CFZ Why Practice is more important than pre-season games

[BlindFaith]

Wow. Huge fact check here.

NCAA players are recruited . Most Div 1 teams are allowed 85 full scholarships . Div 2 about half . Div 3 doesn’t allow but do have academic scholarships which help support athlete's. My family supports one.

And I’m not sure what level of High School you attended , sounds like Class 1A or 2A in a rural area but here in Texas with larger schools in most districts up to 6A it is serious football. Not everyone makes the team. Again such ridiculous , incorrect and ignorant statements .

Regarding high school, Im sure you're right. Doesnt change my point. High schools get what they get. Or its how it should work. I get that games are played with trying to get certain players.

College cant simply "draft" players. Any high school player can attempt to sign with any college they want. The best players basically going wherever they want.

The real point being is that pre season allows players to get on tape against similar level players. In real games. Some of those players are under contract. Players cant just go to any team they want. PS games allow them to get extended playing time.

 

[kskboys]

Regarding high school, Im sure you're right. Doesnt change my point. High schools get what they get. Or its how it should work. I get that games are played with trying to get certain players.

College cant simply "draft" players. Any high school player can attempt to sign with any college they want. The best players basically going wherever they want.

The real point being is that pre season allows players to get on tape against similar level players. In real games. Some of those players are under contract. Players cant just go to any team they want. PS games allow them to get extended playing time.

Romo was a notedly poor practice QB. He may never have made this team w/o preseason. Rush wouldn't be in the NFL w/o preseason.

 

[BlindFaith]

Romo was a notedly poor practice QB. He may never have made this team w/o preseason. Rush wouldn't be in the NFL w/o preseason.

Yeah, I don't get wanting less evaluation. Especially real game evaluation.

 

[kskboys]

Yeah, I don't get wanting less evaluation. Especially real game evaluation.

It's personal w/ the preseason haters. Aside from the season ticket holders who are forced to pay full price for these scrimmages.

Most people watch games to root for the team to win. In Pre that is not important, and it drives them bananas. You won't see the players who will be on the team at the season start. Soooooooooooo, since they don't like watching game to evaluate, it's "GET RID OF PRESEASON BECAUSE I DON'T LIKE IT". And that is why fans want to get rid of it. They're getting told that it's an important assessment/evaluation tool for teams ad nauseum, but they are ignoring facts and still screaming to get rid of it.

And that's it. A personal dislike.

 

[BlindFaith]

It's personal w/ the preseason haters. Aside from the season ticket holders who are forced to pay full price for these scrimmages.

Most people watch games to root for the team to win. In Pre that is not important, and it drives them bananas. You won't see the players who will be on the team at the season start. Soooooooooooo, since they don't like watching game to evaluate, it's "GET RID OF PRESEASON BECAUSE I DON'T LIKE IT". And that is why fans want to get rid of it. They're getting told that it's an important assessment/evaluation tool for teams ad nauseum, but they are ignoring facts and still screaming to get rid of it.

And that's it. A personal dislike.

I really enjoy pre season games. Gives us a chance to see for ourselves if the reports from camp match up.

Plus its football!!!

But I do agree that sitting your star players is the best bet. And if you are forced to pay for the PS games, I can see being urked by only getting to see bottom of the roster guys and guys you'll probably never see again.

 

[StarOfGlory]

I’ve always found it interesting that neither college nor high school football requires pre-season games to prepare for their regular season start. In fact, on college and HS campuses right now all across our country, teams are preparing for their first regular season game the old fashioned way- in regular practices. Some HS’s will have one controlled scrimmage. But College football starts in 3 weeks without a single ps game.

Let me make clear, I don’t have a problem with our fans who love PS games. I get it- it’s football and we’ve all waited a half a year to see some kind of pigskin play. if you enjoy PS games, keep enjoying them because the owners fight tooth and nail to keep them for cash purposes. They aren’t going anywhere.

