Enough with pre-season already.

[Dave Gray]

Get rid of it.  All of it.

It made sense back when your linebacker was an insurance salesman for half the year and you needed games to get back into football shape.  But let's be real: these guys are full-time athletes at this point.

It's a waste of money and time and just serves to get guys hurt.

I would be ok if they went down to 2 games, but they really should just get rid of all of them.

[Brian Fein]

I disagree.

While I think 2 games is probably OK, I think there's a need for game film on guys that are on the bubble to make the 53.  True you probably don't need 4 or 5 games to get there. 

Every sport has a preseason.  Its not just a made up NFL joke.

[CF DolFan]

They were talking about this on ESPN the other day and mentioned the owners as the reason. Apparently they don't have to share revenue for these games so no one will give them up.

[Dolphster]

I'd be happy with just 2 games.  But like someone else said, there are other factors that come into play.  And as always, "other factors" = $.   

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Disagree.  Every sport has a pre-season and of all the sports football needs it most.  For a few reason.

(1) Football is more of a team sport than any other team sport.  A batter can practice hitting without the rest of his team.  A pitcher can practice pitching without the rest of the team.  Can't practice recovering an  on-side kick solo. 

(2) The season is shorter.  If a baseball team has a slow start and goes 0-4 in their first four games there is plenty of season left.  A football team does it and they are looking forward to next year's draft. 

(3) Rookies/Player movement/coaching changes.  A short stop on one team with one coach is going to be expected to do pretty much the same thing with another team and another coach.  Not true with an OLB. 

[MikeO]

they don't need any games. 3rd preseason game (the so called important one) Aaron Rodgers didn't even suit up. Big Ben played 2 series. It's turned into a joke.

Every team should do a couple joint practices with teams. Give teams a couple more practices and call it a day.

The game has changed in so many ways and needs to evolve. This is a way it should evolve, eliminate the preseason. And to say the NFL needs it, just remember college football doesn't have "preseason games." I'm sure the NFL can live without any

[DZA]

Get rid of it.  All of it.

It made sense back when your linebacker was an insurance salesman for half the year and you needed games to get back into football shape.  But let's be real: these guys are full-time athletes at this point.

It's a waste of money and time and just serves to get guys hurt.

I would be ok if they went down to 2 games, but they really should just get rid of all of them.

DISAGREE ... you got to think about the undrafted guys trying to make the roster..coaches fine tuning their rosters. new referees getting their shot in the big league.... Its easy as a fan to say hey cut preseason ..  Why??? Guys get hURT-  ok  Thats football for you. 

Every pro sport has a Pre-season so why the NFl should not have one. 

NBA- pre-season-Guys get hurt
MLB- spring training GUYS get hurt
NFL- Definitely guys get hurt.

Its the nature of the business

[Cathal]

DISAGREE ... you got to think about the undrafted guys trying to make the roster..coaches fine tuning their rosters. new referees getting their shot in the big league.... Its easy as a fan to say hey cut preseason ..  Why??? Guys get hURT-  ok  Thats football for you. 

Every pro sport has a Pre-season so why the NFl should not have one. 

NBA- pre-season-Guys get hurt
MLB- spring training GUYS get hurt
NFL- Definitely guys get hurt.

Its the nature of the business

But what's the likelihood of guys getting hurt, season-ending hurt, in any sport other than football? That's the main reason why the NFL pre-season should go away. I don't want to lose my starter in a meaningless game. If he goes down in game 1 of the regular season, then so be it. If the coaches can't figure out who they need to cut with all of the practices and scrimmages, then that's just a problem they'll have to deal with.

[Dave Gray]

The NFL is a collision sport.  You can't really compare it to baseball or basketball.

And I don't mind teams taking time to fine-tune.  Just do it on your own time, and don't may fans pay for it or put it on TV.

[Brian Fein]

The NFL is a collision sport.  You can't really compare it to baseball or basketball.

Can you compare it to hockey?  I know no one cares about hockey but let's not ignore it.  There's plenty of hitting in the NHL and they have preseason as well.  I'd argue that the NHL collisions could at times be harder and more jarring than NFL.

I think the preseason games are more important now that teams can't practice in full pads as much.  The CBA requires no more than 2 practices a week of full pads.  Are you supposed to base game simulated performance on walk throughs?

[Dave Gray]

NHL plays 8 preseason games for an 82 game season.  It's less than 10%.  And I doubt that all of those games are necessary, but I don't follow hockey, so I couldn't say.

As long as no teams have pre-season, they're all on the same level.  What we have now is a farce where guys are getting hurt, not everyone is playing full-speed, it doesn't make sense to play guys who aren't 100%, and you have units playing with some guys in and some guys out.

[Cathal]

Can you compare it to hockey?  I know no one cares about hockey but let's not ignore it.  There's plenty of hitting in the NHL and they have preseason as well.  I'd argue that the NHL collisions could at times be harder and more jarring than NFL.

I think the preseason games are more important now that teams can't practice in full pads as much.  The CBA requires no more than 2 practices a week of full pads.  Are you supposed to base game simulated performance on walk throughs?

People actually hit each other in hockey? It always seems like people just get out of the way. 

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Lets take your issues one by one.  

(1) Injures that occur during the preseason are worse than those that occur week 1. As a NE Patriots fan that saw Brady go down in 2008, I respectfully disagree.  It probably was good thing that Cassel go significant reps during the preseason.  

(2) Let players practice.  They won't get injured that way unlike in games.  Okay, tell that to Kam Chancellor among others.

(3) Don't televise the games.  I get something like 400 channels.   If I don't want to watch a NFL preseason football game there are hundreds of other options.  

(4) Don't make you pay for the game.  You don't have to.  Yes, If you want season tickets you have to buy the whole season.  But if they got rid of the preseason which of the following is more likely (a) the annual cost will remain the same (or go up) with that amount of money divided by 8 rather than 10 OR (b) the per ticket price per game will remain the same with season ticket holders paying 20% less.   If you picked (b) I have a unicorn to sell you.  

(5) Coaches don't need the preseason game to trim the roster from 80 to 53 and choose the starters.  Statements by coaches seem to suggest otherwise.  Also those game films allow other teams to pick up bubble players that are cut.

(6) It will be fair as long as no team has a preseason game.  This is true.  It would also be fair if every team got 5 downs, if timeouts lasted 5 mins, if they stopped using an oblong ball and used a round one instead, required that punters wear pink shoe laces or extended the preseason from 4 games to 6.  EVERY rule change would be fair, that is never the issue.  Question is would the change improve the game. you have offered nothing to suggest that.  

[Brian Fein]

What if preseason games were only 2 quarters?

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

What if preseason games were only 2 quarters?

What would that accomplish?  Certainly would do nothing to stem the complaint season holders should have to buy preseason tickets. 

Each team has 22 starters and 75/80 players available for preseason games. 

Any coach that wants to safe guard his starters by not playing them a single down in the preseason could choose to do that.  Most coaches don't do that for a reason.