The first full week of the 2015 NFL preseason is officially in the books, which means two things: we’re one step closer to the games that actually matter and we can now digest the mess we just saw get strewn across our television sets over the past several days.
Preseason games don’t matter and most everything that takes place in them needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but we can still learn from them. Let’s break down the key notes from the past week and see what we learned as we head into another week of preseason action:
Rough Rookie Debuts?
Both Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston were extremely high profile rookie debuts, and both were mixed bags after extensive action. Mariota was a mess to get his first game going, as he fumbled a ball that was returned for a touchdown and also tossed a pick. He seemed to settle down from there, though, and looked pretty good for most of his game for the Titans. Of the two, he displayed much better control and accuracy and looked far more comfortable in the pocket.
Winston was just bad for most of the game, as he had happy feet and seemed indecisive a good amount of the time. That led to a shaky 9-19 outing, although he did have a nice touchdown run and had another big pass to Vincent Jackson that displayed his arm strength and willingness to go down the field. Winston has a lot of work to do when it comes to his pocket presence and decision-making, but it wasn’t all bad in his debut. Mariots wins week one, but both rookie passers showed enough to think they could enjoy terrific week two’s and still be solid first year quarterbacks.
Quarterback Battles
The two biggest battles lie in Buffalo and Houston. The Bills have a three-way attack with Matt Cassel leading the way over Tyrod Taylor and E.J. Manuel, while the Texans have Brian Hoyer going up against Ryan Mallett. Hoyer only played briefly but hit on a 58-yard touchdown and looks like a lock to win that battle. Cassel is very much in the lead for the Bills, but he offers no pop on offense. Taylor displayed nice mobility and gives Buffalo’s offense some upside. He should start week two and could be a real threat to Cassel. Manuel hasn’t impressed and probably isn’t a serious threat to Cassel or Taylor right now.
Ameer is the Man
Joique Bell continues to work his way back from knee and leg issues, while rookie sensation Ameer Abdullah quickly showed us all precisely why he’s a rookie sensation. Abdullah had been garnering rave reviews all summer, but he put on a show right away in his first preseason game, as he busted off a 45-yard run and finished his pro debut with 67 yards off of seven totes. Abdullah has some Barry Sanders to his game and is looking more and more like the team’s top back. That’s bad news for the rest of the NFC North, if we weren’t being clear enough.
Johnny Manziel is Improving
Johnny Football produced a nice 12-yard touchdown scamper and looked fairly poised and in control in his first preseason game. He was just 7-11 and didn’t spring any big plays, but two important things need to be taken from this game: his comfort level within the offense and the playbook are light years head of where he was at as a rookie and he was playing with backups. He could have been better, but he showed serious signs of growth and should only get better as preseason moves forward. That doesn’t mean he’s about to challenge starting quarterback Josh McCown, however, as McCown went 5-5 and looked to be in complete control of the starting gig.
Tebowmania is Alive and Well
We finally got to see Tim Tebow in his debut with the Eagles, as he played much of the second half with and against scrub players. He actually did very well on his first drive, going 4-5 and leading the Eagles to a field goal. Tebow showed a slightly more compact release and on that first drive resembled a passable quarterback. He regressed from there, unfortunately, as he took too many sacks and simply held onto the ball too long. He did add a nice rushing score late on an option play, but he’ll need to show more signs of progress to beat out Matt Barkley for the third string gig.
Jimmy Garoppolo Needs Work
Tom Brady’s four-game ban stands at the moment and that leaves the Pats with second-year quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to begin the 2015 NFL season. Early signs suggest that might not go so well. Garoppolo ended up piecing things together more in the second half as far as getting the ball out cleanly and completing passes, but he couldn’t get anything going down the field, tossed a pick and took far too many sacks. He flashed some ability and was working with spare talent, but Garoppolo needs to be much better if New England is going to feel remotely good about starting him come week one.
Got something big we missed? Hit us up in the comments below!
