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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