Preseason ‘Dress Rehearsals’ Can Be More Misleading Than Enlightening

August 25, 2016   ·   Mike Tanier   ·   Jump to comments

The 2001 Patriots lost their “dress rehearsal,” their third preseason game, 20-3 to the Buccaneers. The starting offense recorded just three first downs. The first-team defense allowed two touchdowns. Tom Brady played the final series of the game, completing one of three passes for four yards. It was a dull, listless performance.
Those Patriots finished 5-11 the previous season. Brady was an unheralded third-stringer. No one at the time expected them to come out in the dress rehearsal and play like the next great dynasty or a Mount Rushmore-caliber Hall of Famer.
But in retrospect, they should have shown us something back in 2001. If the third preseason game really is the bellwether of a team’s fortunes, shouldn’t the Patriots at least have looked pretty good? Shouldn’t Brady have led a late drive or something?
We will spend a lot of time over the next week or two sifting through this year’s third round of preseason games carefully, se...

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