Why do Suspended Players Play Preseason Games?
The NFL has had a bad go of it recently, that part is obvious. Whether it's Ray Rice or Tom Brady the public has looked at the people like Roger Goodell and the NFL differently.
It's been a mess but nobody wants to think about that now. We have football back. Yeah! Football! Sure, it's the preseason and the starters only play a series or two but, whatever, it's still football and we have our fix that we need.
Last night gave us six games to keep us entertained. They started with the New Orleans Saints vs. Baltimore Ravens and ended with the Dallas Cowboys vs. San Diego Chargers. For a little over six and a half hours we had a chance to see all of our favorite players and we were happy, for the most part.
One thing, really quick, if you don't mind. There's one thing that confuses me. Last night many of the suspended players played in the first preseason game of the season. Why are the suspended players playing? Aren't they suspended?
Last night Antonio Gates had one catch for eight yards. By no means is that a lot, but he still played.
Last night Sheldon Richardson played and recorded a QB hit and Datone Jones, of the Green Bay Packers, got two sacks. Finally, we get to my personal favorite. Last night Tom Brady started for the Patriots and went 1-4 for 10 yards.
Why did Tom Brady play? Why did anyone play?
They're suspended, right? Don't you remember the deflating of the footballs thing going on right now with the odd courtroom sketches and the Wells Report? Do you remember how Gates is suspended for the first four games of the season because of performance enhancing drugs? Why are they playing?
I understand that nobody cares about the preseason but the NFL still charges you a lot of money to come to the game. According to Forbes the average ticket price for a Seahawks vs. Broncos game is $183.94. That's the most expensive preseason game since 2013. What's even worse is that Peyton Manning, the biggest draw of the game, won't play. Yesterday FoxSports.com reported that Gary Kubiak is thinking about sitting him and recently reportsout of Denver now say he won't play at all.
What's even worse is that Tony Romo didn't play last night, Drew Brees didn't play yesterday and neither did Adrian Peterson last Sunday.
So if the major players don't play and the suspended players get to play then the games don't count. It's a glorified scrimmage. I'm Okay with that but why does the NFL charges an average of nearly $200 per ticket while being shown of CBS?
The answer, simply put, is because they can. I mentioned earlier that the NFL is our fix and right now fans don't care what it takes, they just want their fix. The owners and Goodell know that and will continue to do this for as long as they can get away with it. That's the bottom line of everything for the NFL. Money wins out. Enjoy your fix.
