Preseason is Meaningless, History Shows

[theRalph]

The panic that's ensued after the game Saturday night is amusing. On August 14, 2008, the Bills 'hosted' the Steelers at the Rogers Dome in Toronto.

 

The Bills jumped out to a 21-0 lead on the Steelers—running their starters off the field. The Bills eventually won 24-21. After starting hot, the Dick Jauron coached Bills went 7-9. The Steelers finished second in the AFC behind the Titans and went on to beat Arizona in Super Bowl XLIII.

 

Its.Preseason.Just.Stop.

[MikePJ76]

The old saying that they play these games to find out who is going to get hurt rings true every august

[HOUSE]

Now I can sleep tonight 

[Prospector]

4 minutes ago, theRalph said:

The panic that's ensued after the game Saturday night is amusing. On August 14, 2008, the Bills 'hosted' the Steelers at the Rogers Dome in Toronto.

 

The Bills jumped out to a 21-0 lead on the Steelers—running their starters off the field. The Bills eventually won 24-21. After starting hot, the Dick Jauron coached Bills went 7-9. The Steelers finished second in the AFC behind the Titans and went on to beat Arizona in Super Bowl XLIII.

 

Its.Preseason.Just.Stop.

I agree with this... I was more disappointed in what seemed like a bunch of guys just going through the motions, with little energy. Hopefully we come out with our hair on fire when the regular season starts.

[Doc Brown]

The main reason people are freaking out is all the concerns we had going into the season proved true on Saturday.  MLB and RT are a huge liability.  Dawkins play may be slipping and our defense looked old and slow on that long run play.

[The Frankish Reich]

I go with the old wisdom that you can't win any regular season games in the preseason, but you can lose some.

Exhibit: Nathaniel Hackett, Broncos 2022. Camp was a walk in the park, no important starters played at all in the preseason, the players (including a new QB) were utterly unprepared, and the regular season was a crap show.

But that's the preseason (camp/practice/"games") as a whole. I've not seen any evidence that the games themselves make any difference.

[Brand J]

Wins and losses in the preseason don’t matter, nor does the final score. But how the team arrives at that final score does carry some weight. Like Dion Dawkins type of weight. It was sobering seeing him get beat multiple times by a 4th round rookie. He just didn’t look good. Also sobering seeing our first round pick from last year - who was a healthy scratch at times - showing no real improvement and unable to unseat a couple of late round picks. MLB also looks like a dumpster fire.
 

Preseason doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things, but on an individual level you would like to see your starters play well before coming out, rather than reinforce the concerns many had coming into the game. 

[nucci]

the fact that the games don't count should tip you off.....not history

[Gregg]

Best example of how meaningless preseason is the 1996 New York Jets coached by Rich Kotite. They went undefeated in preseason and ended up 1-15 that season.

[Logic]

 

4 minutes ago, JayBaller10 said:

Wins and losses in the preseason don’t matter, nor does the final score. But how the team arrives at that final score does carry some weight. Like Dion Dawkins type of weight. It was sobering seeing him get beat multiple times by a 4th round rookie. He just didn’t look good. Also sobering seeing our first round pick from last year - who was a healthy scratch at times - showing no real improvement and unable to unseat a couple of late round picks. MLB also looks like a dumpster fire.
 

Preseason doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things, but on an individual level you would like to see your starters play well before coming out, rather than reinforce the concerns many had coming into the game. 

This. 

The FINAL SCORE does not matter. This is true. 

However, you do want to see crisp execution, attention to detail, organization, cohesion on offense and defense, players winning individual matchups, and a general display of competence. 

The Bills during the drought often looked poor in all of the above areas in the preseason and -- wouldn't you know it -- they'd continue to look poor come the regular season. Conversely, the Sean McDermott Bills have tended to check all of the above boxes in the preseason in recent years, and that competence and effectiveness carried over into the regular season.

So...what are we to make of two straight weeks of sloppiness and lackluster play? Are the Bills going to magically flip a switch, stop committing 10 penalties a game, and start looking as talented and competent as they should? Maybe, maybe not, but it's a reasonable question to ask.

The outcome doesn't matter. The way the team performs en route to the meaningless outcome does matter.

 

[Franco_92]

13 minutes ago, Doc Brown said:

The main reason people are freaking out is all the concerns we had going into the season proved true on Saturday.  MLB and RT are a huge liability.  Dawkins play may be slipping and our defense looked old and slow on that long run play.

