The only thing that I can think of is that they gave an unusually large portion of their focus on the first string so that they would have enough practice reps during training camp to allow them to sit out the majority of preseason and rest.

Maybe part of what we saw was due to these guys not getting a lot of time to work together until the preseason began.

That would be a disadvantage against teams that gave more attention to their back ups during camp because they would be much more polished as units.

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