The New York Jets and Cleveland Browns are a pair of teams that have a lot higher hopes this season than their results in recent years … make that decades. Much of their enthusiasm is pinned to the addition of top quarterbacks to lead their 2023 offenses. The Jets acquired future Hall of Fame member Aaron Rodgers in a deal with the Green Bay Packers and the Browns are now under the direction of Deshaun Watson, who was acquired last year from the Houston Texans but missed most of the 2022 campaign due to a suspension.

Tonight, neither Rodgers or Watson will see any action when the Jets and Browns kick off the National Football League’s preseason schedule in the Annual Hall of Fame Game. Rodgers hasn’t taken a preseason snap since 2018, and Watson will be on the sidelines tonight when Cleveland opens with Kellen Mond behind center.

A couple facts about preseason NFL action, first, there are edges available in the summer games that do not exist during the regular and postseason. Top organizations utilize these scrimmages to get ready for the real games that begin next month, while some struggling franchises often look to outscore their opponents in these meaningless results to “create a winning culture.”

Bad idea.

Winning cultures are established when teams prepare for the real battles to follow and use the preseason to best be ready for the regular season. It is worth noting that only two teams in history, the 2008 Detroit Lions and 2017 Cleveland Browns, lost all their regular season games during a 16 week schedule. Those two teams also were 4-0 in their preseason contests the same years they went winless in the regular season.

Second, and this needs to be delivered in a way that points out the dominance of the NFL in the betting world by stating that if I told you more money was wagered on a Major League Baseball spring training game than the Super Bowl you would think I was nuts. But, know this to be true, more money is wagered on an NFL preseason game than baseball’s World Series.