kearly
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Football is back! Yesterday I watched all of the Saints-Pats, all of the Broncos-Bears, and the first half of the Falcons-Redskins. Here are some random thoughts and observations.
Broncos-Bears
1. The Broncos still have an amazing defense. Even their backup unit was abusing the Bears O-line and making big plays.
2. Mark Sanchez looks more like the horrible Jets version than the competent Eagles version.
3. Trevor Siemian looks like a guy that could maybe develop into a Josh McCown type fringe starter years from now. He's decisive and has good zip, but still doesn't really know what he's doing.
4. DeMaryius Thomas can still horribly abuse average corners. I don't care if his QB sucks, I'll be targeting him in fantasy for sure. His situation isn't really all that different from DeAndre Hopkins IMO.
5. Paxton Lynch already looks like Denver's best QB, though he's essentially a poor man's Big Bird (Mike Glennon) at this point.
6. The Bears could easily threaten to be the NFL's worst team this year. Their running backs are terrible, other than maybe Jordan Howard who looks to be almost decent ala Robert Turbin. At receiver, Alshon is good, but Kevin White has yet to do anything and the rest are just flat bad. Their starting defense made Denver's offense look good. Their backup QBs are awful, other than Connor Shaw but even Shaw seems to generate most of his value from scrambling. They are just a mess and talent is very hard to find on that roster. Cutler isn't a great QB, but he deserves more sympathy for being trapped on a terrible roster.
7. The announcers would not stop gushing about rookie center Cody Whitehair for whatever reason. Cody Whitehair was the player I thought Seattle might target in round 2, instead they traded up with Chicago for Jarran Reed. Chicago, owning Seattle's original 2nd round pick, selected Whitehair.
Pats-Saints
1. Even though the Pats won the game, the Saints felt like the better pre-season roster. Which makes sense since Brady never played and Brady masks a lot of issues with that team.
2. All three of the Saints top receivers, (Cooks, Snead, and rookie Mike Thomas) looked very impressive. None of them are elite, but I would honestly take their WR trio over Arizona's trio. Thomas isn't going to dominate but he doesn't play like a rookie either. He will play like a vet even as a rookie similar to Tyler Lockett and Amari Cooper did last year. Snead is very under-rated, that guy is CRISP, quick, and good after the catch. Snead is almost like a blend between Doug Baldwin and Golden Tate. Cooks is the guy he's always been, awesome on deep routes and solid at everything else. Brees trusts him. I honestly think Tyler Lockett would be the #1 receiver if he were on the Saints roster, but Cooks would be a close 2nd.
3. The Pats defense has a recognizable big name at all 11 starter spots. It's not an elite defense, but it's a very tough defense to score 30+ on. It's preseason but Chris Long looked rejuvenated. Their run D is worth respecting. It appears that they have switched to a 4-3 defense.
4. Other than a lost fumble, Mark Ingram looked great and seemed to maximize the available yardage. Tim Hightower looked meh.
5. Pats rookie WR Malcolm Mitchell looked good. He has stuff to work on but the talent is there for him to become an upper tier #2 WR with time. It's too bad for them that he got injured in the game (out a month with an elbow injury).
6. QB Janeane Garofalo looked about as expected. There were parts of his game that are already NFL caliber, such as his zip and accuracy. But he was a bit wooden going through his progressions and he wasn't as good by the eyeball test as his final statline would suggest. In a vague sense, I would say his current level of performance is about the same as 2015 Brock Osweiler.
Falcons-Redskins
1. The Falcons looked like a 5-11 caliber team. Arthur Blank is not known for his patience. I expect Quinn's seat to be very warm by the end of this season.
2. Devonta Freeman looked awful. His OL blocking was actually pretty good at times but he never seemed to trust it and seemed to leave yards on the field every snap. He also dropped a gimme TD pass. Brandon Wilds was the best looking RB in this game for Atlanta. He averaged 2.6 YPC.
3. Falcons WR Aldrick Robinson had a monster game against his former team. He's a one dimensional player, but his deep ball skills are elite. It's probably just a fluke that he caught two of them in this game, but they were both very pretty.
4. Kirk Cousins playoff choke job aside, he's looked like an elite QB as of late. He looked elite in this game too, going 5-5 for 38 yards and looking incredibly sharp.
5. The Redskins 1st team defense looked elite, particularly their run defense and secondary. It's a bit like a poor man's version of Seattle's D. The Redskins 1st team units on both sides of the ball looked like something to be reckoned with. It felt like watching an 11 win team.
6. The Achilles heel of the Redskins was their running game. Matt Jones seems even fatter and slower than last year. Their backup RBs weren't any better. Chris Thompson could very well could take over as their starting RB at some point, even though he's clearly a receiving RB. He's talented enough to be a poor man's Dion Lewis if the Redskins decide to adopt a Patriots style of running game.
7. Colt McCoy looked surprisingly good as a backup. He would have had over a 100 passer rating if not for some silly drops, including an embarrassing long TD drop by TE Vernon Davis. Given the cozy relationship between the GMs of the Seahawks and Redskins, it wouldn't totally shock me if Seattle acquired McCoy in a trade later this month. McCoy is slowly growing into a good backup QB and he fits Seattle's mobile QB mold.
