Seattle plays Denver tonight, and that’s more interesting than most preseason games. You have to figure the Broncos will have a punch-you-in-the-mouth mentality after getting embarrassed in the Super Bowl by the Seahawks. They’ve also had to listen to the Seahawks jaw about it for much of the offseason.
The Seahawks, on the other hand, have had the ultimate preseason team over the last two years, going 4-0 in both 2012 and 2013. They seem to take these games a little more seriously, and they have much better depth than most clubs.
Denver started as a 2.5-point favorite in this game. Now it’s swung to the Seahawks by 3 points. (Not that anybody should be attempting to gamble on practice football games – practicing gambling maybe.)
On this topic, should any of us care when a team wins all of its games in August? Is that a sign it’s headed for big things? Seattle went 4-0 the last two years and has made the playoffs twice and won a Super Bowl. When the Steelers won four Super Bowls in the ‘70s, I remember that started with a 6-0 preseason in 1974.
But preseason and regular season haven’t been connected much recently. In this century, 26 teams have gone undefeated in the preseason. Twelve of those teams then finished with winning records in the real games; 11 finished with losing records (3 went .500).
| UNDEFEATED IN THE PRESEASON | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | W | L | T |
| 2000 | Baltimore | 12 | 4 | 0 |
| 2000 | Denver | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| 2000 | San Diego | 1 | 15 | 0 |
| 2001 | Minnesota | 5 | 11 | 0 |
| 2002 | Atlanta | 9 | 6 | 1 |
| 2002 | NY Jets | 9 | 7 | 0 |
| 2003 | New England | 14 | 2 | 0 |
| 2003 | Tennessee | 12 | 4 | 0 |
| 2003 | Carolina | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| 2003 | Arizona | 4 | 12 | 0 |
| 2004 | Carolina | 7 | 9 | 0 |
| 2005 | Denver | 13 | 3 | 0 |
| 2006 | Carolina | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| 2006 | Cincinnati | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| 2006 | NY Giants | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| 2008 | Detroit | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| 2009 | Baltimore | 9 | 7 | 0 |
| 2009 | Miami | 7 | 9 | 0 |
| 2009 | Seattle | 5 | 11 | 0 |
| 2010 | San Francisco | 6 | 10 | 0 |
| 2011 | Detroit | 10 | 6 | 0 |
| 2011 | St. Louis | 2 | 14 | 0 |
| 2012 | Seattle | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| 2012 | Philadelphia | 4 | 12 | 0 |
| 2013 | Seattle | 13 | 3 | 0 |
| 2013 | Washington | 3 | 13 | 0 |
—Ian Allan