The NFL preseason has become reason for debate of recent. Some say it's too long, and an utter waste of time. Some say shortening the preseason, which will ineluctably add a game or two to the regular season, would be ultimately detrimental to the league.
Roy Williams falls into the former line of thought.
Speaking with reporters yesterday, Williams said, "Preseason helps a lot. We don't need four weeks of it, but it helps a lot."
"Preseason helps, but it's kind of like a waste of time to me. But... It helps a little bit," Williams continued. "The first game, what do you play? A series or two, the second game, you play a little bit more and the third game, you treat it like a game and the fourth game you don't even play, so it's helpful but it's a waste of time. It's too long. Put it that way."
Williams' remarks are a lot less incendiary than they might seem. Really, the receiver is just echoing an increasingly common sentiment among players, coaches and fans, perpetuated mostly by key injuries suffered over the first four pseudo-games on the schedule, which Ray Lewis called "all for nothing."
Asked if he was looking forward to the first game of the preseason (on Thursday) in Oakland, Williams said, "Not really. It doesn't count. It's not going to put me in the Hall of Fame, it's not going to put us in the playoffs, you know what I mean? It's just a game, just, on the schedule."
"My focus is on week one at Tampa Bay, because that's when it counts."