Why Did the Rams Play the Cowboys in Preseason Already and Then Play Them Again

When is a pro football game not a pro football game? When information technology happens in August. When the biggest stars hardly play more than a quarter. When die-hard fans are ashamed to admit they watched across halftime. An NFL preseason football game is not a traditional football product. It is the New Coke of football products, an adulterated version that's not different enough from the original to be annihilation other than pointless.

That wouldn't be so bad if preseason games didn't catch the nation at a time when it is most desperate to satisfy its football jones. Other pro sports know how to stage a compelling exhibition. MLB goes local with jump training. The NBA goes international. The NHL keeps it brusk, merely two weeks, and this year will play 13 exhibition games in non-NHL venues. Why can't the about popular sport in America—which has turned paint-drying affairs such every bit the combine and the draft into must-run into events—go its preseason right?

Unlike grooming camp, preseason games don't put fans in the centre of position battles. And they don't predict a team's futurity any ameliorate than a coin flip would. The 2006 Colts slogged through a winless August before going 12-four and winning Super Bowl XLI. Two years afterwards the Lions started the summer undefeated, and then cooled off to an alltime worst 0-16. The preseason might quench the thirst for football, but the calories are all empty. And yet fans today don't know how skillful they've got it. Back in the day the preseason grind was much worse.

A ROAD Testify

Pro football game's path to legitimacy was one long preseason. When it began in 1920, all 14 teams were amassed in Northern industrial towns, and all of the games were exhibitions. Teams arranged their own meetings with rivals within and exterior the league, and every contest counted in the standings. After the Decatur Staleys, the forerunners to the Chicago Bears, finished 2nd with a 10-1-ii record compiled largely confronting creampuffs in 1920, the league bylaws were amended so that but intraleague games would count in the standings.

Teams played exhibitions earlier the season, after the flavor, sometimes during the flavor on a 24-hour interval betwixt league games.

Simply that didn't stop teams from scheduling exterior opponents. In addition to the exposure, there was money to exist fabricated. University of Illinois tailback Red Grange showed just how much the market could acquit when he quit school early to set off on 19-game, 66-day national tour in 1925. His accept: $100,000 in salary and gate receipts, a fortune during an era when the average pro team sold for a couple hundred dollars.

So pro football hit the road. Hard. Teams played exhibitions before the season, subsequently the flavor, sometimes during the season on a day between league games. The entrenched sports were baseball and college football game, and it wasn't until the NFL began taking on amateurs in the Chicago College All-Star Game in 1934 (a tradition that lasted all the way into the mid-1970s; see photo gallery below) that the public considered devoting more than time to the professionals. The only time the barnstorming was ever in danger was during World State of war II, when the government grew concerned that the league's afoot schedule was hogging vital resources. Ultimately commissioner Elmer Layden, better known as one of Notre Dame'south 4 Horsemen, convinced Uncle Sam information technology wouldn't bring about the apocalypse. Football games, he argued, were necessary, even preseason games.

A Cursory History of Preseason Pointlessness

1972 COLLEGE ALL-STAR GAME The traditional kickoff to the preseason, played at Soldier Field in Chicago, pitted the reigning NFL champions against a team of onetime collegiate stars from the previous flavour. In '72 Roger Staubach and the Cowboys upheld the league's laurels confronting the upstarts. SI photographers Walter Iooss Jr. and Heinz Kluetmeier were at that place. (Walter Iooss Jr./SI)

1972 Higher ALL-STAR GAME The traditional kickoff to the preseason, played at Soldier Field in Chicago, pitted the reigning NFL champions against a team of erstwhile collegiate stars from the previous season. In '72 Roger Staubach and the Cowboys upheld the

JUST A PINCH Fullback Walt Garrison, who would go on to have his simply Pro Bowl season in '72, carried for the Boys. (Heinz Kluetmeier/SI)

JUST A PINCH Fullback Walt Garrison, who would continue to have his simply Pro Bowl flavour in '72, carried for the Boys. (Heinz Kluetmeier/SI)

DON'T DO It Staubach was his typical scrambling self . . . (Walter Iooss Jr./SI)

WE TOLD Yous . . . and took a shot that knocked him out of the game in the second quarter. (Walter Iooss Jr./SI)

WE TOLD You lot . . . and took a shot that knocked him out of the game in the 2nd quarter. (Walter Iooss Jr./SI)

REMIND ME, WHY ARE Nosotros PLAYING? Bob Lilly and Tom Landry appeared less than thrilled with a game that would cost them their No. i quarterback. (Heinz Kluetmeier/SI)

REMIND ME, WHY ARE Nosotros PLAYING? Bob Lilly and Tom Landry appeared less than thrilled with a game that would cost them their No. 1 quarterback. (Heinz Kluetmeier/SI)

TAGGE TEAM Lilly took out his frustration on old Nebraska QB Jerry Tagge. (Heinz Kluetmeier/SI)

Futurity STAR Robert Newhouse of Houston, the Cowboys' second-round selection that year, carried confronting the team for which he would play for 12 seasons. (Walter Iooss Jr./SI)

Hereafter STAR Robert Newhouse of Houston, the Cowboys' second-round pick that year, carried against the team for which he would play for 12 seasons. (Walter Iooss Jr./SI)

Backup Craig Morton took over for Staubach that night, and would end upward playing near of the '72 season after Staubach separated his shoulder two weeks later. (Walter Iooss Jr.)

