Ah yes…Pre-season….that time of year when lots of noise and scrutiny are made by us fans and the sports media over games that mean absolutely nothing in the standings, and mostly involve players who will not play much or even be on the roster by the time the regular season starts Sept. 11.
It’s ok. It’s a time honored practice. Make training camp practices, pre-season games and a host of marginal players the center of fan talk and scrutiny. Been a tradition for decades.
But here are some facts to consider about the players who mostly play in the pre-season:
- Over 30% of the players currently playing the majority of Cowboys pre-season game snaps will never play a regular season snap for us.
- According to a 2016 study by Pro Football Reference, of the 260 players drafted each year in the NFL, only about 25 will go on to have “significant careers performing at a high level”, and that the “bust rate” for draft choices is actually pretty high. (Here’s link to the article if interested: https://www.dailynorseman.com/2022/4/26/23042105/nfl-draft-pick-bust-rate-remains-very-high)
- Only about half of 1st round draft picks sign a second contract with their original team. For 2nd-5th rounders it significantly less than that.
- The vast majority of players playing in our pre-season games will not even be in the NFL three years from now.
So remember- yes it’s fun to watch football again. Even if it’s bad football as we saw Saturday night.
But the key thing to remember is this- pre-season games mean a whole lot less than what we as fans seem to think they do.
PS games rarely indicate much about the team’s readiness for the regular season and it rarely shows us a new player that is going to make a big difference when the regular season starts. The real Cowboys will show us what they are starting Sept. 11th.
Well bob I agree with what u say, but there are some things I think your missing.
1.bkup qb's
Denver by far had the best looking bkup, he was the older guy johnson, who started funky, but settled in and was doing a great job.
He looked more like a starter than a bkup.
A good pass is a good pass whether it is SB or PS game ! And he threw 2 vg td passes. and most of his passes were on target, good pocket presence.
Dallas was bad in this area, as rush, seemed to have taken 3 steps back, he looked awful, but his protection was also kinda bad.
Dinuci while not great , looked better and more at home out there, so that is a plus.
We may see Grier in charger game or the last one.
2. WR , again Denver had 2 vg wr's who made the 2 td catches, and some other good catches that were contested good by the dallas players.
Again
a good catch is a good catch, whether it is SB or PS game !
I didnt see much with dallas, but feheko looked good on his td catch.
3. this should have been #1 lol,
but BOTH TEAMS are playing with rookies and low level pickups and wana be's.
So the only difference is the coaching/teaching aspect,maybe even culture aspect, and the low level players and rookies they pick in draft or udfa.
I would have to say Denver did a better job in all these areas , resulting in fielding better players and better prepared players.
4.Run game, Dallas won this area, both on defense and offense.
I liked malick davis, liked the way he moved and his vision, so they probably cut him lol.
5.
Dallas had 1 standout player, this bland guy (cb) who was hustling, making tackles, reading plays etc, I watched the nate and boys vid,
and they all liked him too. So now will he do it again, and if so will they elevate him or put him on PS ! lol
Just 1 PS game but he looked really good.
6.
Turpin they didnt give him much to do, so you cant evaluate him very good if you dont give him some action.
I think maybe they told him to fair catch the punts, as he didnt try to make a run on any of them, and in ps why not tell him to try returning them,
or let him decide. and he had 1 jet sweep I think, and 2 pass targets. Need more than that to evaluate him properly.
So there are things in these PS games that mean something, and it isnt winning or losing , it is evaluations, and then what a team does with
the evaluations. So often I see a guy who looks good, and dallas cuts them or puts on PS, and other teams scoop them up.
