NFL Preseason: What We Took Away From The First Set Of Games

We got out first taste of real NFL Preseason action last night. Sure, we had the Hall of Fame game, but we didn’t see many starters outside of Teddy Bridgewater. Last night we had six games on the schedule with some of biggest names in the league playing. Here’s what we took away from the night…

Green Bay/New England

22-11

NE - Tom Brady got on the field. It seemed more like a thumb towards Roger Goodell than anything. He was only in the game for a short period of time.  Jimmy Garappolo looks terrible, and the Pats are in trouble during their first 4 games if he can’t pick up his play. He ended up throwing one INT and taking 7 sacks. Have to get rid of the ball faster. Jonas Gray looked good, and that says a lot for the way they’ll play in the first four games. Look for the Patriots to run the ball a lot.

GB – Aaron Rodgers is ice cold. The first string offense played the entire first quarter and looked good. They weren’t able to punch it into the end zone, but that will come. They basically moved the ball at will. This offense is going to be huge this year.

Baltimore/New Orleans

30-27

NO – Drew Brees didn’t get into the game, so there isn’t much to talk about. It did take them over 18 minutes to get a first down though. Our writers have already predicted a down season for Drew and the Saints offense this year. We could be already seeing it.

BAL – Joe Flacco and the 1^st string offense only played one drive, but it was a good one. They marched 80 yards down the field in 16 plays with Lorenzo Taliaferro punching it in on 4^th and goal. Flacco put in a lot of work this off-season. Can he finally make the jump in FFB?

Miami/New York Jets

23-3

DET – This offense looked good. Golden Tate caught both of Matt Stafford’s passes for 57 yards total. One of those was a 45 yard TD pass. Tate looks to continue his success from last year. The Lions ran the ball extremely well also. This offense looked like a well-oiled machine.

NYJ – The Jets on the other hand were atrocious. As if their week couldn’t get any worse after the Geno Smith debacle. They got nothing done on offense, they looked bad on defense. Fitzpatrick only played one series. They gave Bryce Petty all of the time to see what he could do. He did nothing.

Chicago/Miami

27-10

CHI – Don’t let the score fool you. Chicago didn’t do anything to make us forget about the season they had last year. They brought in John Fox and over hauled the defense, but it doesn’t look like they’ve done much to change anything. Add that to the fact Alshon Jeffery is dealing with an injury already… We’ll wait to see game 2 of the Preseason.

MIA – This is a team we were excited to see, and they didn’t disappoint. Ryan Tannehill picked apart Chicago’s defense. He went 6 for 7 on the opening drive and threw for a TD to Jarvis Landry. It may have been more about the Bears ineptitude, but we have high hopes for Tannehill this year. Their defense was exactly what we expected. Ndamukong Suh was the force they signed even though he didn’t show up on the stat sheet. Cameron Wake had a sack, which got called back, and the players are loving the one on one match ups they’re getting with Suh demanding extra attention. Miami should be a solid squad this year.

San Diego/Dallas

17-7

SD – Danny Woodhead is back with the Chargers. He scored on their opening drive from eight yards out. We didn’t see much from Melvin Gordon, and Rivers only threw two passes. He completed them both for 20 yards.

DAL – The Cowboys didn’t play many starters at all. Terrance Williams caught a couple passes. RB Gus Johnson was making good on his opportunities before going down in the 3^rd with a separated shoulder. The undrafted rookie is trying to prove he can replace DeMarco Murray.

Washington/Cleveland

20-17

WAS – The Redskins couldn’t find the end zone. That wasn’t RG3’s fault. Pierre Garcon got behind the Cleveland defense and Griffin hit him with a bomb which should have ended in a score… Garcon dropped the ball, he was wide open.  Washington lost starting TE Niles Paul for the season with a devastating ankle injury as well. Not looking good.

CLE – Josh McCown threw for a score on their first possession, but all eyes were on Johnny Manziel. He looked inconsistent, as per usual, but did scramble for a TD. He’s currently the back up to McCown. We’ll see how that plays out throughout the preseason.