Looking Back: Pre-Season Week 2

Steelers 21 @ Bills 24: Trent Edwards certainly seems like a lock to win the starting job in Buffalo after throwing two touchdowns in the opening half. There is no controversy in Pittsburgh but Big Ben is playing like he’s fighting for a job. He did throw a kind of fluky interception, but was money otherwise. One does have to wonder if that will last all year as the Steeler offensive line continues to struggle, especially in the running game. First round picks came up big in this game as both Rashard Mendenhall and Leodis McKelvin scored touchdowns.

Panthers 13 @ Eagles 24: The Eagles may have lost Reggie Brown for some time early in this game. If so they are lucky that DeSean Jackson seems like he could be a primetime player in the NFL. He had 7 catches for 71 yards and even did a really nice job blocking. Jake Delhomme played well, but like Pittsburgh the o-line did not look good. That is a scary proposition for any QB, especially one coming back from a serious injury. First round pick Jonathan Stewart does not seem like a threat to the starting position at this point. He has been hampered by a toe injury and has not played particularly well when he is on the field.

Redskins 13 @ Jets 10: So Brett Favre played. There were no real apparent signs of rust. The offense was probably somewhat simplified for Brett but he tends to improvise anyway and the arm is certainly still strong. Brett better hope the starting receivers stay healthy, because the back-ups looked terrible. They had six dropped passes. The Redskins had the same problem, particularly from rookie Devin Thomas who did not play well at all. Marcus Mason has 250 rushing yards in the first three pre-season games, but does not seem to fit on the roster at all. This does open up the possibility of a trade of either Betts or Portis, I know it seems out of left field but the Redskins are against the cap and it might be the right move.

Colts 16 @ Falcons 9: The Falcons have to consider Michael Turner money well spent at this point. He ran for 144 yards in the first half against the Colts. Of course, Turner has always had success against Indianapolis. Matt Ryan may end up being smart money, but looks every bit the rookie right now. So does Jim Sorgi and he’s been in the league for a number of years. The only problem with an iron man QB is that eventually he may miss a game. If so, the Colts are in trouble. Jacob Tamme continues to impress at the tight end position for the Colts. If they want to they could add double TE plays as a new weapon.

Vikings 23 @ Ravens 15: Tavaris Jackson played well in both of his pre-season games thus far, but displayed the problem with a running QB by coming up injured after being too stupid to slide. He will be ready for the season but might want to spend some time watching guys slide into home. Jared Allen had two sacks which is exactly why they brought him in and he solidifies the Vikings a Super Bowl caliber defense. Ray Rice played well again including a 42 yard run up the middle. Baltimore could have a substantial one-two punch at the Running Back position. There is still no front runner at the quarterback position and it seems more and more like starting Flacco on day one may not be a bad move.

Dolphins 19 @ Jaguars 14: Chad Pennington made his debut with the Dolphins and played exactly how you would expect Chad Pennington to play. He completed nearly all of his passes but did not move the ball downfield particularly well. Ted Ginn Jr. put on a little bit of weight and looked much more like a starting WR than he did last year. The Dolphins made a surprise move last week by cutting veteran kicker Jay Feely and going with rookie Dan Carpenter. Carpenter played well though going 4 for 4 on field goals. The Jaguars overhauled their receiver position in the offseason and David Garrard does not seem to have a very good chemistry with them yet.

Texans 31 @ Saints 27: There’s some level of controversy in Houston at the QB position. Matt Schaub has certainly gone a long way towards silencing that with his play this preseason though. The Texans running game looked much better this week than it did against Denver. Rookie Steve Slaton played very well. A couple of veterans thought to be on their last legs played well on Saturday for the Saints. Deuce McAllister and Mark Brunell both looked healthy and productive. The Saints really focused on their secondary in the offseason but has not played well in the preseason yet.

