Among my peers it has long since been argued the importance of the preseason. Recently the NFL discussed trimming it down to two games. While I believe this was more a monetary move to create an 18 game season, the price would then be paid by the fringe players fighting to make the 53.
In 2003 Bill Cowher decided to run the Tommy Gun offense. While this might have seemed like a good idea at the time, the only problem was the weak link was Tommy Gun himself. Tommy Maddox did have a remarkable 2002 NFL comeback season however 2003 was less than stellar.