2012 Preseason Week 1 Update

During the six months I took off from writing this blog I have been thinking of what I can do differently this year, or at least of something extra I can do with my blog. What I came up with is a weekly post, to be published every Wednesday, which outlines the top 10 most important things I believe you need to know heading into the upcoming week.

Some of these things could be news updates from around the league that I found interesting; some may be what to look out for during the upcoming week’s games. I may even included fantasy alerts, such as players who had breakout games the previous week who I think could have repeat performances, or who were one hit wonders, as well as other players who seemed to under-perform but could be poised to break out in the upcoming week. Just stay tuned to see what I include each week.

I would like to start today to get a feel for how I want to do this, and so you all can get an idea of whether this is a weekly post you think it is worth it for me to continue to write. I will only have five topics for this week.

5 Things You Need to Know

5.            Fantasy Football 2012

I’ll go ahead and start with a fantasy update, even though it doesn’t really mean much yet. The season is coming up soon and even though most drafts will not take place until near the end of the preseason, the next four weeks are an excellent opportunity to keep an eye on which players could do as well as they did last year and which ones may not perform up to the same level. Also keep a close eye on injuries to impact players that could hamper them all season so you know to avoid them during your league’s draft.

4.            Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III set for NFL debuts

Luck and Griffin III will get national spotlight attention as a part of the NFL for the first time since the 2012 NFL Draft. We can assume they will each get to play a couple series in their teams’ preseason openers.

The Redskins play in Buffalo Thursday at 7 p.m. The nation will get its first view of what RGIII can do against an NFL defense. We will also see whether Rex Grossman has made any improvement over the offseason and what kind of quarterback Kirk Cousins really is (everything I have heard is that he could be the next Matt Flynn, not that we know for sure what that means yet).

The Colts play their preseason opener at home against the Rams Sunday at 1:30 p.m. In addition to Luck, Colts fans hope to see a backup quarterback who the team can actually rely on if the need should present itself, as opposed to no one of note backing up Peyton Manning for the past decade.

3.            Green Bay Packers injury concerns

The Packers are in the news for two reasons this week. The concerning one is their injury situation. They will sit 11 players from their game in San Diego on Thursday, including Greg Jennings. None of the injuries seem to be particularly severe, but so many injuries before they’ve even played a game against another team has to have the team a little nervous heading into the season. It certainly makes me a bit nervous about my pick to have them in the Super Bowl.

2.            T.O. in Seattle

He still has to get through the preseason before he makes the final roster, but Terrell Owens is back in the NFL thanks to Pete Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks. With reports coming out of Seattle that Matt Flynn has been doing very well, could Owens be just what the ‘Hawks need to make a push for a wild-card spot this postseason? I’m not convinced that Randy Moss will make a huge impact for the 49ers this year, so I’m definitely not feeling that T.O. will make too much noise in Seattle; but you never know until the season gets underway.

1.            First woman on the field during an NFL Game

Shannon Eastin will make history as the first woman to officiate an NFL game by doing so when the Packers take on the San Diego Chargers this Thursday evening. She will serve as the line judge for the game, which makes me slightly less nervous than I was to begin with, but my nervousness was for nothing as it was. Eastin is a six-time national judo champion who began training at the US Olympic Training Center when she was 11 years old, making her the youngest person to do so. She has also been a football official for nearly two decades, most recently in the MEAC, an FCS collegiate football division. The Green Bay/San Diego game will be on national television, and I will be flipping between that and the Redskins game Thursday night.

Hopefully this sort of post is worth writing. Any suggestions, either on how to improve this or even of better ideas for me to try out, are always welcome. Also, if you like the content I have in my blog posts, please help give my blog more attention by sharing posts on Facebook, or by ‘liking’ my blog’s Facebook page and suggesting the page to your friends as well. You can also follow me on Twitter, @PuffontheNFL. Enjoy the first week of the preseason. I will be back with another post soon, most likely next Tuesday, the day after the final game of the week.