But I have evolved to the point where I would never play a single starter even one down in a meaningless pre-season game. Here are my reasons:

• Practices, not PS games are where teams really prepare for the games that matter.New offensive and defensive wrinkles and systems are not perfected in a PS game. It’s in practice.
  • PS games have no game planning, the absolute most vanilla of offensive plays and defensive alignments are called. Nothing big from the playbook is rolled out in PS games.
  • Opponents in PS games also usually only use their most vanilla play calls and don’t care who wins.
• PS games should be used to decide roster spots.
• PS games can showcase the potential of rookies or backups and how they handle competitive situations.
• PS games can decide kicker, punter, backup QB and many other (mostly backup) positions.
• Practice is where teams prepare for the real regular season games each week. That’s where the coaches game plan, learn about players strengths and weaknesses, etc.
• In today’s NFL with the veterans who are on big contracts in the cap era, it makes zero sense to risk a huge portion of your cap space in a meaningless pre-season game.

As I said at the beginning- IMO if college and HS football don’t need pre-season games to get ready for the regular season, NFL starters can get ready for the games that matter in practice too.

I would never risk a big portion of cap space in a meaningless game. I know that’s not a popular opinion with fans, but it makes the most sense the way the game is structured these days.

It is hard for students to commit to practices, let alone PS games. As a former high school coach, there are a number of reasons that there are no high school PS games:

• Students having jobs that they need, in some cases for the family
• Students having vacation schedules with the family that often are made in advance and cost thousands of dollars
• State rules (vary from state to state) on how much practice a team can impose on the players
• Students often use the summer break to visit colleges
• Parents not wanting to expose their children to potential injury beyond what is expected in a regular game. This goes to your point about injuries. It is getting harder for smaller schools to fill out rosters. When I started coaching, I would routinely have between 75-85 students try out for the team, My final two years, that decreased to 53 and 51. The school I coached at had a student body of 1400 students and was very focused on athletics--four NFL players and two Olympic gold medalists graduated from this school.
• Added expense for the school.

 

[Cowboys5217]

When I was in HS, there were no ps games. I worked in public schools in Tx nearly 40 years- they still don’t have any. They may occasionally have a scrimmage. But ps games in HS? Never saw one.

In the the NFL ps games used to be important to get in game shape. Not in today’s game. Because players work year round on being in shape. In the old days, players worked off season jobs to make ends meet. Today’s players don’t have to do that so they are already in great shape.

Once the reg season starts, what do the coaches use to get players ready for the upcoming game? Practice.

I played varsity football in California in the mid 80s. We actually did have a couple of pre-season games that did not count in the standings.

 

[Toro9]

Practice is where the work gets done. Preseason is like a reality show. Regular season is a weekly battle. Postseason is the war. Super bowl is the World War.

 

[stilltheguru]

Practice is where the work gets done. Preseason is like a reality show. Regular season is a weekly battle. Postseason is the war. Super bowl is the World War.

Reality show? Should there be no preseason?

 

[kskboys]

I played varsity football in California in the mid 80s. We actually did have a couple of pre-season games that did not count in the standings.

Preseason games in HS football do not count in the standings. They are practice games.

In HS, it may have something to do w/ the ranking system, but since they have a playoff system the ranking system is irrelevant.

 

[kskboys]

It is hard for students to commit to practices, let alone PS games. As a former high school coach, there are a number of reasons that there are no high school PS games:

• Students having jobs that they need, in some cases for the family
• Students having vacation schedules with the family that often are made in advance and cost thousands of dollars
• State rules (vary from state to state) on how much practice a team can impose on the players
• Students often use the summer break to visit colleges
• Parents not wanting to expose their children to potential injury beyond what is expected in a regular game. This goes to your point about injuries. It is getting harder for smaller schools to fill out rosters. When I started coaching, I would routinely have between 75-85 students try out for the team, My final two years, that decreased to 53 and 51. The school I coached at had a student body of 1400 students and was very focused on athletics--four NFL players and two Olympic gold medalists graduated from this school.
• Added expense for the school.

Non-district games are preseason games.

 

[quickccc]

In camp practice - you can work individually on more one on one techniques and more team drills

Preseason is live game action -
when the lights are on, and adrenaline is up, the competitveness of game action are more on display.

