Power of Caring
  presented by CIGNA

Exhibition problems outweigh positives

Click here for more on this story

Posted: Wednesday September 08, 1999 01:30 PM

The NFL preseason is used to get everyone on the same page for the long grind ahead. But the more I look at preseason football, the more I think its problems outweigh the positives.

The most critical issue is the amount of injuries in meaningless games. An offensive coordinator I know laughingly said, "Countries don't fire real bullets when they're practicing for war, only we do." Are the Giants better off for rushing Gary Brown back from his motorcycle injury to play some preseason game, then losing him for at least a month with a knee injury? Of course not.

Wayne Chrebet and Vinny Testaverde don't need to work on their timing -- they played 20 games together last year and had minicamp and summer practice to do that. A week ago Giants Stadium had natural grass; this week it has an artificial surface. I talked to two trainers since Friday night's game and they said they had no doubt in their minds that the best third-down receiver in the NFL broke his foot because of the surface. As one coach said to me, "Remember how long it took the tobacco companies to admit that smoking was dangerous to your health? I think the turf companies are owned by the same guys."

Instant replay actually got worse as the preseason went on. The coaches I spoke with recently felt they're back to step one with replay and now have the added pressure of the challenge system. As one head coach said to me, "This system is like the two-point play after a touchdown. It's something you have to have, but no one wants to use."

Just take a look at the Giants -- Baltimore game if you want to see how dysfunctional the new replay system is. Everyone watching on television or on replay in the stadium saw that the ground caused a fumble on a LeShon Johnson run and that Baltimore receiver Billy Davis never had two feet in bounds on a play in the 4th quarter. Then, after the replay crew blew both calls, it came out that the officials did not have the same camera angle as the TV crew. Are you kidding me?!

One GM told me he's not convinced everyone in the NFL wants the replay system to work. He went on to say, "How does the league expect to have coaches waste timeouts in regular-season play to challenge calls when they can't get it right." The pressure is now on the coaches instead of where it should be -- on the officials.

And finally, the notion that preseason games teach teams how to win has been blown way out of proportion. If you're playing teams that are rotating players in and out throughout the game, calling plays to see if they work, or even better, not going with a game plan since it's just preseason, what have you really learned? Baltimore went 4-0 in preseason and I had a player tell me the Ravens were learning about winning. I told him that one year when I was with the Jets, we went 5-0 in preseason and our final season record was 4-12. That same year Buffalo went 1- 3 in preseason and went to the Super Bowl.

The NFL season is upon us, all the teams are undefeated and everyone is ready for 17 weeks of the best that they've got. It's not as if they were counting on the preseason to help them get prepared.

Pat Kirwan, who spent 12 years in the NFL as a coach, scout and personnel administrator, is an NFL analyst for CNN/SI.

 

Related information
Multimedia
Visit Multimedia Central for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.