Preseason thread

[CFCNick]

Hey, what do you know? Football's back!!! Anyone watch the HoF game last night? I only watched half of the 1st quarter and have to say Drew Brees looked mightily impressive on his one and only drive, going 70 yards for a Ingram TD.

[crazy_dave23]

Haven't seen it... it's kind of sprung up on me!
May look for highlights tonight

[The Mangler US_UK]

I missed it -- i thought if was on the NFL Channel only, but found out after the fact that they also showed it on one of the local Arizona channels. Of course, the only thing I really missed was that Kolb got injured early on....

[CFCNick]

Giants depth chart for our preseason opener @ Jacksonville http://www.giants.com/team/depth-chart.html

[cherriesfna]

Flynn is playing 1st half while wilson plays 2nd half next saturday
#12thMAN

[thunder and lightning]

Flynn is playing 1st half while wilson plays 2nd half next saturday
#12thMAN

Actually a really interesting pre season game this one - two QB competitions so they'll be looking to impress against two of the better young D's in the league (we need work on the D line but the secondary scores alot of points for us), Titans will ofc win, but it will be one to watch imo.

[mikeygnfl]

I watched a few bits of the games on Thursday. I'm not sure what you can take from the games and performances though?

RG3 looked decent for the Redskins as did Pierre Garcon. Julio Jones and Jacquizz Rodgers did very well and both could have more productive seasons ahead.

Nick Foles had one of the better days and should get more time on the field in pre-season with Vick being injured. Who knows if his form continues and Vick isn't ready he may join Luck, RG3 and Weeden as week 1 rokkie qb starters?

Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen both did well and will be competing for carries over the season especially now BJGE has gone.

Peyton Manning came through his 'competitive' comeback unscathed. Eric Decker looked good while Alshon Jeffery was a big plus for the Bears.

[mikeygnfl]

Here's a few notes from Friday's preseason games:-

Sanchez, Tebow and all that. Well what's to be said about this? Not much really. Sanchez (4/6 21yds) wasn't good and got sacked in the first drive and Tebow (4/8 27yds) wasn't much better. Tebow did have a couple of decent scrambles and topped the Jets rushing. the big pluses for the Jets though were rookies Coples and Hill.

Didn't see much of the Giants-Jaguars game which was probably the most entertaining of the night. David Wilson saw alot of the ball and did ok as did Reuben Randle who has 2 catches for 27 yards and a TD. Other than that the Giants were pretty much what you would expect.

If Thursday was about Vick's injury and Nick Foles performance then similarly Friday was about Garrard's injury and Ryan Tannehill's performance. With Garrard out the starter spot in Miami is a two horse race between Moore and Tannehill. Matt Moore didn't do alot to help his cause. Tannehill on the otherhand landed a TD with his first drive (only for it to be overruled in review). He then did lead a TD drive after the break and threw for 167 yards.

The Bucs looked decent with both Blount and Doug Martin going over for TDs.

The 49ers looked impressive againsth the Vikings especially in their 1st TD drive. Kaepernick had the play of the night with a 78 yard TD run.

[Derbyblue]

Just wondering what people think, is it worth taking a field goal on 4th & goal in preseason wouldn't it be better to give Locker more game time snaps in the Red Zone?

[mikeygnfl]

Just wondering what people think, is it worth taking a field goal on 4th & goal in preseason wouldn't it be better to give Locker more game time snaps in the Red Zone?

I've watched a few preseason games and couldn't understand why teams didn't go for it more on 4th downs with couple of yards to go. It's not as if they've got anything to lose.

[BamBam]

I agree, especially with a young QB, would definitely go for it. I saw a bit of that game, Chris Johnson looked good!

[Derbyblue]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks it's pointless, I know it's only one extra snap but still extra experience of an important situation where as let's be honest Rob Bironas is probably quite used to his job.

Johnson did have some good moments but also there was one drive which was a 3 and out where they just handed it to Johnson, his first TD was helped by a very good block and second TD wasn't against the starters still a fairly good job though.

[Colan (niner)]

Chris Johnson looked to have some burst again! I was also very impressed by Ponder, was in his early season form of last season

[Derbyblue]

I hope the Giants D can continue to play like this when Tebow is playing, don't want any of this TebowTime rubbish, giving Sanchez a horrible time and stopping Greene from getting any significant gains.

[Thomond]

CJ2k, looked great with the 2nd stringers, first string contained him alright, a pretty good job. Second string, awful.

[doctor_grey]

Last night the Giants first string defense looked pretty good against the Jets, although I thought they were a little vulnerable on some runs up the middle. But it is somewhat hard to judge since the Jets offensive right tackle is poor.

The Giants still cannot run the ball and they need better run-blocking linemen or last year's run won't be repeated. Not worried about their passing.

The Jets on atack were not very good. Sanchez will be OK, I think, but Tebow was overthrowing simple passes.

