NFL Preseason Week Two: Eight Observations From Thursday Night’s Action

Posted on August 16, 2019, by Travis Pulver

Typically, the second week of the NFL preseason is a little more telling than the first. In the first week, teams are concerned about guys not getting hurt. But in Week Two, they want to see how guys will do with some extended playing time. So, while a guy looked great in one drive last week, can he be great for a quarter or more this week?

Of the teams, some guys did okay, but others struggled a little more than they did last week. It is the preseason, of course, so every observation has to be taken with a grain of salt.

But that doesn’t mean the preseason should be ignored.    

Thursday Night’s Observations

·        The Eagles may need to scour the waiver wire for quarterbacks when the cuts start to fall. But with Carson Wentz’s injury history, Nate Sudfeld’s injury last week, and now Cody Kessler getting concussed last night, they may have trouble fielding a QB this season. So, maybe the actual issue is the offensive line…

·        Time to pump the breaks on Kyler Murray, Kliff Kingsbury, and the Cardinals. Murray looked great last week in the one drive he played. But this week he saw a lot more action and didn’t look nearly as good (3-8 for 12 yards; one rush for four yards). Brett Hundley, however, had a solid outing (10-15 for 139 yards and a touchdown; three rushes for 26 yards). Could we have a QB battle on our hands?

“Obviously, from the outside looking in, it looks a little disappointing,” Murray told a sideline reporter during the game (via NFL.com). “At the same time, we know what’s important and that this is only preseason. Really vanilla right now. We’re not doing everything. Yeah, it is what it is.”

·        The Cardinals in, general, just looked sloppy. They had tons of penalties and at times didn’t look like they really knew what they were doing. Kliff Kingsbury and his college ways may not be ready for the NFL just yet.

·        Again, Sam Darnold didn’t play much. But when he was in the game, he looked good. The same can’t be said for Matt Ryan, though. The Falcons QB was sacked three times and was under pressure for most of the night. He still played well (10-14 for 118 yards), but the Falcons may be tempting fate if they cant do a better job of protecting Ryan.

·        Ryan Finley had a solid night for the Bengals completing 20 of 26 passes for 150 yards and two touchdowns. But with such a low yards/attempt (5.8), does he deserve credit for throwing a bunch of safe, short-yardage check downs?

·        The Redskins may be more inclined to give Dwayne Haskins the job in Week One if he can continue to build off last night’s performance. It was far from polished but much better than last week (7-14 for 114 yards and a touchdown). His 55-yard touchdown pass to Robert Davis was a thing of beauty.

·        Green Bay’s run issues appear to be continuing. It doesn’t help that the team has been without the services of Aaron Jones and Jamal Williams, but Tra Carson and rookie Dexter Williams should be doing better than they have. Last week, the Packers had 38 yards on 13 carries; this week, they had seven yards on seven carries (in the first half).

· Baltimore’s offense works better when Lamar Jackson runs. That much was evident when he took off on a nice, little touchdown run against the Packers last night that ended up getting called back. Yes, that will make him more susceptible to injury, but Trace McSorley looked promising in limited action (8-13 for 74 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.