Friday, August 19, 2016

Quick Hits: Preseason Week 1

Yay, football! Even if it's preseason, we will take whatever we can get. It's been a long six-month wait. The first week of preseason gave us plenty to talk about. This series will be put out every week covering everything that happened over the weekend and Thursday football. Look for it on Wednesdays from here on out. We will cover anywhere from five to 15 quick points from the week, with my analysis and opinion on each topic. Oh, and heads up, these will all be very opinionated. So I am sorry in advance if I am a "hater" of your team. I am here to give my opinion and that's exactly what I am going to do. Let's get started.


- Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas put on a show against the New England Patriots. For his first game in the NFL, Thomas had a stat line of 4/64/0 (receptions/yards/touchdowns) with a couple acrobatic catches. A second round pick in the 2016 draft, I viewed him as the top receiver available. Thomas will be a steal for the Saints this season and I expect him to become a major part of the offense sooner rather than later.

- Quarterbacks Carson Wentz, Paxton Lynch, and Dak Prescott had solid to great starts to their NFL careers. Wentz went 12-24 (three big drops from his wide outs) for 89 yards and an interception. While that may look underwhelming, Wentz played very well for the Eagles all things considered. Lynch, when he wasn't getting sacked, went 6-7 for 74 yards and looked more than capable of running the Broncos' offense well. Prescott had the best day of the bunch, going 10-12 for 139 yards and two touchdown passes. Given the Cowboys situation with backup quarterbacks, Prescott provided a much needed sigh of relief for Dallas fans.

- On the opposite side of the spectrum, Jared Goff has a rough first outing for the Rams. The former call product went 4-9 for 38 yards. Underwhelming? Yes. But it’s the first preseason game that he didn't even start. The offense also features a lot of rookies and young guys. Give him time to gel.

- Break up the Titans running backs! After acquiring DeMarco Murray from the Eagles and drafting Derrick Henry in round two of this year’s draft, the Titans made it obvious they wanted a power run game to run the offense (no pun intended). Well if preseason is any sign of what's to come, it sure looks good. Murray went 6/93/1 including a 71-yard touchdown run. Henry went 10/74/1.

- The Ravens running back stable looks pretty solid, too. Javorius "Buck" Allen, Terrance West, and Kenneth Dixon all displayed their skill sets very well. Allen only went six carries for six yards, but had an impressive 19-yard touchdown reception. West went 9/25/2 with good vision and red-zone play. Dixon carried the ball nine time for 44 yards with some great reads and explosive runs between the tackles.

- The Jaguars duo of Blake Bortles to Allen Robinson looks to be in midseason form. Robinson grabbed three passes for a whopping 80 yards. This young duo is starting to earn its way towards one of the best in the NFL.

- The Texans offense got off to a slow start, and even that statement doesn't do it justice. Brock Osweiler, who signed his 4-year $72 million contract over the summer, went 4/7 for 27 yards. Osweiler was under pressure and was unable to make anything happen deep. His longest completion went for 12 yards. Osweiler is an average quarterback and this offense has a ton of new pieces. They will all need time to mesh before we can see what they are truly capable of.

- One big thing that happened off the field this week was the trade of former Titans wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham to the Eagles. A former 2nd round pick, DGB is only in his second season and showed plenty of promise as a rookie. Reports came out shortly after the trade, claiming is work ethic as well as showing up to camp out of shape prompted the Titans to move on quickly. The Eagles meanwhile, have a weakness at the receiver position. Adding DGB to a receiving corps Jordan Matthews and Zach Ertz will hopefully open things up a little more, especially in the red-zone.

- With key names such as Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edleman, and Danny Amendola sitting out for the first preseason gamefor the Patriots, Jimmy Garoppolo looked solid. After looking uncomfortable to start the game, Garoppolo finished nicely to put up an 11/18 for 168 yards stat line.

-And finally, we have our favorite kicker, Roberto Aguayo... Aguayo, who NEVER MISSED a PAT in his entire college career, missed his first ever attempt in the NFL. Now, we really shouldn't be freaking out too much... But when you consider the Buccaneers not only took him in the second round of this year’s draft, but actually traded up for him, I think we have some reason to freak out a little.


Richard Bradshaw is available to follow on Twitter @RichieBradz36. Thank you for the read.


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