Jones' proposed plan would include a shortened training camp to accommodate a longer seasonGETTY IMAGES
Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones thinks that an 18-game regular season could serve as a "solution to the preseason blues," according to Tim Cowlishaw of the DALLAS MORNING NEWS. Jones said he was a "big advocate" of it in the last CBA negotiations. But Cowlishaw notes the NFL did "not come close" to convincing the NFLPA it was a "worthy idea." In the era of concussion lawsuits and CTE concerns, it is "hard to imagine the NFL adding two games to its regular-season schedule." Jones said that an 18-2 plan "can be sold on two fronts." Jones: "I can make the case that we have an uptick in concussions in the preseason. If you look at it, I would contend there would be less exposure." Jones said that shortened training camps "would be a part of the plan as well." He added, "It would provide more than $1 billion to the players. It's certainly worth considering. It would direct more value for what the players expend to the players." Cowlishaw notes two more weeks of regular-season games would "attract much bigger dollars from Fox, CBS, NBC and ESPN than the current contract provides." But an extended season still is an "incredibly long shot" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 8/28). PRO FOOTBALL TALK's Mike Florio wrote the NFL "won't reduce the preseason until it can expand the regular season." Even though the NFL "no longer talks about expanding the regular season, the desire to do so remains." Regardless, it is "starting to feel like the preseason will shrink, inevitably." Maybe as "soon as the next labor deal is done" (PROFOOTBALLTALK.com, 8/25).
WHO NEEDS REHEARSAL? In DC, Matt Bonesteel writes more and more teams this year "eschewed the usual Week 3 preseason 'dress rehearsal' rhetoric, resting key starters to keep them upright for the regular season." Starting QBs including Aaron Rodgers, Joe Flacco, Dak Prescott and Jared Goff "stayed on the sideline." Goff "hasn't played a single snap this preseason," and Bears QB Mitchell Trubisky and most of the team's starters did "not play" on Saturday (WASHINGTON POST, 8/28). In Ottawa, J.T. Pedelty writes, "I don't know a single person ... who doesn't think the NFL preseason is too long." The "obvious solution" is to "axe two of the current four preseason games and replace them with two additional regular-season games." It would be a "complicated negotiation between the owners and the players' union, but if history has shown us anything it is that, ultimately, the owners of the NFL will get pretty much everything they want from the weakest union in major American professional sports" (OTTAWA TIMES, 8/28). ESPN's Louis Riddick said teams in recent years have been "trying to get their work in earlier in the preseason." The second game is now when teams "really start to slow things down as far as getting their starters exposed to potential injury." Then teams "really gear it down" from the third game on ("OTL," ESPN, 8/27). ESPN's Mike Golic asked, "How many starters on any team in the preseason in the four games play enough to equal two games?" Players would "definitely" be "playing more" by playing two regular season games ("Golic & Wingo," ESPN Radio, 8/28).
RISK MANAGEMENT: YAHOO SPORTS' Ryan Young wrote while an 18-game season is "probably a long shot, successfully shortening the preseason is a very real possibility -- one that almost needs to be done" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 8/27). In San Jose, Dieter Kurtenbach writes it is "time for the NFL to shorten the preseason or kill it off altogether." What is "happening right now isn't working for anyone." The value in roster whittling and regular-season preparation is "losing out to the risk of injury and the NFL’s new one-fell-swoop cut date" (San Jose MERCURY NEWS, 8/28). ESPN's Jesse Palmer said players "don't want to risk injury" or "losing money long-term" by playing two more regular season games. They also "don't want to risk brain injuries and CTE and everything we are finding out about right now," and playing extra games "increases" their chances of that. ESPN's Jalen Rose said the NFL "can't turn around and tell us they're all about player safety with all of the rule changes." Rose: "You want to take the helmet out of football, they took the chop block out, the kickoff rules have been modified. Those two things don't necessarily go together in this sense" ("Get Up," ESPN, 8/28).
LOOKING FOR A DISCOUNT: In Ft. Worth, Stefan Stevenson wrote charging fans a full-price ticket for a preseason game "needs another look." Jones said, "We know we're trying to evaluate players out here. We know, in general, our fans don't want us to run and take unnecessary risk. That's what you saw [during the third week of the preseason]" (Ft. Worth STAR-TELEGRAM, 8/27). Also in Ft. Worth, Mac Engel wrote no one could call Cardinals-Cowboys on Sunday "entertaining." If the NFL "insists on maintaining a preseason schedule of at least four games, the least the Cowboys and other teams can do is cut the price of a ticket in half" (Ft. Worth STAR-TELEGRAM, 8/27).
