Thursday’s preseason games had some interesting implications for 2QB dynasty and redraft leagues. I’ll be focusing on those as well as a few observations on running backs and wide receivers.
Eagles vs Steelers
Hurts performed better than his stat line and did a few things that showed his stage in the maturation process. For one, he was plugging along nicely on his first drive until Zach Ertz let a perfectly thrown ball bounce off his hands on third down, killing his first drive.
On the next drive Hurts chose to dive, narrowly missing a first down instead of trucking the defender, which ended the drive as well. Had this been a regular season game he likely would have made the extra effort and gotten the first with his legs, but giving up on the play in preseason shows he is thinking the right way to stay under center for the Eagles.
Also, on a play where he was scrambling to his right to extend the play, he threw the ball out of bounds instead of trying to make something happen.
On the other side, Najee Harris looked much better than he did at the HOF game, showing impressive burst and the ability to quickly get to the second level of the defense through trash at the line. He had two runs called back with holding, and on both he gained about 9-10 yards. Neither of the holds freed him and one should not have been called.
JuJu Smith Schuster caught a lot of short passes out of the slot and hauled in all of his targets. While his yards per reception is going to go down, his receptions should go up. Dionte Johnson had a nice game as well.
Patriots vs WFT
This was the truly interesting game. Cam looked a lot like what we saw last year. He did not have a pass deep, and I think never threw further than 10 yards beyond the line. Almost all of yardage came from short passes that Jonnu Smith and James White took long, making their catches at or around the line of scrimmage. Newton narrowly avoided a fumble, and the offense simply was not clicking with him on the field.
Then Mac Jones came on the field.
Jones immediately showed what the Patriots have been seeing in recent practices: accurate throws, quick decisions, excellent pocket presence and footwork. While he was confined mostly to checkdowns, he was making excellent anticipation throws on time, in traffic, and on target. His first drive should have ended with a long touchdown along the left sideline but Kristian Wilkerson let the pass bounce off his hands.
Jones did miss Gunner Olsweski on a deep route later in the game and was obviously upset with himself, but had that been Nelson Agolhor or Kendrick Bourne, both absent, maybe that’s a completion.
Essentially, with Cam under center the offense looked stagnant. It didn’t click. With Mac under center it clicks, and it was obvious to anyone watching the game.
Another Pats camp storyline did not pan out, and that was the ascendence of N’Keal Harry. Whatever he has been showing in practice did not show up on the field, as N’Keal was overshadowed by Kristian Wilkerson. He just wasn’t getting open.
Antonio Gibson got a few carries and three receptions for WFT, but the rest of the offense was pretty boring to watch as the starters only saw a few series. Terry was Terry and Fitz looked sharp. The defense was the star of the show as one would expect.