NFL Preseason 2018: Winners and losers from Week 3
Loser: Dress Rehearsal Games
As always, the talk about the third week of the 2018 NFL preseason was about a slate of “dress rehearsal” games. In short, Week 3 of the preseason is most often the time where teams let their starters on both sides of the ball play the most. It’s the time for them to get into a groove before getting a break in Week 4 so that they can be rested after training camp heading into the regular season.
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That notion in itself, however, took a big hit this weekend with how things played out. Sure, there were plenty of teams that stood the course and played it traditionally, having their starters see the field for the majority of the game. At the same time though, there were what felt like an inordinate amount of starters for teams around the league that didn’t see the field.
From the Dallas Cowboys offense to the Green Bay Packers offense to the Los Angeles Rams and many others, the starters were set out of action. There were mitigating circumstances in some instances, like injuries with teams like Dallas and the Philadelphia Eagles, but the point remains the same that we didn’t just not get the full “dress rehearsal” experience — we didn’t even in get a taste of it in some cases.
That’s not to say that the dress rehearsal Week 3 games are going to go extinct right now, but in an era where players are paid so highly and player safety is of the utmost importance, we could start to see this more often moving forward.