1mo ago

Ja'Marr Chase: To avoid another slow start, Bengals starters might need to play in the preseason

www.nfl.com

The Cincinnati Bengals' perennial slow start has become a glaring issue, forcing them to burrow out of early-season holes. In the past two years, they've failed, finishing 9-8 and missing the postseason in back-to-back campaigns.

In six seasons under Zac Taylor, the Bengals have gone 1-11 in the first two weeks of the season and 4-13-1 through three weeks. The only year in which Cincy had a winning record through three weeks, 2021, they went to the Super Bowl.

"It sounds like we need to play in the preseason, huh?" receiver Ja'Marr Chase said on Tuesday, via the Associated Press.

5 comments

First off, I think Chase is wrong here. The only winning there is in the preseason is escaping it with zero injuries to your starters. My team, the Chiefs, lost their top wide receiver for nearly the whole season in a meaningless preseason game last year. That's a huge loss for a game that means nothing.
If you ask me, they need to get rid of the preseason entirely.
Do this instead: Expand each roster by ten, add an extra bye week, and change the pre-season games over to regular season games instead.
I have to confess that I never really follow the pre-season.
So, does this meant that the main starters don't usually play in pre-season? If not, what's the point of them? I thought they were there to get players up to speed before the important games start?
I confess I'm coming at this from a football ⚽ point of view, where pre-season 'friendlies' are a very common thing, and where the top squad players will always have at least some involvement in matches. They may play only 60 minutes out of 90, but they're there.
I had no idea that football 🏈 was different in that regard!
- Yeah, a lot of NFL teams limit their starters' play in preseaon due to the risk of injury. (Which personally, I think is the smart way to approach it since the games are meaningless.) It is an opportunity for rookies and players lower on the depth chart to get some gametime experience and a chance to show what they can do, as preseason games also have a higher roster cap before league cuts and it can serve as an audition for them to get signed elsewhere.
  But mostly they're just pointless games and only really intense fans care about them.
  
  Fair enough. Makes sense to give the rookies some game time. Thanks for the explanation 👍
- I think generally ive seen starters play in at most the first half of one game, maybe as little as one drive all preseason