Around some NFL organizations, this might be cause for concern.
Around the Indianapolis Colts, it's normal, expected and all part of the plan.
And while the Colts may not necessarily love the idea of losing a preseason game, and while they may wish their preseason record wasn't 4-20 since 2005, the dislike of the concepts is a lot more about distaste and discomfort than panic or concern.
Of the latter two, there is neither.
So the Colts lost to the Buffalo Bills 34-21 on Thursday?
So they lost the preseason opener 37-17 to San Francisco?
The Colts really deep, deep down care about neither. And although all NFL teams say they care a little about the preseason on some level, the Colts really, really don't.
And that's OK. Because what they do care about, they're pretty good at.
“I think all in all, you’re trying to build your squad,” Colts Head Coach Jim Caldwell said this week when asked about the team's approach to preseason. “That’s the idea. You’re trying to make certain that you have guys in the right place, and you don’t know unless they get out on the field.
“I think during practice you certainly develop your team, but I think you actually see what you can do in terms of performance and competition, and that’s what these games are for.”
The Colts' success with the approach is well-documented.
While they have won just four preseason games since 2005, they have made the playoffs an NFL-best eight consecutive seasons. They also have won 12 or more games an NFL-record seven consecutive seasons, playing in three AFC Championship Games and two Super Bowls during that span.
It could be said the Colts have more than overcome their preseason “difficulties” in the regular season. The feeling here, though, is the reality is the preseason difficulties have to a very large degree been a big reason for the Colts' regular-season success.
While some NFL teams attach at least some importance to winning in the preseason, the Colts go much the opposite way. They would like to win, but spend far more time using the games before the regular season to hone the roster. Toward that end, they have kept to a numbingly consistent pattern of playing starters for a series or two in the opener, a bit longer in the second game, just over a half in the third game and little or not at all in the fourth.
Fans aren't nuts about it, most likely, and it doesn't lead to good television ratings for Colts preseason games. But one word of warning:
Don't say the approach makes for boring preseason games. At least not around Colts President Bill Polian.
Polian, the person most responsible for building the Colts' roster, said while it's true that the Colts don't place a tremendous emphasis on preseason scores, that in no way means the games are meaningless. Poian said in fact the opposite is true.
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