Fill-in Craig Morton took over for Staubach that night, and would stop up playing most of the '72 season after Staubach separated his shoulder two weeks after. (Walter Iooss Jr.)

OUT Forepart Penn State'due south Lydell Mitchell (24) led the way for Newhouse. (Heinz Kluetmeier/SI)

OUT FRONT Penn Land's Lydell Mitchell (24) led the way for Newhouse. (Heinz Kluetmeier/SI)

Endmost NIGHT The game was the last in a Cowboys uniform for moody Super Bowl Half dozen star Duane Thomas (33); he would exist traded to the Chargers 4 days subsequently and never play a down in the '72 flavor. (Heinz Kluetmeier/SI)

Endmost NIGHT The game was the last in a Cowboys uniform for moody Super Bowl 6 star Duane Thomas (33); he would exist traded to the Chargers iv days afterward and never play a downwardly in the '72 season. (Heinz Kluetmeier/SI)

EVERYBODY CHEER Morton hit Ron Sellers (88) late in the beginning one-half to put Dallas up 10-0. (Heinz Kluetmeier/SI)

EVERYBODY CHEER Morton striking Ron Sellers (88) late in the kickoff one-half to put Dallas up 10-0. (Heinz Kluetmeier/SI)

GOING FOR GOLD Olympic sprint champ and hereafter Hall-of-famer Bob Hayes sped past the kids for a TD take hold of to give the Boys a 17–0 third-quarter lead. (Heinz Kluetmeier/SI)

GOING FOR Gilded Olympic sprint champ and future Hall-of-famer Bob Hayes sped past the kids for a TD catch to give the Boys a 17–0 3rd-quarter lead. (Heinz Kluetmeier/SI)

THE WAY TO 1K Calvin Hill got the spring on his starting time 1,000-yard season in that July '72 game. (Walter Iooss Jr./SI)

THE Style TO 1K Calvin Loma got the jump on his first ane,000-thou season in that July '72 game. (Walter Iooss Jr./SI)

EXPECTING Colina's son, future NBA star Grant Loma, would be built-in a little more than two months later on Dad faced the collegians. (Heinz Kluetmeier/SI)

EXPECTING Hill'due south son, time to come NBA star Grant Hill, would be born a little more than two months afterward Dad faced the collegians. (Heinz Kluetmeier/SI)

CONSOLATION Heisman winner Pat Sullivan (seven), shortly to exist a Falcons flop, celebrated the late TD that fabricated the final 20–7 Cowboys. (Heinz Kluetmeier/SI)

CONSOLATION Heisman winner Pat Sullivan (7), soon to exist a Falcons bomb, celebrated the late TD that fabricated the final 20–7 Cowboys. (Heinz Kluetmeier/SI)

They did prove their value in one fashion: as test kitchens for new ideas. The sudden death dominion came nigh in a handshake agreement betwixt Los Angeles Rams and the New York Giants before a preseason game in 1955. In 1967 a summer matchup in which the Denver Broncos vanquish the Detroit Lions showed the AFL could compete with the NFL and that the impending merger of the leagues might not be as lopsided as some feared. A year later, another interleague matchup between the Houston Oilers and the Washington Redskins introduced the "action" point, which evolved into the ii-point conversion nosotros know today.

But non every innovation had staying ability. The threat of Sports Illustrated writer George Plimpton relieving Lions quarterback Milt Plum during a 1963 preseason game against the Browns prompted the league to preclude the practice of reporters playing in games before halftime. A 1976 clash in Tokyo between the San Diego Chargers and St. Louis Cardinals fabricated it seem like the league might open a portal to the far east. But the NFL hasn't shown about as strong a commitment to Nihon (only 12 visits since) as it has to burrowing deeper into Europe. (NFL Europe might exist dead, but the almanac regular season London game took root as a preseason consequence in 1983.) Then, of form, there'southward replay, which was focus-grouped across decades of summers before the current arrangement was installed. Terminal yr's college-inspired revisions to the overtime format were field-tested first in the summer. This year's preseason brings an opportunity to come across how changes to the tuck rule and crackback blocking will exist officiated. Tune in!

