Quote:Preseason game. Means nothing.


Remember last year when the Bucs blew out the Bengals in the 3rd preseason game? And how did that turn out for both teams?


Yea it sucked to see them look bad on national TV but we needed to get smacked in the mouth. It will only make them better in the long run... When the season ACTUALLY begins.

I've been harping this very message since the pre-season began. It's very difficult (perhaps unwise is the more accurate term...) to be trying to draw many conclusions about likely regular season performance based on pre-season game observations. Pre-season games are generally not game planned. There is the fact that since these games are really meaningless (unless you're a player on the potential cut list...) there is little/no motivation for the starters to really put out maximum effort. Indeed, one might even say the only positive outcome of a pre-season game is if your starters stay healthy. Beyond that, it's just a glorified practice game to help coaches evaluate lower tier players who may be cut before the regular season begins. Oh, it also gives the starters a few snaps to start getting into the 'vibe' of playing again.

 

How much of what we've seen has really represented the best efforts of our defense? After all the hype about Fowler, has he really been that completely shut down or has he intentionally throttled back....saving it for when it actually counts? Or is it a case of being 'great on the practice field' but being reminded that you're just a rookie after all come game time?

 

We don't know, and won't know until the regular season starts. Then it will be time for max effort and pulling out the stops as now it counts for real. We'll see what we've really got when we've played a few regular season games.

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