LANDOVER — You gotta give head coaches a hand. They have this preseason racket figured out.
Their goal never has been to play these games to entertain the season ticket holders or TV fans. And now, more than ever, they’ve made it clear it’s not to let their best players get broken.
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Never in the fourth and final week, the norm for years now. Less and less in the first two weeks, where they’ve graduated from sitting down after a couple of possessions to not playing at all. And now, more and more, not even in the so-called third-week “dress rehearsal.”
To the coaches, in the grand scheme of things and with some relatively small exceptions, preseason games are useless. So, if you’re still fighting to save those four games, understand that your island is a lot lonelier this year, and will only get lonelier from now on.
Ask Rex Ryan. He took his Bills team to Washington Friday, then sat five defensive starters and two offensive starters, then pulled out most of the rest after two series.
“I feel pretty good about the guys that I sat, obviously, and I don’t think we can afford to get them hurt,’’ Ryan said after the game. “That’s as simple as that. I don’t care about the criticism.’’
There was a little criticism, but it wasn’t really toward him. It was more about the idea that revenue was collected, parking and concessions were paid and TV contracts were signed for a game that the coach, on behalf of his players and the games that count, had almost zero reason to fully engage in.
That was just one example this preseason. You don’t have to tear up everything you thought you knew about how teams approached them, but keep a shredder handy.
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Aaron Rodgers didn’t play for the Packers at all until Friday night in San Francisco, playing just two possessions. He notably was not going to take a snap in the Hall of Fame game that got canceled, the one on Brett Favre induction weekend.
Tom Brady’s only preseason appearance on Friday in Charlotte, off the bench, lasted just four series. Ben Roethlisberger came and went the same way Friday against the Saints, two series and out.
Last week, in Week 2, the Vikings made a late, surprise decision to sit Teddy Bridgewater. Washington made the same decision with Kirk Cousins that same week, as did the Chargers and Philip Rivers. All of them, one way or the other, were being protected from unnecessary risk.
Quarterbacks get the most notice. The other positions are similarly protected. There are fewer and fewer reasons to play even mildly injured players any week of the preseason, including the once-crucial third week. Now, sitting healthy players is less unusual.
The pro-preseason crowd can take pleasure in seeing one argument proven: players can get hurt at any time, and clearly they’re suffering injuries in offseason workouts, training camp and in the joint practices and scrimmages that are now the norm with many franchises.
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Having them happen in games that are treated like meaningful ones, but really aren’t, is what coaches have no interest in seeing.
They see them anyway. Rex Ryan saw two of them on his own team Friday, and two on the opponent. Tight end Chris Graff and cornerback Jonathan Dowling suffered torn ACLs. The only frustration Ryan showed after the game was about those injuries … partly because he thought DeAngelo Hall going low on Graff on the tackle on which he was injured was “ridiculous.’’
Washington’s Ryan Kerrigan injured his groin on the first series. Losing him would seriously dent their defensive plans. Rookie running back Keith Marshall sprained his elbow in that first quarter. He’s one of the players preseason-defenders fight for, the guys that must be evaluated in order to make the team. With the top two backs, Matt Jones and Chris Thompson, out hurt, this was his window. It slammed shut fast. No more chance to play his way on.
The ideas that there’s no other way to fill the last few spots on the roster, and that veterans can’t get game-sharp otherwise, are being blown up before our eyes.
They’re being blown up by the people who know best, the coaches.
To borrow Ryan’s term, it’s “ridiculous.’’