There’s not much of a quarterback battle left. The Las Vegas Raiders have it figured out. The Denver Broncos probably have it figured out. The Pittsburgh Steelers are probably the only team still trying to figure it out.
Week 2 of the preseason saw some good quarterback play. As the regular season approaches, some teams should be feeling a bit anxious about the quarterback position. Here are 10 takeaways from Week 2 of the preseason.
Denver Broncos
Caleb Williams is probably the most impressive rookie quarterback this preseason, but Bo Nicks is another. Nicks looked very sharp for the second straight game on Sunday night. Some of his passes came with incredible speed, and he was very good on the move. He completed 8 of 9 passes for 80 yards and a touchdown. Nicks was criticized by many when he was selected 12th overall by Denver in the NFL Draft, but he seems at home in Sean Payton’s offense. One advantage of drafting Nicks is his 61 career starts in college. He should be ready to play right away.
Knicks performed well in both preseason games and seems like an obvious choice to be named the starting quarterback for the regular-season opener, though the same can’t be said for Drake May and Michael Pennis Jr., who were drafted ahead of Knicks. (J.J. McCarthy is also unlikely to start Week 1, but a season-ending knee injury forced that decision for the Vikings.)
Payton didn’t name any starters after Sunday night’s game but said he thought the Knicks played well.
“I thought he was in good form,” Payton said, according to team records, “and, obviously, I thought he was eight out of nine.” [on completions]He distributes the ball well, he understands what coverage concepts are available, zone, man-to-man, I’m happy with him overall.”
Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix was one of the stars of Week 2 of the preseason games. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
Las Vegas Raiders
Some may wonder if Aidan O’Connell’s final pass was what cost him the Raiders’ starting quarterback spot.
O’Connell did reasonably well in place of a struggling Gardner Minshew II, but his night ended with six interceptions in the loss. On Sunday, the Raiders announced Minshew would be the starter in Week 1. Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said what happened Saturday night wasn’t the deciding factor, but it’s fair to wonder.
“A lot of things play into it. It’s not just because of last night’s game,” Pierce told the team’s website. “There are a lot of factors. We feel like Gardner gives us the best chance to get off to a fast start.”
We all know the situation the Raiders found themselves in was not ideal and perhaps unexpected. With six quarterbacks selected in the first 12 picks of the NFL Draft and the Raiders holding the 13th pick, the Raiders had to scramble. It would not be surprising if they changed quarterbacks during the season.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers offense has been really bad in the preseason. Russell Wilson and Justin Fields have played 13 times on offense, and the Steelers have only scored three points combined on those plays. Wilson made his preseason debut on Saturday night, but he didn’t play well, completing five passes for 47 yards. Fields at least made some plays on the running field, but he’s a flawed passer and that hasn’t changed.
Still, Tomlin seems to have a favorable view of Wilson, judging by how he defended his struggles after the game. One point he made was that the offensive line didn’t play well enough.
“Again, it’s an incomplete study in some ways because you don’t get a chance to see how he or we play or if we establish a rhythm or personality when we’re not winning possession downs, and we didn’t,” Tomlin said. “The first three or so series of the game we were out on third down and didn’t get a chance to establish a rhythm or play how we wanted to individually or as a team.”
We’ll see if the Steelers still have a contender and if both quarterbacks play in the third preseason game. Wilson appears likely to be the starter, but his play on Saturday was less than inspiring.
The Cowboys are still evaluating Trey Lance, the No. 3 pick in the 2021 NFL Draft who barely played with the 49ers before being eliminated. Lance didn’t play well in the preseason opener against the Rams, but he improved in Game 2, completing 15 of 23 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown. Every good play is important to Lance, as he doesn’t have much experience in the NFL.
“It was definitely easy when I came out there. We just need to start a little quicker in the third quarter,” Lance said on the team’s website. “We messed up on a couple plays, but again, we learned a lot from it. It’s fun competing against these guys.”
Here’s an interesting one. The Dolphins split running back Devon Achan wide and threw the ball for a 26-yard gain. Achan is one of the most intriguing players in the NFL in terms of efficiency coming off a monster rookie season, and if the Dolphins can get creative with him in the passing game, he could be special.
Week 2 of the preseason was another example of how little some coaches care about the game. The Browns did not field 39 players for Saturday’s game. Considering that only 48 players are allowed on Sundays during the regular season, the Browns did not field anyone who could have a real impact this early in the season.
It might be good for the Browns to see Deshaun Watson in action. Watson just returned from season-ending shoulder surgery and has received mixed reviews in training camp. It seems like Watson might play in the third preseason game, which might ease some of the tension.
It’s okay to honestly debate Caleb Williams’ second preseason game — sure, the highlights were thrilling and Bears fans should be excited — but it’s also okay to point out that the offense did very little for the majority of the time he was on the field.
In the first quarter, the Bears had three possessions, no first downs and only gained eight total yards. Excluding a defensive pass interference penalty, the Bears gained 17 yards on five plays on the fourth series, and this was while they had the Bengals’ reserves on the defense. The fifth series was going well, and it was the right decision to leave Williams and the starters on the field to build momentum and confidence and finish the day.
The slow start should be a reminder that it won’t always be easy for Williams. He’s an exciting rookie with great skills, but he’s also a rookie who’s still learning how to play quarterback in the NFL. He’ll be fine, but don’t expect perfection.
Daniel Jones’ interception in his first preseason appearance of the year was less than ideal, but the Giants don’t seem worried. Coach Brian Daboll said the Giants want to emphasize play-action passing and deep throws downfield, and Jones executed that well, especially in the second quarter. The interception won’t go on his record, but the Giants will remember it in a game where it doesn’t count.
“That’s what this game is about,” Daboll said on the team’s record. “There’s an evaluation part, but obviously we go in with a plan. This is a little bit different than a regular-season game where we have a plan and we do things like that. We wanted to make sure we had enough plays to throw passes down the field and gave ourselves opportunities to throw passes down the field. Again, there were some positives. We’re glad we had him here and there’s some things we can learn from it. That’s what this game is about.”
The Saints struggled in their season opener and needed a good performance from their starting offense. It wasn’t great, but they did get a touchdown.
Derek Carr completed 7 of 9 passes for 47 yards and showed the same check-down tendencies that frustrated Saints fans last season. Chris Olave caught three passes, running back Jamaal Williams had 32 yards on five carries and Taysom Hill lined up in the backfield a lot to receive handoffs and even had a touchdown run from the fullback position. At the very least, the Saints’ starters looked sharper than they did in the first preseason game.
The Texans have three quality receivers in Nico Collins, Stefon Diggs and Tank Dell, so attention will be focused on how they will distribute snaps and targets among them. The answer appears to be that Collins will play as the No. 1 receiver, Diggs will play in two-receiver sets, and Dell will play more as the third option. According to Dave Richard of CBS Sports, in the two weeks that CJ Stroud has been on the field, Collins has played 90% of the snaps, Diggs has played 81% and Dell has played 57%. This seems like a reasonable way to predict how the game will play out in key moments.