NFL Preseason Week 2: Observations From Friday Night’s Action

Posted on August 17, 2019, by Travis Pulver

The NFL preseason rolled on Friday night with six teams taking the field. Overall, the football was—okay. It is preseason football, so expectations are certainly pretty low. But it is still football, and there are always guys playing for a job, so we know that we’ll see at least their ‘A’ game.

So, between rookies trying to figure out the NFL game and other guys just hoping to earn a roster spot, Friday’s action was fun to watch—with a few things worth noting.

Observations From Friday Night

·        Daniel Jones may not be ready yet, but when he is, the youngster should do just fine. He played a lot more this time, about five drives, and there was some good to go with the bad. Jones did look good throwing the ball (11-14 for 161 yards and a beautiful touchdown throw). However, he also fumbled twice, once on a strip-sack and another on the snap.

“The exchange, you know, I just got out of there too quick,” Jones said regarding the fumbled snap, via NFL.com. “I’ve got to stay in and get the snap. We had a good drive going, so we can’t let that happen.”

·        But the Giants will not be too quick to pull Eli Manning with how he looked in his one scoring drive (4-4 for 42 yards and a touchdown).

·         Josh Rosen got the start in Miami against the Buccaneers. While it is safe to say he wasn’t bad, it is also safe to say he wasn’t good (10-18 for 102 yards). In his six drives, the Dolphins went three and out twice, turned the ball over on downs, and kicked a pair of field goals.

·         Fitzpatrick was far from impressive completing just 3-9 for 20 yards. So, while he may start the season, with a few games like that, he will not end the season as Miami’s QB1.

·        Ryan Griffin may get the nod if Bruce Arians ever tires of Jameis Winston.   Blaine Gabbert was unimpressive again (5-12 for 42 yards), but Griffin looked good against Miami’s scrubs throwing for 201 yards and a touchdown along with completing two-thirds of his passes (14-21).

·        There may be hope for Bills quarterback Josh Allen after all. He didn’t throw a touchdown during his one-quarter of action, but he looked good when he played hitting nine of 11 throws for 102 yards. If he can do that during the regular season for a whole game, the Bills might actually be good this year.

·        With as bad as Cam Newton’s back-ups looked for the Panthers, they may want to see if the Bills really want to keep Matt Barkley (8-10 for 110 yards and a touchdown).

The play of the night belonged to former rugby player Christian Wade. The Bills receiver looked like an old pro catching a swing pass from Tyree Jackson and then darting upfield and breaking tackles for a 48-yards gain. With runs like that, if the Bills do not give him a shot, he is bound to find a home on someone’s practice squad (at least).