Broncos-Bears
1. The Broncos still have an amazing defense. Even their backup unit was abusing the Bears O-line and making big plays.
2. Mark Sanchez looks more like the horrible Jets version than the competent Eagles version.
3. Trevor Siemian looks like a guy that could maybe develop into a Josh McCown type fringe starter years from now. He's decisive and has good zip, but still doesn't really know what he's doing.
4. DeMaryius Thomas can still horribly abuse average corners. I don't care if his QB sucks, I'll be targeting him in fantasy for sure. His situation isn't really all that different from DeAndre Hopkins IMO.
5. Paxton Lynch already looks like Denver's best QB, though he's essentially a poor man's Big Bird (Mike Glennon) at this point.
6. The Bears could easily threaten to be the NFL's worst team this year. Their running backs are terrible, other than maybe Jordan Howard who looks to be almost decent ala Robert Turbin. At receiver, Alshon is good, but Kevin White has yet to do anything and the rest are just flat bad. Their starting defense made Denver's offense look good. Their backup QBs are awful, other than Connor Shaw but even Shaw seems to generate most of his value from scrambling. They are just a mess and talent is very hard to find on that roster. Cutler isn't a great QB, but he deserves more sympathy for being trapped on a terrible roster.
7. The announcers would not stop gushing about rookie center Cody Whitehair for whatever reason. Cody Whitehair was the player I thought Seattle might target in round 2, instead they traded up with Chicago for Jarran Reed. Chicago, owning Seattle's original 2nd round pick, selected Whitehair.
Pats-Saints
1. Even though the Pats won the game, the Saints felt like the better pre-season roster. Which makes sense since Brady never played and Brady masks a lot of issues with that team.
2. All three of the Saints top receivers, (Cooks, Snead, and rookie Mike Thomas) looked very impressive. None of them are elite, but I would honestly take their WR trio over Arizona's trio. Thomas isn't going to dominate but he doesn't play like a rookie either. He will play like a vet even as a rookie similar to Tyler Lockett and Amari Cooper did last year. Snead is very under-rated, that guy is CRISP, quick, and good after the catch. Snead is almost like a blend between Doug Baldwin and Golden Tate. Cooks is the guy he's always been, awesome on deep routes and solid at everything else. Brees trusts him. I honestly think Tyler Lockett would be the #1 receiver if he were on the Saints roster, but Cooks would be a close 2nd.
3. The Pats defense has a recognizable big name at all 11 starter spots. It's not an elite defense, but it's a very tough defense to score 30+ on. It's preseason but Chris Long looked rejuvenated. Their run D is worth respecting. It appears that they have switched to a 4-3 defense.
4. Other than a lost fumble, Mark Ingram looked great and seemed to maximize the available yardage. Tim Hightower looked meh.
5. Pats rookie WR Malcolm Mitchell looked good. He has stuff to work on but the talent is there for him to become an upper tier #2 WR with time. It's too bad for them that he got injured in the game (out a month with an elbow injury).
6. QB Janeane Garofalo looked about as expected. There were parts of his game that are already NFL caliber, such as his zip and accuracy. But he was a bit wooden going through his progressions and he wasn't as good by the eyeball test as his final statline would suggest. In a vague sense, I would say his current level of performance is about the same as 2015 Brock Osweiler.
Falcons-Redskins
1. The Falcons looked like a 5-11 caliber team. Arthur Blank is not known for his patience. I expect Quinn's seat to be very warm by the end of this season.
2. Devonta Freeman looked awful. His OL blocking was actually pretty good at times but he never seemed to trust it and seemed to leave yards on the field every snap. He also dropped a gimme TD pass. Brandon Wilds was the best looking RB in this game for Atlanta. He averaged 2.6 YPC.
3. Falcons WR Aldrick Robinson had a monster game against his former team. He's a one dimensional player, but his deep ball skills are elite. It's probably just a fluke that he caught two of them in this game, but they were both very pretty.
4. Kirk Cousins playoff choke job aside, he's looked like an elite QB as of late. He looked elite in this game too, going 5-5 for 38 yards and looking incredibly sharp.
5. The Redskins 1st team defense looked elite, particularly their run defense and secondary. It's a bit like a poor man's version of Seattle's D. The Redskins 1st team units on both sides of the ball looked like something to be reckoned with. It felt like watching an 11 win team.
6. The Achilles heel of the Redskins was their running game. Matt Jones seems even fatter and slower than last year. Their backup RBs weren't any better. Chris Thompson could very well could take over as their starting RB at some point, even though he's clearly a receiving RB. He's talented enough to be a poor man's Dion Lewis if the Redskins decide to adopt a Patriots style of running game.
7. Colt McCoy looked surprisingly good as a backup. He would have had over a 100 passer rating if not for some silly drops, including an embarrassing long TD drop by TE Vernon Davis. Given the cozy relationship between the GMs of the Seahawks and Redskins, it wouldn't totally shock me if Seattle acquired McCoy in a trade later this month. McCoy is slowly growing into a good backup QB and he fits Seattle's mobile QB mold.