But the RT point isn't even true, as film uncovered that Spencer Brown was largely fine despite being on TJ Watt's preferred side

3 minutes ago, Gregg said:

Best example of how meaningless preseason is the 1996 New York Jets coached by Rich Kotite. They went undefeated in preseason and ended up 1-15 that season.

I'll one-up you there. Detroit's 0-16 2008 season also had an undefeated preseason

[first_and_ten]

32 minutes ago, theRalph said:

The panic that's ensued after the game Saturday night is amusing. On August 14, 2008, the Bills 'hosted' the Steelers at the Rogers Dome in Toronto.

 

The Bills jumped out to a 21-0 lead on the Steelers—running their starters off the field. The Bills eventually won 24-21. After starting hot, the Dick Jauron coached Bills went 7-9. The Steelers finished second in the AFC behind the Titans and went on to beat Arizona in Super Bowl XLIII.

 

Its.Preseason.Just.Stop.

 

I had to tell myself over and over again, just that. 

[SoonerBillsFan]

Agreed some fans get wigged out about bad play in the preseason, and its understandable to a point. But as it was stated by another poster Pittsburgh game planned for this game and I think in part because of the whooping we put on them last year.  The OL wasn't as bad as some made it out to be and the only 2 concerns I had was Josh not seeing a wide open Diggs again and the penalties.  I believe this will be shored up and much better by the opener. 

[jkeerie]

Just watched Greg Cosell on One Bills Live.  He offered some good perspective.  First off, he agreed with Steve that the Bills were not mentally in the game, which obviously hurt.  He is concerned about Brown on the right side but not panicking.  He loves Van Demark.  Says he didn't have a bad play.  He played LT for 4 years in college.  Question is if he can play on the right side.  He also loves Gouraige and was surprised he went undrafted.  Also said he didn't have a bad play in the game.  

 

Defensively, he thinks that Klein will get the nod at MLB because of his experience.  He eventually thinks that Dorian Williams will end up on the field because of his athleticism.  He loved him coming out of Tulane and has been impressed with him in the preseason.  

 

He also commented on Shorter.  Thinks he's going to be good.  

[RobbRiddick]

Well all I know is Stevw Spurriers Redskins teams were an unstoppable machine in the preseason and they always ended up carrying over their form into the regular season

[Simon Says]

49 minutes ago, theRalph said:

The panic that's ensued after the game Saturday night is amusing. On August 14, 2008, the Bills 'hosted' the Steelers at the Rogers Dome in Toronto.

 

The Bills jumped out to a 21-0 lead on the Steelers—running their starters off the field. The Bills eventually won 24-21. After starting hot, the Dick Jauron coached Bills went 7-9. The Steelers finished second in the AFC behind the Titans and went on to beat Arizona in Super Bowl XLIII.

 

Its.Preseason.Just.Stop.

Funny how Greg Cosell just told this story on OneBills Live

[SoonerBillsFan]

3 minutes ago, jkeerie said:

Just watched Greg Cosell on One Bills Live.  He offered some good perspective.  First off, he agreed with Steve that the Bills were not mentally in the game, which obviously hurt.  He is concerned about Brown on the right side but not panicking.  He loves Van Demark.  Says he didn't have a bad play.  He played LT for 4 years in college.  Question is if he can play on the right side.  He also loves Gouraige and was surprised he went undrafted.  Also said he didn't have a bad play in the game.  

 

Defensively, he thinks that Klein will get the nod at MLB because of his experience.  He eventually thinks that Dorian Williams will end up on the field because of his athleticism.  He loved him coming out of Tulane and has been impressed with him in the preseason.  

 

He also commented on Shorter.  Thinks he's going to be good.  

I really like Greg Cosell, and respect his opinion.

[Royale with Cheese]

 

[LABILLBACKER]

33 minutes ago, Doc Brown said:

The main reason people are freaking out is all the concerns we had going into the season proved true on Saturday.  MLB and RT are a huge liability.  Dawkins play may be slipping and our defense looked old and slow on that long run play.

I'm not going to panic but I'm also not going to ignore the penalties, the OT concerns or who the hell will play LB next to Milano. The incessant Diggs drama, mostly manufactured by the media, will just have to play out.  

[Milanos Milano]

6 minutes ago, RobbRiddick said:

Well all I know is Stevw Spurriers Redskins teams were an unstoppable machine in the preseason and they always ended up carrying over their form into the regular season

You play how you practice. If you can’t take practice seriously, it will eventually bleed over into game day.