Since we had an off-season thread, but it’s no longer the off-season. 
First up: Raiders WR Antonio Brown has missed most of Raiders training camp with what had been described as “sore feet.” As per this article on SI.com, while this was not inaccurate, it also was not the whole story:
:eek:
I’d be like… WTF?! But then it’s Antonio Brown.
I forgot the link to the SI.com story:
https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/08/07/antonio-brown-foot-injury-frostbite-cryotherapy-raiders
Ah the preseason when hope springs scraggly and malnourished, but eternal, from the blighted ground for a Lions fan.
I was actually pretty impressed with their off-season moves. Mostly they weren’t flashy but they improved some real weak spots. It will be hard to see how the moves on their lines pan out as early as the preseason. How the moves to fill the gaping void at TE pan out will be important. We should start to see some of that.
The Vikings signing Kirk Cousins doesn’t bode well for a division title. I’m a Lions fan, though. If they look like they will be competitive in most games and are still in the wildcard hunt in the last week or two it’s a decent year.
The traditional Giants/Jets preseason game is the first game this preseason, tonight. It’s usually week 3 when the starters play the entire first half. I wonder why they switched it?
Jermaine Kearse, WR who won a SB ring with Seattle (almost had two) snaps his leg on the 5th play of the Lions’ first preseason game. Very gruesome injury and speculation is that it will end his season before it started, if not his career.
It’s a shame, I really like Kearse and I’ll never forget his circus catch to help win the miracle NFC championship against the Packers in 2014.
With the 1 hour delay, I missed the Daniel Jones drive live, but went to the videos. Kid has got a good arm, gives me some hope this was a good draft pick. The O-Line does look better then prior years, so the offense might perform well this year.
The defense made some big plays and looked weak a lot of the time. But preseason game 1 is a tough way to evaluate.
Nagy, who is known for NOT playing starters in the preseason, shockingly started his most important one, Mitch Trubisky at quarterback last night. Mitch handed the ball off …then handed the ball off …then handed the ball off. Bears punt. Mitch leaves never to return. What in the world was that about? Mitch needed work handing (not even pitching) the ball off to a running back? Bizarre.
He was out there with the starting OL too. According to Nagy:
Damned ugly and one of three injuries for the Lions. At least it wasn’t any starters. It especially wasn’t the starting O-line that actually played for a bit before leaving and starting the sackathon.
Holds myself and rocks It’s only the preseason. It’s only the preseason.
It’s got to be better than last season, right?
Answering my own question, the announcers mentioned that they play each other in the regular season this year, so I think it makes sense. Week 3 you play your starters and have somewhat of a game plan. Not like a real game, of course, but far more than in the first preseason game where your starters only get one drive and nobody installs any kind of game plan at all.
So maybe they switched from the third to the first week to keep things close to the vest for when they meet in the regular season.
Going into this season, I was seriously concerned that the replay rules for defensive pass interference will result in even more ticky tack calls that further diminish, almost to nothing, the defense’s ability to stop the passing game. So far this preseason, my fears are even more heightened. This could get ridiculous very quickly.
I’m sorry the Saints got screwed out of playing in the Super Bowl last year (God knows Sean Peyton would have coached a better Super Bowl game than McVay did), but the even further neutering of defenses is not a solution.
There were so many ticky tacky calls in the Redskins vs Bengals game in the 1st quarter that I was about to throw my iPad across the room. I am SICK of endless penalties and endless reviews. I don’t want to watch a 4 hour game.
For the Redskins, Colt McCoy still hasn’t taken a snap in a game and isn’t supposedly back to healthy. Haskins has shown some flashes of greatness but has also shown many signs that he’s still a rookie and there’s no way he can start week one regardless of how hot Gruden’s seat is.
The preseason is preseason for the officials, too. And the coaching staffs. You’ll see more penalties called because:
Yes. You see this every preseason. It’s part of the process.
I’ll agree that it’s preseason for everyone and some of the backups might be a bit more aggressive since they want to make the team. And, I’m sure the refs know that the 4th quarter of a preseason game is 3rd string guys trying to nail a roster spot on special teams and most fans aren’t watching, unlike the 4th quarter of the early Sunday game in the regular season.
I now have a new favorite player thanks to this video of the Browns’s Larry Ogunjobi. Here’s hoping he’s a good guy and has a solid, injury free career.
So all 4 Packers preseason games are on Thursday? Seems odd. Not that it is a big deal, but that is my board game night.
Brian
Weird scheduling, Giants have 3 Thursday nights and 1 Friday.