Yes, I did in fact watch the Hall of fame Game (which I teased two weeks ago) on Sunday. The HoF Game is technically the first game of the NFL preseason, and is played at a high school stadium next door to the pro football Hall of Fame in Canton Ohio. Yes, in a stadium 1/3 the size of the smallest NFL stadium, football got off to a glorious, awkward start. Here are my impressions from the game:
- I can't reiterate enough how puny the stadium was, considering it was technically housing an NFL game. They couldn't bus people a hour away to, say, Cleveland Stadium? The Browns are technically an NFL team, right? (Apologies to any actual Browns fans. I've been told you exist.) Maybe this way for the best, as the stadium could at least try to look somewhat full this way.
- The referees were replacements, as the regular crew of NFL refs is on strike. The situation was referred to as a 'Lockout' by the broadcasters, maybe in an attempt to call back to last year's NFL lockout which caused the cancellation of the 2011 HoF game and threatened to compromise the season. Where was I going with this?
- Oh yeah, the refs were terrible. They called the coin toss wrong. They spent several minutes figuring out how to deal with an extra point kick. They were extremely lax in calling penalties, probably out of fear they would get more calls wrong. They were frequently corrected and almost openly mocked by players. Roger Goodell, CEO of the NFL, needs to just pay the refs what they want - these new guys are intolerable.
- I know it's the start of the preseason, and the brief early part of the game in which all the starters are in is not supposed to be representative of these teams' actual capabilities, but I have to say that the Saints looked good and the Cardinals really bad. Starting Cardinals QB Kevin Kolb's first pass attempt was intercepted, his second and third were incomplete, and on his fourth pass (caught for four yards) he went down with a rib injury. The Cardinals then brought in John Skelton, who is supposed to be losing the QB battle to become the starter to Kolb and...well he wasn't good either, but at least not terrible. Basically all the Cardinals have is WR Larry Fitzgerald, a couple decent other offensive skill players, and not much else. Who else is even noteworthy on the team, besides I guess Patrick Peterson? Time will tell.
- The Saints backups successfully prevented the Cardinals backups from scoring any touchdowns, and the Saints eventually 'won' 17-10, not that the concept really applies during the preseason. More importantly, the Saints also 'won' in the sense that they looked much better overall. Drew Brees is still the class of the NFC South at Quarterback. I don't have much to say to the Cardinals at this point except 'good luck.'
There will be more preseason NFL action on Thursday. Until then, the wait for football is over, and the wait for football with stakes won't be too much longer. See you soon.
(Image taken from ESPN.com.)
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