That was a touch watch. The Cleveland Browns vs. New York Jets NFL Hall of Fame game was as awful and sloppy as one could have predicted from a feature game of backups and 3rd-stringer.
The highlight of the game was DeMarcus Ware signing the national anthem.
The Cleveland Browns’ backups and 3rd-stringers managed to pull off a win in an important game for the first time in the team’s modern history as they defeated the New York Jets’ backups and 3rd-stringers 21-16 in the NFL Hall of Fame preseason game. And, to be honest, anyone who watched the full thing deserves a medal.
Well, the NFL Hall of Fame game has thankfully come and gone, and it was a real slog to have to watch that entire mess for nearly three hours. I’m sorry for all the backups and third-stringers I’m probably offending here, but this game is always one of the worst football games of the year given how many mistakes, messed up plays, and penalties get committed by players simply not used to high level football.
There must have been more false start, offsides, and delay-of-game penalties in this game than the entirety of the playoffs last year, though I’m not really blaming the players or coaches for that as they’re all still learning and growing as a roster. At the end of the day, it’s only the first week of preseason and the vast majority of the guys we saw last night are going to be sitting on their couches at homes when the Jets take on the Bills and the Browns take on the Bengals Week 1.
So, why am I complaining about this game then? It’s because of the hysterical production and placement of the game in the NFL calendar.
Starting off with the placement, you’d think the NFL would want to honor the newest Hall of Fame recipients for the Class of 2023, which consists of Demarcus Ware, Ronde Barber, Don Coryell, Chuck Howley, Joe Klecko (former Jet), Darrelle Revis (former Jet), Ken Riley, Joe Thomas (former Brown), and Zach Thomas, with a preseason game of high-enough quality, yet that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Just like everyone who somehow watched the game live at home for the full 9 yards, these players are forced to sit through a mess of a game between two sets of players who can only dream about achieving one tenth of their career accomplishments, let alone be even mentioned in a few classes below the talents of these Hall of Famers.
Again, it’s not the players’ faults as they can only play in the games assigned to them by the league and their coaches, but why not have the Hall of Fame game be the last preseason game of the year so we actually see the likes of Aaron Rodgers, Myles Garrett, Sauce Gardener, Deshaun Watson, Garrett Wilson, Nick Chubb, etc. make cameo appearances for the Hall of Famers.
Yeah, these guys would have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame by that point, but does it really matter when these Hall of Famers are honored before a large crowd and given a dedicated football game? I don’t think so.
And as for my second complaint, why in the world does NBC make this game out to be the most epic and entertaining football game we’re ever going to see?!?!
Because I’m an utter moron who watched the full pregame, game, and postgame coverage, I saw firsthand how NBC and the NFL were able to stretch out an XFL-level football game into 4+ HOURS of television. It’s utterly insane how greedy the NFL and the major networks are that they were able to shove in enough ads to bloat a game that really should have taken 2 hours at most into nearly a quarter of the 24-hour day cycle.
If the NFL does this with the regular season as well, it’s going to piss off a lot of fans as stretching out games for the sake of advertisers is antithetical to fan enjoyment. There’s a reason why the MLB took some of the most drastic actions the sport of baseball has ever seen by introducing the pitch clock to shave 30+ minutes off game times as fans were starting to tune out.
The NFL better not become baseball up until last season as there will come a point when people start to turn off the channel for a show or sport that doesn’t absorb 4+ hours of their day.
But, at the end of the day, I’m just glad football is back. It has been a long half year without it.
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