That's an interesting point. How good a measuring stick do you guys think Pre-Season games are? Which units get the fairest representation?
I would guess the Back-up QB's, but I'm an admitted n00b.
That's a good question. I wouldn't have said backup QBs, because they depend too much on whose around them: protection of the line, route running of the WRs, blitz pickup of the RBs and TEs.
Linemen depend on each other, but not on the skill players. LBs depend on the DL, but even the backup DL for the Pats is pretty good esp. against other team's backup OL, so I think the LBs can be judged fairly. A good thing because it's a battleground this year.
Tough to judge the secondary, but when a CB is beaten in man coverage, well, that's hard to hide, but you have to know who his man was and I often don't know and the TV doesn't show enough. Personally, I never know with safeties, unless they do something good -- lay a big hit or snag an int, but even then the coaches might be pissed if the guy was out of position or took a big chance and got lucky.
WRs are hard to tell, esp. with backup QBs. Did the QB make a bad throw or the WR run the wrong route. Only the coaches (and the players) know.
Of course, the level of competition makes the field uneven and unfair. A lineman beating his man all day might be playing a UDFA scrub while the guy struggling next to him is playing a future all-pro.
That's why I watch for fun, and wait for Reiss and a few of the guys on this board, like unoriginal and tripleoption and box-o-rocks to tell me what really happened.
In the days of Albert Breer, we could count on the Tale of the Tape, which is something I really miss. This board helps make up for it.