WEAK SAUCE

While information technology can be a laboratory for innovation, the preseason fails to deliver football game's essential ingredients: contest and intensity. In that location was so footling of it during the Hall of Fame game between the Cowboys and Dolphins this year that NBC's Cris Collinsworth thought aught of abandoning his duties to suspension downward a YouTube video of Cowboys fourth-string quarterback Alex Tanney doing play a joke on shots while Al Michaels, Tony Dungy and the nation looked on like zombies. The highlight of final Lord's day night's clash between the Colts and Giants was Pull a fast one on's Pam Oliver getting drilled in the face up by an errant football during warm-ups. A far cry from the days of Plimpton, for sure.

The only identify where a preseason game gets complete attention is at NFL headquarters, because the folks there accept to watch. But fifty-fifty they want to make the preseason better. "One, you have a question of whether we actually need [the four-game schedule] to put on the all-time quality product," Roger Goodell told the San Francisco Chronicle last yr. "Two, you have an issue of how fans are reacting to information technology. Information technology'south not the kind of standard that the NFL is used to producing."

Ringlet to Continue

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It may be hard for younger generations of NFL fans to fathom, but there was a fourth dimension when the league played a six-game preseason and essentially printed money by playing exhibition games.

Past the time the Cowboys joined the league in 1960, teams were getting as much as $25,000 to play exhibitions in non-NFL cities. So on the route Dallas went, to Pendleton, Ore., where it met the Rams for a Lord's day preseason appointment on a field that had been the site of a rodeo the 24-hour interval before. Gil Brandt, then the Cowboys' master talent picket, was still casing the joint when the referee arrived and inquired about the officials' dressing room. When a member of the outcome staff pointed to some seats a few rows into the stands, the ref registered his firsthand objection. The staffer, as Brandt recalls, snarled back, "If they're good enough for the [rodeo] cowboys, they're good enough for the goddamn officials!"

There was a time when the league played a six-game preseason and essentially printed money by playing exhibition games.

The Cowboys hopscotched from Seattle to San Antonio to Louisville to Pendleton to Bloomington, Min. Their 6 games were among the 30 played on neutral sites that year. Teams couldn't afford to turn down the invitations from entertainment-starved municipalities. By 1971, business was booming. The realization hit Pat Toomay, a 2nd-year defensive stop, midway through the third quarter of an exhibition game confronting the upstart Saints at Tulane Stadium. All of a sudden overwhelmed by a crowd that numbered 81,000—a record for an exhibition game—he asked someone how much acquirement the game had generated; $600,000 was the guestimate. His share, as outlined by the established preseason pay schedule, was $175. Each team's expenses, he figured, amounted to $20,000. "That'southward when I thought, Oh, we're a touring spectacle. This is about money."

INFUSE DRAMA

Then how did nosotros cease up where we are now, with a product that brings in loads of cash simply that is difficult to picket or to care much about? A historic television agreement in 1977 marked the beginning of the terminate of the league'southward wanderlust, and the commonage bargaining agreement that it funded led to the electric current schedule of sixteen regular season games preceded past four preseason games. The extra money those four games bring in, combined with the introduction of revenue sharing in 2001, has made it even more price effective for teams to stay home. Today nigh aren't fifty-fifty going away for army camp—19 of the league's 32 teams stayed home this summer. The Hall of Fame game is the only i of the 65 preseason games to exist played at a neutral site. A change of scenery at least would add a sense of occasion.

Instead, injuries do.

Clinton Portis wore a sling after dislocating his shoulder in Washington'south first preseason game in 2006, an injury that forced him to miss the first one-half of the season.

Vii years ago Clinton Portis entered the season as more merely Washington's height tailback; the fourth-year vet was the entire offense. The previous year he prepare a gild record with 1,516 yards on the strength of nine 100-chiliad games, a streak that helped acquit Washington to its get-go playoff berth in half-dozen years. New offensive coordinator Al Saunders, the triggerman behind the Priest Holmes-led rushing attacks in Kansas City, planned to feature Portis even more. Portis had tried everything to get out of playing an early on road preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Just he was assured the game would be choreographed in such a style to keep him from getting hurt.

That all went out the window on the game'south 13th play, when quarterback Marker Brunell threw an interception to Keiwan Ratliff. He might have scored if Portis, whose gamer instincts wouldn't permit him to watch idly as the play unfolded, hadn't ran Keiwan down and snuffed out the play after a 52-yard gain. In the procedure, Portis dislocated his right shoulder and ended up missing half the flavour. The Redskins finished 5-11 and made the playoffs merely again over the remaining 4 seasons of his career.

Since so, "I've always been against the preseason," says Portis, who finished with 523 yards that year. Instead of risking the potential loss of a starter early in the summertime, he wonders, why not flip the script? "The preseason should exist used to evaluate new talent, the people that are trying to make it," he says. "And you lot don't need simply two or iii games to evaluate that talent. Just play the guys who are trying to make the team."

Difficult Knocks

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Source: https://www.si.com/nfl/2013/08/22/preseason-history