It's the freakin' preseason, people.

[PantherPhann89]

Yes,  it's only Preseason, but Preseason with very, very vanilla plays on both sides of the ball, doesn't have anything to do with getting pushed around on the field. Training Camp is for working on technique amongst other things. I saw no technique, no umph, no i want this attitude, basically...no Steve Smith mentally,  just players going through the motions. That kind of stuff carry over into regular season if not corrected but honestly it shouldn't need to be corrected now, it should've already been coached! 

[Anybodyhome]

The Patriots look ready to start the season tomorrow.

The Panthers look as though they'll be ready by Week 4.

[philit99]

46 minutes ago, PantherPhann89 said:

Yes,  it's only Preseason, but Preseason with very, very vanilla plays on both sides of the ball, doesn't have anything to do with getting pushed around on the field. Training Camp is for working on technique amongst other things. I saw no technique, no umph, no i want this attitude, basically...no Steve Smith mentally,  just players going through the motions. That kind of stuff carry over into regular season if not corrected but honestly it shouldn't need to be corrected now, it should've already been coached! 

This, exactly how I see it.

[Sgt Schultz]

4 hours ago, Waldo said:

Even when the season starts, the first 6 weeks can be an ugly curve towards competency. Every year I talk to friends who can't believe the sloppy play and lack of cohesion and I'm like yeah, it still early and teams are still settling and we had this conversation last year. So buckle up it's not just one more preseason game, it's that game and real games too. At week six we will know what we have. Last year that was when Pitt reamed us and that was the look we produced until the last game of the year.

I almost ignore the month of September, other than the records (kinda how I watch baseball).  Most teams look very off the first three or four weeks.  We've seen a few teams own the first month and then fall apart.  Other teams look like they forgot how to play the game and then gel.  Even the Pats have had years where they looked like it was the year they were going to be displaced at the top of the AFC East, only to wind up winning it by four or five games as they came on and the other three faded.

I think Buffalo had several seasons where half or their wins, if not more, occurred in September.

My defense mechanism is not to take the actual game play in the first four weeks too seriously, but realize the wins and losses count.  I think the reason is that over the years, the amount of time the starters play in the preseason has gone down considerably.  I don't blame teams for that, you need to keep the A-team healthy.  But the downside is they don't always click at the same time the season starts.

[PantherPhann89]

46 minutes ago, philit99 said:

This, exactly how I see it.

We're on the same team...