Dolphins vs Panthers recap

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

NE went 0-4 in the preseason and then went 16-0.
The following year, DET went 4-0 in the preseason and then went 0-16.

The preseason DOES NOT MEAN ANYTHING outside of bubble roster players. It just doesn't.

NE was 2-2 in preseason in 2007 the year they went 16-0, they went 0-4 the following season and then became the only team to miss the playoffs with an 11-5 record.  Fun trivia: The 82 Redskins are the only team to go winless in preseason and win the super bowl.

[Pappy13]

Preseason records mean nothing. I couldn't care less if the Dolphins go 0-4. However don't tell me it's meaningless either. I played enough sports to know that the reason that you play meaningless preseason games is not to determine how the season will go but to determine where you are at and what you need to work on. The worse you play in the preseason the further you have to go to get to where you want to be. Doesn't mean you can't get there, but it does tell you something. You play the games to get better, not to determine what your record will be.

[Spider-Dan]

Practice is where you determine what you need to work on, and where you play to get better.
The ONLY meaningful purpose of the preseason is to determine who will and will not make the roster.

In practice, you have full schemes and gameplanning, but you don't have real game speed.
In preseason, you have no schemes or gameplanning, but 100% game speed.

Preseason complements practice to allow you to determine who can win one-on-one matchups at game speed.  That's it.  Complaining about the play selection or game strategy in preseason is pointless; the coaches may as well be choosing suboptimal strategy on purpose because they aren't trying to win, but rather to figure out who can play.

[CF DolFan]

Charles Davis was on Joe Rose today and they spoke specifically about how much preseason really means. Charles said the games mean nothing and in fact ... brought up the joint practices between Carolina and Tampa last year. He said the practices were intense with 1s vs 1s and so on. He said each day got got more and more intense and they saw some great football. He then said when it came to game time the game was horribly bad and didn't resemble anything they saw during the week for various reasons. He said that if halfway through the season you can go back and look you will see some of the things they were actually working on.

He also brought up the fact Cleveland went 4-0 in the preseason and then went on to lose every game. haha

[Dave Gray]

Is there any reason, outside of a ticket price and TV rights, to have preseason games? 

Why not just start the season?  It's a crap product, waters down interest, and invites injury to players people actually want to watch.

GET RID OF IT.

[Dolphster]

Wins and losses do nothing for me in the pre season as they have been proven time and again to be terrible predictors of future performance.  And they keep saying that they are keeping their playcalling ultra vanilla in the pre season.  The disturbing thing is that the vanilla pre season playcalling we are seeing is eerily reminiscent of the regular season playcalling we have seen for years now. 

[BigDaddyFin]

I'm not jaded I'm just sick of losing and the 4 year cycle this team seems to be stuck in.  Hire new coach.  Miss playoffs.  Optimism for next season.  2nd year: Miss playoffs have same record but act like team played better.  3rd Year: less optimism worse record.  Miss playoffs.  4th year: Fire coach mid season.  Hire interim coach.  Finish 6-10.  Hire new coach.

[DaLittle B]

^^^ IMO it's the keep flipping coaches,and keep the Gms/front office,then later fire the GM/front office but keep the Coach.

It makes too much personnel flipping,and team turnover,and ever changing on "how we're going to win" because the last administration tied our team to these guy's on the team.

I also feel like our front offices,never stick with the plan...We want to build through the draft,but spend too much in free agency.

It's hard to watch the same problems with this team year in,and year out...

I don't feel like my hopes for the teams season are based,on 1,or 4 preseason games.I feel like we lose in the offseason with questionable drafts,then bad free agents..

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Is there any reason, outside of a ticket price and TV rights, to have preseason games? 

Why not just start the season?  It's a crap product, waters down interest, and invites injury to players people actually want to watch.

GET RID OF IT.

Did you ever play sports at any level?  Playing against another team is hugely beneficial in terms of team development.  The problem is fan expectations of game entertainment for what is a practice scrimmage.  

What I think needs to be done is change the pricing for tickets.  Let’s say ticket prices right now is $100 (or 1000 for season). Change it to $120 for regular season and $20 for preseason.  That way it is easier to sell (and buy) preseason tickets and no expectations of same quality of product.

[CF DolFan]

Did you ever play sports at any level?  Playing against another team is hugely beneficial in terms of team development.  The problem is fan expectations of game entertainment for what is a practice scrimmage.  

What I think needs to be done is change the pricing for tickets.  Let’s say ticket prices right now is $100 (or 1000 for season). Change it to $120 for regular season and $20 for preseason.  That way it is easier to sell (and buy) preseason tickets and no expectations of same quality of product.

I'm not sure what they are today but in the past I paid the same price ($110 a game) for each of my season tickets regardless of if they were preseason or regular. You were forced to buy all 10 games as part of the package. It's a huge rip-off.

[Dave Gray]

Did you ever play sports at any level?  Playing against another team is hugely beneficial in terms of team development.  The problem is fan expectations of game entertainment for what is a practice scrimmage.

Yeah, I've played a little when I was younger.

Either way, I don't agree with the point, for a few reasons.  All teams would be on the level playing field.  So, if they have to learn and develop, they are all doing it at the same rate.  Secondly, I don't even agree that it helps them learn and develop.  Most of the players don't play any meaningful amount of time, they risk injury, and the NFL is now professional athletes that are in full shape and prepared all year around.  It's not like in the 70s, when these guys were welders and butchers in the off-season.

But it's also a question of giving the public a good product.  You're paying to watch teams practice with guys they're likely to cut.  What the hell is that about?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I'm not sure what they are today but in the past I paid the same price ($110 a game) for each of my season tickets regardless of if they were preseason or regular. You were forced to buy all 10 games as part of the package. It's a huge rip-off.

I would want to see that change.   If preseason tickets had a face value one fifth regular season tickets you could easily sell them on ticket exchange to some on who wants to take his 10 year old to a game but can’t afford to spend hundreds a regular season game costs. 

[Phishfan]

Dave, here is a time I completely disagree with you. While the score of a preseason game is meaningless, there is a lot the game does preparation wise. This rings especially true when you consider the logistics behind the scenes. A lot goes into putting on an NFL game other than just the players on the field. You need to step back and consider the entirety of the event and not just the product on the field.

[Dave Gray]

These seem like excuses to me.  Stadiums function just fine for big events all the time.  College games don't have preseason.  What's the difference?  Those stadiums, parking, vendors, and the product all seem to do just fine.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

These seem like excuses to me.  Stadiums function just fine for big events all the time.  College games don't have preseason.  What's the difference?  Those stadiums, parking, vendors, and the product all seem to do just fine.

Colleges often schedule lopsided out of conf games that are unlikely to affect a teams chances of winning the conference for the first few games (eg preseason) You won’t see Michigan vs Ohio week 1.  You might see Patriots vs Dolphins.