Does it Matter How Much Bradford Plays in the Preseason?
– By Sean Lerman
WBCB 1490 Sports Director
Sam Bradford is a very important person in the city of Philadelphia this year, and there will likely be a direct correlation between Bradford’s play on the field (including how many games he is able to play) and how many wins the Eagles end up with at the end of the season.
That scares me a little bit, and certainly I’m not alone in that camp. I’m also very excited for the start of the season, and I think there is a fair chance that the team has a very good year.
This brings me to where we stand entering the third week of the preseason. The Eagles will take on the Packers in Green Bay at 8 pm Saturday (like all regular season games, the game can be heard live on 1490 WBCB). The third preseason game is typically when most starters around the league play into the second half.
But Chip Kelly doesn’t do typically. Chip Kelly does Chip Kelly, and we all sit back and watch. There are times when this is immensely frustrating, because that line of communication between coach and fan base isn’t always there. For a lot of Eagles fans, this is one of those times.
Why wouldn’t we want to see more of Sam Bradford? We don’t really know much about his play; it isn’t as though Philadelphians have been glued to St. Louis Rams games for the past four years.
When Bradford took a handful of snaps last week against the Ravens, that was likely the first real look many Eagles fans got of him, myself included.
So it’s frustrating that Bradford probably won’t play deep into the third quarter. If it’s too rainy at Lambeau Field, he may not play deep into the second quarter. Honestly, if Chip takes Bradford out of the game halfway through the first, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.
I’m not going to let myself worry about it though. If we get to see a lot of Bradford, that’s great, but in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t really matter all that much.
My biggest takeaway from the first two preseason games is that the team seems to be ready for the season. I’m certainly not going to sit here and say Super Bowl, but overall the team looks good.
If you surround Sam Bradford with 21 other guys who are 100% ready to go, then it probably won’t matter all that much how many preseason snaps he does or does not take.
This game doesn’t matter. I very highly doubt that in week 10 we’ll be sitting here saying, “if only Bradford took an extra 15 snaps in that preseason game back in August, we’d be looking at an easy coast to the playoffs right now”.
The regular season is where it really counts. Bradford has obviously had issues staying healthy in the past, and if Chip Kelly thinks that 15 preseason snaps is going to keep him healthy through December, that’s fine by me.
Sean Lerman is the sports director at 1490 AM WBCB. You can find his blog updated weekly right here on wbcb1490.com or follow him on twitter @seanlerman.
