Posted on August 25, 2019, by Travis Pulver
The third week of the preseason is typically the best of the four regarding the quality of football. More starters play and for longer periods of time—and that was true over the weekend. But at the same time, several teams opted to hold out many if not most of their starters.
What the fans got was a mix of good and bad football that included a few bad things happening. Overall, it was a pretty busy weekend with several things worth noting:
Table of Contents
Friday
· Baker Mayfield is a charismatic, talented young quarterback— but he is fallible and showed it Friday night with a dismal performance against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (10-26 for 72 yards and an interception). He didn’t have his best guys to work with, but it is not like he was working against a top-notch defense.
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· Bruce Arians will have his work cut out for him with Jameis Winston. The former No.1 pick was a dismal 9-19 for 88 yards and was sacked five times against the Browns. Although, the Browns defense does deserve some of the credit for his poor performance.
· LeSean McCoy has been the man for the Bills since being traded there from the Eagles. But Frank Gore might be the better fantasy pick between the two this season.
Saturday
· Andrew Luck retired! He was about to enter the prime years of his career, finally had an offensive line, running back, and good wide receivers—but he had enough. But too many years without enough help led to too many injuries and one of the better young talents in the game losing his love for it.
· Lamar Miller is out for the season thanks to getting his knee blown out against the Cowboys Saturday night. However, the injury now makes Houston’s acquisition of Duke Johnson a genius move and rumor has it the Texans have signed Jay Ajayi.
· Kyler Murray rebounded from getting thumped by the Raiders with a decent game against the Vikings (14-21 for 137 yards). But the Cardinals are going to need David Johnson to wake up in the regular season if they are going to have a chance (nine carries for 34 yards).
· If the Colts can’t win with Jacoby Brissett at the helm, they may want to consider giving Chad Kelly a shot. The former Mr. Irrelevant has had an excellent preseason.
· There appears to be hope for Teddy Bridgewater and Taysom Hill. Both have had good preseasons and looked good again Saturday night. With the Saints likely looking t life without Drew Brees within the next year or two, it will be interesting to see if they keep both or try to turn one into trade bait.
· Another good game by Sam Darnold (8-13 for 97 yards and a touchdown) must have Jets fans eagerly awaiting this season unlike any other in recent history.
· There may be hope for Jimmy Garoppolo just yet. The 49ers QB bounced back from a horrible outing his last time out to go 14-20 for 188 yards and a touchdown.
· As for Patrick Mahomes—he’s still Patrick Mahomes (8-10 for 126 yards and a touchdown).
· Don’t expect the Chargers to go for it on fourth and short during the regular season because they did twice against Seattle Saturday and failed resulting in nine points for the Seahawks.
Sunday
· James Conner looked ready to roll with 41 yards on five carries against the Titans Sunday night (first-round fantasy pick?)
· Marcus Mariota was pulled from the game early but not necessarily because he had been playing poorly—which he had been. Head coach Mike Vrabel didn’t want him getting hurt because the offensive line was doing a terrible job of blocking for him.
Next week will see everyone playing on Thursday night as every team looks to get as much rest as they can heading into the regular season. Few regulars will play, if any, as teams look for players to fill out their rosters.