Says USA Today:
Two weeks are enough, then, let’s just get to the regular season. And I’m not saying the league needs to expand to an 18-game regular season slate. Just about every player in the NFL will tell you that a 16-game regular season is taxing enough on the body.
But four games of preseason action? That’s just two weeks of sloppy, miscue- and penalty-plagued football too many.
When …
♦ A bulk the league’s starting players either didn’t dress at all, or merely log a dozen snaps or fewer.
♦ Field conditions at Winnipeg’s IG Field were so poor that 33 Green Bay Packers were held out of the game against the Raiders, and the playing field was reduced to 80 yards and kickoffs were eliminated.
♦ The Raiders left 24 players home rather than take them to the same game.
♦ Former players, who understand that preseason play can make or break a career, are saying it.
♦ Pro scouts even admit that they’re gaining very little from attending preseason matchups.
… you know, it’s time.
But both Eagles coach Doug Pederson and Baltimore counterpart John Harbaugh deemed Monday and Tuesday’s joint practice action sufficient work for this week for quarterbacks Carson Wentz and Lamar Jackson.
“Listen, we’ve had a lot of good work with him in training camp,” Pederson explained when asked about holding Wentz out of a third straight preseason game, “and he had a lot of good work against Baltimore this week in practice. I’m real comfortable with him in his development and where he is.”