Chargers 6 @ Rams 7: Darren Sproles apparently got injured in this game on a kickoff return, though I’m not sure how serious it is at this point. Buster Davis played well for the Chargers and if he is utilized more this season the Bolts really have a lot of weapons. The Rams have some weapons too but Marc Bulger is really struggling to get them the ball. If Bulger is not capable of bouncing back from his injuries last year it will be a long season in St. Louis.

Cardinals 27 @ Chiefs 17: Matt Leinert continues to be very impressive, it looks like the QB competition is over. Travis LaBoy looks like a nice pick up for the Cards, recording 2 sacks. No Kansas City QB has looked good to this point, Croyle will start but Herm can not be overfilled with confidence at this point.

Bears 26 @ Seahawks 29: Kyle Orton will be the starting quarterback for the Bears but it’s not like he’s blown the world away to this point. The Bears were able to score in other ways, something they did very well in their Super Bowl season. The got a defensive TD, a Special Teams score and a blocked punt for a safety. Charlie Frye played the entire game, thanks to a Matt Hasselbeck injury, he passed for a lot of yards but also threw three interceptions.

Packers 6 @ 49ers 34: The 49ers look to have weapons around whoever plays QB. Frank Gore is good out of the backfield, Vernon Davis is healthy for what that’s worth, three new wide receivers in Isaac Bruce, Bryant Johnson and Josh Morgan give them what looks to be their best trio in a decade. The problem remains the QB. Despite putting up 34 points no QB played well enough to win on a consistent basis. Aaron Rodgers took a step back this week, though the offensive line can take a lot of that blame. They gave up four sacks in the first half.

Lions 27 @ Bengals 10: In a game full of highly touted Wide Receiver talent, Calvin Johnson stole the show. In a half of pre-season action this year he has 7 catches for 153 yards and a touchdown. Unlike the Saints, the Lions off-season acquisitions seem to have really improved their secondary as Leigh Bodden and Brian Kelly both played really well against the potent Bengal passing attack. Chad Johnson and TJ Houshmanzadeh were both hurt in this game, hence the re-signing of Chris Henry. Keith Rivers looks like he could be an excellent addition to the Cincinnati defense.

Patriots 10 @ Buccaneers 27: I could copy and paste my assessment of Jim Sorgi and it would easily fit Matt Cassel in New England. You would think a coach as big on depth as Belichek would have a veteran back-up on the roster. As was the case in the first pre-season game the Patriots look old on defense, the sooner they can get their young linebackers in on a regular basis may be the better. Veteran jouneymen Brian Griese and Antonio Bryant both played very well and should easily get a roster spot in Tampa.

Browns 34 @ Giants 37: A couple of young guys who looked to be fighting for a roster spot coming into Monday were the story. Domenik Hixon could be the outside receiver that New York was looking for in Steve Smith, Sinorice Moss and others. In Cleveland Syndric Steptoe could be yet another weapon for the Browns. Eli Manning played well despite missing most of his starting offense. The back-up QB’s were another story as neither Anthony Wright nor David Carr were particularly impressive. The Browns may not be as close as everybody thinks. Their first team was downright terrible.

Raiders 16 @ Titans 17: JaMarcus Russell was slow going, but played well once he got into a groove. His problem will be lack of receivers outside of TE Zach Miller who has really been playing well. Russell actually looked far more comfortable than Vince Young, who only looks natural when the ball is at his hip and he’s looking for a spot to run. The Raiders struggled against a very good Tennessee running game. The Titans averaged over five yards per carry.

Cowboys 13 @ Broncos 23: So far in the preseason Jay Cutler is 24 of 30 for 160 yards and responsible for 2 TD’s. He has skyrocketed up fantasy draft charts and looks ready to take the step we all expect him to take towards being an elite QB. Jack Williams will easily get a roster spot in Denver and could challenge for a starting job at some point. Felix Jones looked good for Dallas, especially catching the ball out of the backfield. Pac Man is back and played well, he could have had a couple of picks off of Patrick Ramsey but dropped them.