The Hall of Fame Game was pretty good! As far as exhibition matches go. Entertainment level: high. Value level: low.
Every year we deserve the “Fell for it again” award. We get so starved for football that the pathetic morsel of hardtack in early August gets us going. Preseason as a whole does it. Outside the draft, no time of the year contains more hype and cope than preseason. We let ourselves get suckered into the stories of these fringe players who are probably going to be cut or end up as practice squad bait or depth reserves.
What’s worse is how we judge the performances. A good play by a fringe guy in the 4th means he’s a secret stud just ready to break out. A bunch of good passes from a QB and suddenly we’ve got competition. A bad performance? Who cares? It’s preseason. A good performance? STUD BABY. LEAGUE BETTER BEND OVER BECAUSE WE ABOUT TO FUCK IT UP.
You have to sit back in your chair from time to time in August and slap a cold rag on your face to remind yourself: it’s preseason. Preseason is a rehearsal. The teams and players aren’t even playing normal football. They are testing things, hiding other things, throwing shit at a wall. You can allow yourself to be pleasantly surprised by a guy having a good preseason, but you can’t emotionally invest until the actual show. Stars do come from preseason showings. Victor Cruz famously broke out in a preseason game against the Jets on Hard Knocks, but he didn’t actually have his breakout season until a year later due to injury. Russell Wilson is probably one of the most famous examples of a guy who broke out hard in preseason and turned into a real stud. Dak Prescott had a similar go of it. But these guys are not the norm.
I’m not surprised Beck had a good preseason game or when other rookie QBs from big-name schools taken in the mid-rounds have good preseasons. It would sort of track that a prospect playing the hardest position in sports with a lot of experience in big programs (Beck played for Georgia and Miami) would look good against guys who are fighting for a chance to even make a roster. 7th rounders and undrafted players who got picked up thanks to a GM with a bit of curiosity. Beck wasn’t out there playing Carolina’s A-Team. I’d be more alarmed if he looked bad out there, but even then: preseason.
Last year after the Hall of Fame game, I saw a disturbing amount of Trey Lance hype cross my timelines because he had a good showing. It was hilarious. Look how that turned out. He’s still back there warming Justin Herbert’s bench and you probably forgot about him until right now. Maybe we’ll see him again someday. Don’t let yourself fall victim to Preseason Psychosis. Just enjoy some football hors d’oeuvres.
