Om, I tend to agree with your analysis. especially concerning the importance-or lack thereof-of the preseason in not only predicting regular season success but in instilling a sense of "what the team is like" on the part of fans. My impression is that, like Zorn has apparently been doing, a lot of coaches are using the preseason as an extended version of training camp-try different team set-ups under a variety of game conditions both to learn how the players react-who's going to work out and who isn't-and also to judge which offensive and defensive schemes will work best against a variety of playing styles with the available player resources.
I perceive a strong desire on the part of many fans for a "show-me-whatcha got" type of preseason gameplay. Possibly this may, at least partially, be due to the end of the off-season hiatus, the anticipatory, adrenalin-pumping anxiousness for the start of the season, a "Hey guys, get my juices flowin', willya?'" feeling directed toward the team that causes frustration when it clashes with the above-mentioned strategic/tactical-analysis view of the coaching staff toward the preseason games. For this reason, I don't put a lot of emphasis on how the 'Skins do against the Pats tonight-yes, Brady is one of the best quick-release quick-decision-making QBs the NFL has ever seen-and for that reason alone the Pats will be a tough nut to crack-but, at the same time, a good test for the revamped defense as well as the offense-and a good intro to the game realities they'll be up against during the season-and perhaps better for the 'Skins-since, as I mentioned elsewhere, they won't be facing a string of opponents of the Ravens, Steelers, Pats calibre during the regular season.
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