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There's so much nothing involved in a preseason game, it'd almost be better if NFL officials got all of their blown calls out of the way then.
As far as the real action goes, it's usually kind of a snooze fest. Fortunately, at least to some degree, NFL owners are showing they are cognizant of the lower brand of football with the regular season price.
The Tribune-Review reported Wednesday ticket prices for Pittsburgh's preseason games could be reduced in 2014.
Sure, dropping a few bucks off the price would be nice, but there are other ways the Steelers could make preseason games more meaningful.
A book written recently about the New York Jets 2011 season showed, among many things, Jets head coach Rex Ryan allowed position coaches to step in and make a few play calls on both sides of the ball during preseason games.
They even let the writer make a call. The one he chose was a cornerback blitz backed by a zone that required the defensive lineman to drop into coverage. His reasoning was there was the phrase "yellow dog" in the play call, and he had a yellow dog.
The play resulted in an interception that was returned for a touchdown.
It's a fun story, and certainly not the basis for an entire shift in philosophy, but why not inject that kind of life into the game? Even if it's just a play here or there, fans would love to know they tried something like that out.
While that on its own wouldn't be enough to justify full price, a few more twists to currently existing standards of the game would create more of a spontaneous feel to what fans are watching without cheapening the end product.
Most would still want cheaper tickets, though.
