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Here's a list of things I like to keep in mind when trying to evaluate what I see in preseason. These are by no means a hard truth, they just help me try to keep some perspective:
1) Unless he's catching passes from Brady, a wide receiver's performance means next to nothing. As good as Tyms looked, having chemistry with a backup QB against 3rd stringers counts for nothing. In the regular season it will be Brady's confidence you need, not Garrapolo's.
2) Judging the pass rush is working with half information. You can get an idea of who the athletes are on the line, but you'll see very little in the way of exotic blitzes or complex schemes, especially early in the preseason. How this team pressures the QB in preseason will change in the regular season, for better or for worse.
3) If more than one starter is missing from a unit, take any reserve player's performance with a grain of salt. Example, the linebackers last night showed flashes, but also as a group were not great against the run. I have a hard time evaluating James Anderson in that scenario however, because more than likely he'll be in there with some combination of Mayo/Hightower/Collins, not Beauharnais and Flemming. His role on the team was not shown last night.
4) Who doesn't play can be more informative than what we end up seeing on the field. Healthy players who don't suit up for early preseason games tells me who the coaching staff has confidence in already. There may be scenarios where a player is a little dinged up or other such factors, but for the most part I feel comfortable saying that BB believes in: Brady, Edelman, Amendola, Mankins, Chandler Jones, Ninkovich, Mayo, Hightower, Collins, Revis, and McCourty.
5) How a player improves (or regresses) from week 1 to week 2 is more important than how he looked in week 1 alone. If players like Mallett, Boyce, Finch, and Ryan come out in week 2 and look solid, I can overlook their subpar performances in week 1, because it means the arrow is trending upwards. That's what we want in preseason: steady improvement.
6) Players in preseason are often worked outside their comfort zones. In baseball, a pitcher will use spring training to get the timing and feel down on his less comfortable pitches, even if they're not ideal for the batter he's facing. If a player looks lost out there, try to see where he's lining up. If it's not where you expected, it could be an experiment.
7) Tackling always looks inconsistent. This is the first bout of live tackling these players have seen in months. Some players get up to speed with it faster than others (Washington looked better than our guys), but it's not a concern early on. If it still looks sloppy in week 4 of the preseason, it may start to mean something.
8) Nothing a rookie does in preseason is guaranteed to translate to the real thing. Zach Sudfeld looked pretty good last preseason, then looked completely overwhelmed from the get go once the real action started. These are 20 - 22 year old kids who are used to be being among the biggest, strongest, and fastest in their field for most of their lives. The intensity of an NFL game can't be recreated in exhibitions, so enthusiasm on any young player should be tempered at least until they get that first game under their belts.
9) It's preseason for EVERYONE. This is the time when coaches are practicing all their calls, adjustments, and techniques as well. Referees are getting back into the swing and trying to focus on new points of emphasis. Hell, even the broadcasts are typically sloppy and ugly. Nothing in these games is what it is going to be.
10) I'm not coaching the team. As much as we all like to watch these players and try to evaluate who's rising, who's falling, who's making the cut and who's cutting meat at the local Shaw's, it helps me to remember that there's no pressure on me to make those decisions. The best thing I can do through these first two wacky games is just enjoy that very simple fact that football is BACK.
1) Unless he's catching passes from Brady, a wide receiver's performance means next to nothing. As good as Tyms looked, having chemistry with a backup QB against 3rd stringers counts for nothing. In the regular season it will be Brady's confidence you need, not Garrapolo's.
2) Judging the pass rush is working with half information. You can get an idea of who the athletes are on the line, but you'll see very little in the way of exotic blitzes or complex schemes, especially early in the preseason. How this team pressures the QB in preseason will change in the regular season, for better or for worse.
3) If more than one starter is missing from a unit, take any reserve player's performance with a grain of salt. Example, the linebackers last night showed flashes, but also as a group were not great against the run. I have a hard time evaluating James Anderson in that scenario however, because more than likely he'll be in there with some combination of Mayo/Hightower/Collins, not Beauharnais and Flemming. His role on the team was not shown last night.
4) Who doesn't play can be more informative than what we end up seeing on the field. Healthy players who don't suit up for early preseason games tells me who the coaching staff has confidence in already. There may be scenarios where a player is a little dinged up or other such factors, but for the most part I feel comfortable saying that BB believes in: Brady, Edelman, Amendola, Mankins, Chandler Jones, Ninkovich, Mayo, Hightower, Collins, Revis, and McCourty.
5) How a player improves (or regresses) from week 1 to week 2 is more important than how he looked in week 1 alone. If players like Mallett, Boyce, Finch, and Ryan come out in week 2 and look solid, I can overlook their subpar performances in week 1, because it means the arrow is trending upwards. That's what we want in preseason: steady improvement.
6) Players in preseason are often worked outside their comfort zones. In baseball, a pitcher will use spring training to get the timing and feel down on his less comfortable pitches, even if they're not ideal for the batter he's facing. If a player looks lost out there, try to see where he's lining up. If it's not where you expected, it could be an experiment.
7) Tackling always looks inconsistent. This is the first bout of live tackling these players have seen in months. Some players get up to speed with it faster than others (Washington looked better than our guys), but it's not a concern early on. If it still looks sloppy in week 4 of the preseason, it may start to mean something.
8) Nothing a rookie does in preseason is guaranteed to translate to the real thing. Zach Sudfeld looked pretty good last preseason, then looked completely overwhelmed from the get go once the real action started. These are 20 - 22 year old kids who are used to be being among the biggest, strongest, and fastest in their field for most of their lives. The intensity of an NFL game can't be recreated in exhibitions, so enthusiasm on any young player should be tempered at least until they get that first game under their belts.
9) It's preseason for EVERYONE. This is the time when coaches are practicing all their calls, adjustments, and techniques as well. Referees are getting back into the swing and trying to focus on new points of emphasis. Hell, even the broadcasts are typically sloppy and ugly. Nothing in these games is what it is going to be.
10) I'm not coaching the team. As much as we all like to watch these players and try to evaluate who's rising, who's falling, who's making the cut and who's cutting meat at the local Shaw's, it helps me to remember that there's no pressure on me to make those decisions. The best thing I can do through these first two wacky games is just enjoy that very simple fact that football is BACK.
