The preseason in the NFL doesn't mean anything, or so fans want to believe. Overall in the preseason wins and losses really don't impact things, but players fighting for positions, and staying healthy are the most important attributes for the summer games. But, most coaches still want to win and start that culture early on, they want a good camp and winning always helps.
The New York teams battled each other this weekend and for one team they had better hope that the preseason means nothing, while the other certainly will preach that this is just a precursor to the type of good season that lies ahead.
The New York Jets beat the Giants this weekend in a lackluster game that highlighted players that are barely holding onto a roster spot, but it did show the fans a few things heading into the season.
Not only did the Giants end their pretty unsettling preseason but they left it with even more injury concerns. Big Blue lost a number of players who were on the roster bubble but they also watched their starting center go down and their tackle Evan Neal left the game. Neal injured the same ankle he had surgically repaired last year.
The Jets meanwhile finish their preseason on a high note. In a camp where Aaron Rodgers, Sauce Gardner and Breece Hall were not the main talking points, gang green saw their backups step up and make people take notice. There were some surrounding the Jets that have called this one of the best camps in memory and that sort of enthusiasm trickles down through the organization.
Nothing is decided in the preseason and in just more than a week everyone begins the year 0-0, but while the Giants are preaching the preseason means little, the Jets are hoping that it certainly means something.