Practice cannot give you the live game action and nerve bending game experience of preseason game.
You'd like to have your inexperienced guys having the developmental experience of live game action.

Preseason- This is the exclamation point of respective roles and roster spots. .

 

[Diehardblues]

Regarding high school, Im sure you're right. Doesnt change my point. High schools get what they get. Or its how it should work. I get that games are played with trying to get certain players.

College cant simply "draft" players. Any high school player can attempt to sign with any college they want. The best players basically going wherever they want.

The real point being is that pre season allows players to get on tape against similar level players. In real games. Some of those players are under contract. Players cant just go to any team they want. PS games allow them to get extended playing time.

Of course I’m right. At least you acknowledge.

No, any High School player can’t play wherever college they want. There are some walk-ons which is rare to make the team but the bulk or most are from the 85 scholarships. They aren’t drafted , they are recruited and must sign letter of intents their senior year in high school,

Can they choose which College they want to from those who recruit him, yes but that’s not the same as just choosing any school. Some schools even if he wants to go might not have an immediate need for his position and don’t want to use a scholarship. There’s many contributing factors.

And in High School you can pay to attend other school districts you don’t live in which I did for example. Or you can move. My sister attended the high school in district we lived in. My parents paid a few hundred a year for me to attend another.

Here in Texas where High School Football is King it’s not uncommon for kids to move into better school districts for their football programs. Much like is done for academics.

 

[Diehardblues]

In camp practice - you can work individually on more one on one techniques and more team drills

Preseason is live game action -
when the lights are on, and adrenaline is up, the competitveness of game action are more on display.

Practice cannot give you the live game action and nerve bending game experience of preseason game.
You'd like to have your inexperienced guys having the developmental experience of live game action.

Preseason- This is the exclamation point of respective roles and roster spots. .

The only problem is that live action isn’t against starting NFL caliber talent.

Are we more interested for example if a CB can cover a starting WR or one who might not make the team probably a backup or practice squad guy at best.

 

[INCowboysFan]

Non-district games are not "preseason games". Now, I'm not in TX but I seriously doubt coaches and players treat them like preseason games. I'm sure fans wouldn't be so happy if teams treated the non-district games like preseason games and went 0-3 every year during those games.

Here in IN, we play a 9 game schedule before the post season starts. My sons HS plays in a 10 team conference, which means that all 9 games are conference games. So you are working for a conference title right out of the gate. Schools in IN will have a controlled scrimmage this coming friday with week 1 set to start on 8/18. There are no preseason games in IN. Most schools around the state will have 2-3 non-conference games, but they aren't considered "pre-season games".

 

[Toro9]

Reality show? Should there be no preseason?

Two games max is enough to play scrimmages, which is, essentially what they are. I think that was the original idea; To have 2 ps, 18 rs but it got finagled to 3 & 17.

 

[StarOfGlory]

Non-district games are preseason games.

Not sure what you mean. I coached in New Jersey.

 

[DallasEast]

Preseason games in HS football do not count in the standings. They are practice games.

In HS, it may have something to do w/ the ranking system, but since they have a playoff system the ranking system is irrelevant.

Non-district games are preseason games.

Not sure about other states but Louisiana high school sports does not take losses for granted. Our power ranking system drives teams to win games, non-district and district both.

A percentage of a point can mean the difference between getting seeded as a home or away team in the first round if you are hanging around the middle of the bracket. The higher power ranking of two lower seed winning upsets in the same bracket means the difference between traveling and playing at home in the next round. Etc.

I guess what I am saying is Louisiana high school does not treat any portion of their regular seasons like 50% of NBA teams usually do, lol.

 

[CowboyFanInLexKy]

I played varsity football in California in the mid 80s. We actually did have a couple of pre-season games that did not count in the standings.

Hueneme High School Vikings, Oxnard CA 1985-1988

 

[McKDaddy]

I understand what you are saying but I also believe there is no substitute for going against another team. You learn what people are capable of and repeated practice against those people becomes as much about familiarity as ability to read, diagnose & react.

Nothing like a different team to show you that you have become lulled into a false sense of security.

How many times have we seen an area of our team really looking good in practice and then go out & get exposed against someone else?