There's no argument that the scoreboard results for the Washington Redskins this preseason have been dismal. There's also a long-standing and well-supported NFL conventional wisdom that says the preseason just doesn't matter. It's what you do with the games, not whether you win them. So where does the truth lie for the 2006 Redskins?

Probably somewhere between the two. The scoreboard results make it blatantly obvious that the Skins did not really gameplan for their opponents. That's OK. The goal in the preseason should be to evaluate talent and try out parts of the system. There's some evidence of that approach, especially on defense. The first team defense appeared to try out a series of blitz packages in the first two preseason games, with impressive results. The offense is more questionable. We've seen limited formations, little motion or misdirection, and few audibles. Is the team having problems learning Saunders' system, or is he just keeping his cards flat on the table?

What's gotten more disturbing in the past few weeks are the number of individual breakdowns, which stand out regardless of the overall game plan. The Patriots' game in particular featured an array of dropped assignments on the OL and missed tackles all over the defense. We can't really know what's been going on in practice or what the team's psyche is really like. The string of early preseason injuries could have left much of the team tentative about physical play for the remainder of the preseason. Hopefully things are coming together much better than they appear to be on the field.

We'll know after the first few series in the Monday night opener if all of this August drudgery really means anything...