Eventually, the NFL could reduce the preseason to zero games. As to their offensive starters, the Eagles are already acting as if that’s the case.
The Eagles played none of the members of their starting offense in any of the three preseason games. After Saturday’s exhibition finale, coach Nick Sirianni was asked about the decision.
“Again, you always take everything into account of how many reps you got,” Sirianni told reporters. “I’d say this week-- we didn’t have a joint practice this week, but we had two inner-squad practices that were scrimmages.
“And again, everything up front is live. The only thing that’s not live is the tackling to the ground. So, the receivers are live except for they’re not getting tackled. Everything is completely live.
“And so, we felt like the work that we got in the joint practice versus the Patriots, the inner-squad that we had at the stadium prior to our first preseason games, and then the two inner-squads scrimmages that we had, you know, was our work for the ones. That’s why we decided to go that way.
“And I get it, everybody’s job is to say, ‘Should they have played, should they not have played?’ I have to make the decision. I get that. I understand that. I have to make the decision that I feel is best for our team and if I feel our team was ready. And I felt that. I felt we were getting a lot of back and forth. Again, hard practices, out there for two hours, which has been more than what we’ve been.
“And so, I felt like we got enough work to be ready to go and I’m comfortable where we are leading into this upcoming — I guess couple of days before we get into the game week mode. But I’m comfortable where we are and looking forward to some more good practices.”
It’s not an easy decision. By not playing starters in the preseason, a team risks not getting its players as ready as they can be. By playing them, a team risks getting them injured.
In the ultimately copycat sport, look at what the Chiefs do. They don’t keep their best players in bubble wrap for the entirety of the preseason. And they’re about to officially launch a run at their third straight Super Bowl win.
The Eagles, in contrast, will try to erase the bad taste of a late-season collapse by starting things in Brazil, against a Packers team that looks to be a short-list Super Bowl contender.