Preseason, over-seasoned

 Watched a bit of the Colts preseason game at Buffalo yesterday, and there must be something wrong with me. I didn't see anything that made me retire to my fainting couch.

I saw Nyheim Hines make a couple nice runs and Matt Ryan step up in the pocket to deliver a buying-time completion, and a swing pass to Hines that picked up a chunky six-or-seven yards on first down. 

But I missed the horrible Parris Campbell dropping two passes, and the other sadsack Colts receivers struggling to get open against the Bills' backups, and OMIGOD THE COLTS ONLY SCORED 24 POINTS THEIR OFFENSE IS TERRIBLE.

Which is what I was hearing from Indianapolis media and other Colts followers after the first-team offense played one quarter in one preseason game. That amounted to 21 snaps. And yet ... lots of over-the-top pearl clutching and lots of preseason over-seasoning from folks who should know better.

Here's what I know: Playing preseason football games in today's NFL is like putting water wings on Michael Phelps. They are completely extraneous, serving no real purpose except to get players hurt and put a few extra dollars in the owners already overburdened wallets. As an evaluator they are next to worthless -- especially the first preseason game., 

Back in the day, when NFL teams used to play as many as six of these deals, they did have a modicum of value. That's because players went home after the season and you didn't see them until training camp. Same for your draft picks.

Now everyone has mini-camps and mini-mini-camps and OTAs and film technology that would have left Cecil B. DeMille slack-jawed. Players show up for training camp already in game shape. Rookies show up already having been evaluated down to the molecular level. The days of a rookie making the team solely because he made a couple of jarring tackles in a preseason game are mostly over.

Oh, it still happens occasionally, I'm sure. But so much else goes into the process now, and coaching staffs know so much more about a player than they ever did before.

And all the hand-wringing about how bad the Colts offense looked, particularly the receivers?

Maybe they're not very good, and maybe they're only sorta OK. But 21 snaps in one pretend game wasn't the clincher. For any number of reasons, appearances deceive in these money-grab exhibitions. And no one should know that better than Colts fans.

Remember 2006, the year the Colts went 12-4 and won the Super Bowl in Miami?

In the preseason, they were 1-3. Lost to the Seahawks, who went 9-7 that season. Also to the Rams, who were 8-8. Also to the Bengals, who beat the Colts 20-3 in their last preseason game and also went 8-8 that season.

And the year before?

The Colts went 14-2. 

In the preseason, they were 0-5.

But, hey. At least they weren't the Jets on Friday night.

On Friday night, see, the Jets beat the Eagles 24-21. Starting quarterback Zach Wilson threw five passes and completed three. Then he stepped wrong, and now he's out 2-to-4 weeks with a knee injury.

"What a waste!" you're saying. "The Jets already know what he can do! Why was he out there at all?"

Good question. Goood question.