year but what if he got hurt week one against Tampa and it took us another 4 games (that count) to get our O-Line to gel. With Jansen getting hurt the first game of the preseason the Skins have nearly a month to get their revamped offensive line in tune. Plus with so many new players you need the game situations, as JWSleep has already pointed out in another thread, for these guys to get in synch under game time situations and speeds. And if not for the preseason you're not really giving guys like John Simon or Gari Scott a chance to show that they can contribute to the team or the coaches a chance to truly evaluate these players without concern to the final score. The preseason was basically when 5th round pick Brian Mitchell got to show what he could do back in 1990 and we all know how that career turned out.

The big problem I have with the NFL preseason, and I know it won't be changed because money talks, is that fans have to pay regular season ticket prices. I think the preseason should be treated as a separate entity from the regular season. Sell the tickets at a reduced price, give more fans an opportunity to see their favorite team.