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The NFL Preseason is a Lie!

The NFL preseason is a lie
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What You See Isn’t Always What You Get

Let’s get this out of the way right away! The NFL preseason is a lie!

Click play for more or read the transcript below…

On our message board and throughout comments to our social media posts, fans jump to conclusions after 1 fake game. And we don’t call them fake games to mock the competition – they are fake because they aren’t played the same way and the final score isn’t as important as the progress players make during the game.

As an example…

Last night, or during any preseason game for that matter, the Ravens coaching staff had their players working on specific things that will help shape the direction of the team for the coming season WITHOUT regard for the opponent. Same thing for the Panthers! There is no game plan to counterattack the guys in strange colors. There is no film study to understand an opponent’s tendencies.

The preseason is simply a building block.

So to draw conclusions such as “the Ravens still lack playmakers” or “the secondary still sucks” or “Dean Pees has to go” is far too premature. Actually it’s pre-premature.

Now I can’t argue that the Ravens corners need to tweak their technique. Jerraud Powers was a mess BUT…

Successful completions at the expense of both Shareece Wright and Sheldon Price due to failed technique are correctable. Wright was beaten twice but he turned his hips well, reacted properly and was in position to make a play. He’s not far away.

Price was stride for stride on a couple of failed attempts when defending the pass but if he turns to the ball a split second sooner, he could have knocked down the pass or batted it in the air for a teammate to reel in.

As for Pees, there’s been an emphasis during training camp to be multiple – to have players assume multiple roles and move them around to various spots on the football field. But last night, we DID see the same thing as last season. We did NOT see players moving around all that much and we certainly didn’t see timed blitzes. Instead the Ravens pass rushers tipped their hand like a bad pitcher tips his pitches.

When that happens the results are almost always bad.

Maybe it was practice for Dean Pees too.

Maybe there’s a reason he’s down on the sidelines now.

Maybe he doesn’t want the new approach to show up on film and give future regular season opponents a cheat sheet.

Or maybe Pees just doesn’t have the wherewithal to orchestrate a derivative of organized chaos.

Time will tell. Remember the preseason is a building block.

Hopefully it’s a building block for coaches with a new approach too.

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