Why the 3rd NFL preseason game can still matter

It is preseason Week 3 time! This is the week when maybe — yes, maybe — we can get some clues for the regular season. Yay, get excited!

As I’ve said before, the preseason is mostly lies. I can’t repeat that enough because it’s true. We see it every preseason. Great or even poor performances this time of the year are often the exact opposite of what happens in the regular season. It might be even getting more pronounced now with starters playing less and less in the preseason. I think Sean McVay and Matt Nagy are fighting for the title of “who cares the least about the preseason.”

Because of that, it’s extremely tough to assess a team’s record or a specific unit, like offense or defense, and how they’d do in the regular season. We’ve seen teams go 0-4 and then win 12 or 13 games. More commonly, we see teams go 4-0 in the preseason and win fewer than four games in the regular season. Offenses that were on fire in the preseason are terrible in the regular season and vice versa.

One major reason why the preseason is getting even tougher to gauge is the lack of playing time for the starters and even less gameplanning than usual. Preseason reps used to be uniform. The ones, on offense and defense, played roughly the first quarter in game one. In the second game, it was until halftime. In game three, it was one drive into the third quarter and in the final game, maybe a single drive.

Now, many teams aren’t even playing starters in the third preseason game at all. And if you’re not playing the starters, you’re less inclined to spend time gameplanning for this week, which used to be the norm.

The third preseason game was treated as a dress rehearsal with some gameplanning so the offense and defense were more prepared. When you’re more prepared, you play fast and it’s easier to evaluate the play on the field. Without as many starters playing in Week 3 now, it’s harder to judge what happens.

With all that being said, you can still take away something from the third preseason game.

The information you can grab from this week’s games are individual improvements in young players. And even that information needs to be viewed with a “preseason lens”. Several rookies — Giants quarterback Daniel Jones and Eagles tackle Andre Dillard, for example — have excelled in their reps so far. But, these players have mostly played with backups against backups. I’m stating the obvious here, but that’s not how the regular season unfolds.

So, while these players have passed their first test by playing well against backups, they haven’t passed any test that would show they are ready for the big time. This is why preseason Week 3 can be helpful. Will we see these players get a chance to play against any starters?

This year, here are three developments I’ll be looking for in the third preseason game:

The Cardinals’ offense. The new-look Arizona offense has struggled and no, I don’t buy this “it isn’t showing anything” nonsense. It’s looked out of rhythm because it’s new. This makes sense.

But the Cardinals aren’t just running some other offense in the preseason and then will show their real offense in the regular season. Of course, the offense with Kliff Kingsbury and Kyler Murray will adapt, evolve, and continue to form over the regular season. This is their base offense, though

The pass protection has been suspect. Part of the pass protection issues have been a lack of gameplanning, which should change this week. With a more specific gameplan and focus on their opponent, the Minnesota Vikings, the Cardinals should be more efficient on offense.

Daniel Jones. Jones has looked way better than I thought he’d look so far. He’s been comfortable in the pocket and made some big throws. He deserves credit for starting fast. However, and while this might upset some Daniel Jones/Giants fans who think I’m throwing a wet blanket on him, he’s played against no starters! That matters. It does.

So, will the Giants give him some reps with the starting offense against the Bengals’ starting defense? I hope to see Jones get this opportunity.

The 49ers’ offense. I’m a believer in Kyle Shanahan and Jimmy Garoppolo. However, the preseason has worried me just a tad. The offense hasn’t looked crisp at all. Jimmy G is coming off an injury and he’s working back into shape. I get all that and it’s understandable. But, I’d like to see progress this week against the Chiefs.

All right folks, enjoy the preseason this week, as I know I will be doing. Try to find individual matchups or units to follow along and, again, remember it’s just the preseason.