Any time an NFL team tanks a preseason game, it’s a whirlwind for fans. For some, it completely sucks out the optimism in the room and deflates all the excitement that comes with an incoming season. You could certainly sense that at Ford Field on Thursday night, as patrons donned in Honolulu Blue walked into the building full of cheerful hope and left with an uneasy feeling of deja vu.
But there’s another subset of fans that refuse to take anything from the preseason. Vanilla scheme, backup players and coaches that are just trying to feel things out mean that literally nothing can be gleaned from the preseason, they argue.