[BamBam]

Victor Cruz was unplayable last night, looks like last season wasn't a fluke

[thunder and lightning]

Just wondering what people think, is it worth taking a field goal on 4th & goal in preseason wouldn't it be better to give Locker more game time snaps in the Red Zone?

I've watched a few preseason games and couldn't understand why teams didn't go for it more on 4th downs with couple of yards to go. It's not as if they've got anything to lose.

Special teams need reps too, possibly an unwritten rule to play like you would normally to give both sides of the special teams some practice time.

[Derbyblue]

Just wondering what people think, is it worth taking a field goal on 4th & goal in preseason wouldn't it be better to give Locker more game time snaps in the Red Zone?

I've watched a few preseason games and couldn't understand why teams didn't go for it more on 4th downs with couple of yards to go. It's not as if they've got anything to lose.

Special teams need reps too, possibly an unwritten rule to play like you would normally to give both sides of the special teams some practice time.

Pretty sure you can play how you want, though some do help each other out like Marvin Lewis asked the Jets to not do any wildcat stuff probably because they won't be defending against it in the season, but a team going for it on 4th and goal is something you will come up against and to me that rep is more important than a 10ish yard FG.

Giants D did a great job of putting both QBs under pressure and Hosley got a nice pick. Jets O was terrible a number of times the D managed to come up with big plays, like picking off Manning or forcing them to 3 and outs but the O didn't do anything of value, Tebow even under threw a wide open Stephen Hill who was by himself in the endzone. Obviously against worse opponents but even the Giants 3rd string QB looked more impressive than Sanchez and Tebow, 2 games and not one TD I'd be worried.

[Derbyblue]

Did anyone catch the Colts vs Steelers game?

I was fairly impressed by how Luck came back into the game and coped with a few unsuccesful drives at the start, actually thought Dwayne Allen looked better than Coby Fleener in the bits I saw. Best thing for the Colts is that the Steelers and Bengals games put Luck up against some of the leagues best defenses so when it comes round to Week 1 vs Chicago it won't be quite the same shock.

Steelers looked good, struggled at the start as they were pretty much running every play and they look like they will miss Mendenhall. Antonio Brown had a good 57 yard TD though it was helped by some good blocking, think Mike Wallace may regret holding out.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Both Brady and Gronk not playing the Pats game with the Eagles tonight apparantly

[Derbyblue]

No Brady, Gronkowski, Hernandez, Welker, Lloyd, Mankins, Wilfork, McCourty for the Patriots tonight and there were more who I didn't catch. Time for some of the backups to catch attention against the Eagles starters.

[Derbyblue]

Vick gets hurt on the Eagles first offensive snap.

[crazy_dave23]

Vick is clearly one to avoid over drafting in fantasy leagues... will be missing games for sure!

[Number-25]

Watched the Redskins/Colts game last night. Was impresses with both RG3 and Luck. Of course it's only preseason and you therefore have to apply all sorts of caveats but still, both guys displayed the sort of confidence, poise and smarts that they will need to be successful NFL QBs.

Luck finished with the more eye catching stay line and the longer/nicer TD throw. RG3 however did a good job of doing what few Redskins QBs have managed to do over the last couple of decades - he kept the offense moving with some nice crisp and accurate intermediate passing behind a running game that was functioning very, very well with rookie Alfred Morris. RG3's TD was only a 4 yarder but it was everything it needed to be - sharp, crisp and on the money. He also displayed the elusiveness on one broken 3rd down play that will scare defenses when he evaded an almost certain sack to scramble for a 1st down.

Was really pleased to see both guys play well. Could be fun watching this pair over the next decade.

[The Mangler US_UK]

Vick dropped all the way to the 5th round in our league.

Of course, we're in our draft and I don't think Jonathan Stewart had been on my team for more than 10 minutes when it comes over the TV that he'd just injured his ankle in the game that was at that moment being played. Not even out of the preseason and already have my 1st casualty!

[bluestonevedder]

Pheeeeew. Graham Harrell has finally proved he can be a decent replacement. Actually a great performance from the bloke, 13 of 15 passes for 223 yards with two touchdowns for the Packers.

Cedric Benson was a bit of a let down, after a promosing start last week.

[Derbyblue]

I see the Jets finally got a TD and it was their 3rd string quarterback!

[bluestonevedder]

I see the Jets finally got a TD and it was their 3rd string quarterback!

I only realised that when it was reported today! That is a terrible, terrible stat to kick start your season. 1 TD? In 4 games? Against weakened pre-season teams?

I think Sanchez is so over rated, and he's being given a lot more time than more talented quarterbacks ever were at other teams!

[mikeygnfl]

I see the Jets finally got a TD and it was their 3rd string quarterback!

Looking at the other teams, the Jets could have probably have picked up a decent QB in the draft.

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