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Andy Richardson

Some people will tell you the preseason doesn’t matter, while others will exaggerate its importance. Like so many things, the truth is somewhere in between. Here’s a quick overview.

Injuries: When players get hurt early in the preseason, it matters. Young players lose the opportunity to win jobs or pick up offenses quickly. Older players might not be able to bounce back as quickly, or the injury is a sign of a player whose body might be starting to break down. Even star players who are treated with kid gloves after a preseason injury can end up missing regular-season games as a result – Steve Smith a year ago. Important or Not Important? Important.

Holdouts: Most holdouts get resolved, either quickly or ultimately. Sometimes the players go on to have stellar seasons: LaDainian Tomlinson and Emmitt Smith leap to mind. All too often, though, the veteran player goes on to suffer an injury (Dorsey Levens) or have a subpar season (Deion Branch). Young players, particularly at positions like quarterback or wide receiver, fall behind in their development, and it costs them (Philip Rivers). Tough to say what will be the case with a guy like Larry Johnson, but the guess is it will be: Important.

Statistics: More often than not, a team’s leading rusher or receiver in the preseason is a guy who will never start a game – if he plays at all – when the games actually count. Musa Smith and Jerome Harrison tore things up in the preseason last year, then disappeared when the games actually counted. And at least with those guys you can make a case for them this year, as both are good candidates to be in No. 2 roles.

Far worse are the No. 3 and 4 running backs on teams who get all their carries in the second half with scrubs on the field for both teams. More often than not, those guys are getting those second-half exhibition carries because the coaching staff knows they’re headed to the practice squad (at best) anyway and don’t care if those guys break a leg or not. “You’re getting 20 carries not because I want to take an extended look at you, but because I want to kill the clock and don’t want to get anyone more important injured.” Stats, Not Important.

What the Media Says: People say the media only reports bad news, but that’s not really true with sports. Oh sure, they’re all over the Michael Vick thing, but that’s the kind of story that just makes them work even harder to find the feel-good puff pieces we see every preseason. The veteran who looks great coming back from injury. The youngster who’s shed 10 pounds and now has an extra gear, or whose offseason regimen has them stronger and more explosive off the line of scrimmage than ever before. (I’d love to find the workout that will make me more explosive, because I’ve read it’s out there somewhere.) The rookie who has already digested the entire playbook and is making his cuts perfectly.

While these stories EXIST, they are largely meaningless. Jabar Gaffney catching everything in practice doesn’t change the fact that he’s a mediocre veteran playing with his third team in the last two seasons, with a club that’s loaded at wide receiver and likes to spread the ball around. The media’s job isn’t to help you build your fantasy team, it’s to write stories that get the hometown fans excited about their team and to cut through the anti-sports fervor generated by discouraging tales of DUI arrests and the like. Not Important.

What Coaches Say: You can’t trust coaches during the regular season, when they’re only trying to win games and would lie to their own mother if they felt it would give them an edge on Sunday. Remarkably, though, coaches seem to be pretty honest in the preseason. Norv Turner says we won’t see much of LaDainian Tomlinson in the preseason, and we probably won’t. Herman Edwards couldn’t sound any less confident in Priest Holmes’ comeback if he were laughing openly at the very idea. The lies, by and large, are obvious ones, like when Cam Cameron says that there’s an open competition for the starting quarterback job in Miami. Right, I’m sure they spent half the offseason trying to acquire Trent Green just for depth. What coaches say is Important, particularly when it comes to their intentions for how to use players (“We prefer giving the ball to one running back”) or not use them (“We’d like to use a bigger back around the goal line to reduce the wear and tear on our starter”). In the preseason, actually, coaches are sometimes honest to a fault – remember “The Randy Ratio”? Nice one, Mike Tice.

What Players Say: “I think 16-0 is a real possibility.” “My goal is 2,000 yards.” Considering none of these predictions ever pan out, don’t you think people would give it a rest? Apparently not, because players keep doing it. When a running back says his goal is 2,000 yards, that’s usually my cue to move him DOWN, not up, on my draft board. That’s an injury waiting to happen, more often than not. I always enjoy when players talk as if they enjoy committee situations, saying it keeps them fresher, or it makes sense for the coach to give more carries to the guy with the hot hand, or whatever. Does anyone honestly believe that Fred Taylor wants to get pulled at the goal line, or that Clinton Portis doesn’t care if Ladell Betts gets more carries than he does in a given week? Right. Put no stock whatsoever in what players say; it’s Not Important.

I’m sure we’d all like the preseason to be shorter, especially those of us who drafted Frank Gore last week. But it’s not going anywhere, leaving you forced to make the best of it. So remember: Avoid players coming off injury who are predicting their best season ever and also tearing it up in camp while the media talks about how explosive they are, and you’ll be fine.

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