Pre-Season Week 2 Look-back

We have reached the halfway point of the 2012 Pre-Season, but the Regular Season could not feel further away. Everybody loves the first couple games of the Pre-Season. But by this time we’ve seen all our teams’ players and are ready for the games to start counting. Maybe if the season ever expands to 18 games that will happen, but for now we have two more weeks to hunker down for before the chase for Super Bowl XLVII begins.

We had plenty of action this week, and the AFC North did well, winning three of their four games. It started on Thursday when both the Bengals and Browns won against teams that I have winning their respective divisions in the NFC. Cincinnati beat Atlanta by less than a touchdown, but the surprise was Cleveland’s 35-10 blowout win over Green Bay. Brandon Weeden did well, though he was fortunate to leave with no picks thrown after making a couple very poor decisions. The Packers’ biggest concern should probably be that their two leading rushers in the game were Aaron Rodgers (2 carries, 24 yards) and backup Quarterback Graham Harrell (3 carries, 23 yards).

All six games on Friday featured an NFC team taking on an AFC team, five of those games with the NFC team hosting. The NFC won four of the games, and three of their home games. Tennessee blew out the Buccaneers in Tampa and the Jaguars squeaked by the Saints in the Superdome for the only two AFC wins of the day.

Detroit played a great game in Baltimore, scoring 17 points in the second quarter behind a pair of touchdown passes by Matthew Stafford who went 12-17 for 184 yards. Five of those completions went to Calvin Johnson, who turned them into 111 yards and a score. The final in that game was 27-12 as Baltimore fell in the AFC’s only home game of the evening.

Carolina beat Miami at home and Minnesota got a home win against the Bills, but it was the late game that drew most of my attention on Friday. The Raiders didn’t have a very memorable game, though undrafted Wide Receiver Rod Streater did have a pretty good game. He only had 43 receiving yards, but they were on seven receptions. With Oakland’s other receivers struggling massively, he could be a fantasy dark horse. On the Cardinals’ side, Kevin Kolb looked terrible. John Skelton looked good, but he only threw three passes. He completed all three of them, one of them going for a touchdown, but Ken Whisenhunt pulled him out immediately after his third completion like he was scared something would happen that would ruin it, so it’s a bit early to jump on his fantasy bandwagon.

The Jets couldn’t wait to play the Giants, and they got that chance, and wasted it, on Saturday as the defending Super Bowl Champions got a 26-3 win as the Jets played as the home team. The Jets had been trying to make a case for being New York’s team over the past few seasons, and though this is only the Pre-Season, last year’s regular season win by the Giants, and of course the Giants Super Bowl XLVI win have pretty much skewered that notion.

The Redskins came back with a very impressive fourth quarter by Kirk Cousins, who you have to think has proven that he should move past Rex Grossman to #2 on Washington’s depth chart. It wasn’t quite enough as the Bears still got a 33-31 win at home, but it was something positive after RGIII struggled for most of the first half.

Houston won at home against San Francisco, but the 49ers shouldn’t be too worried yet. Only playing in one half, we can’t expect too much out of Alex Smith in the Pre-Season. The 49ers will be fine once their first team is playing entire games. Sam Bradford looked good in St. Louis’ win over Kansas City. He only threw nine passes but completed six of them for over 100 yards and two touchdowns.

Denver backed up their 31-3 week 1 win in Chicago with a 30-10 loss at home against the Seahawks, showing severe inconsistency. Manning looked good in his second outing, but did throw a pair of picks. His accuracy is mostly there, but he is still not 100% when trying to stretch the defense with downfield throws. Dallas’ first team offense still didn’t look very good this week. They scored 10 points in the first half, which isn’t terrible, but you hope for more. Their first team defense, however, looked great. After the team shut out the Raiders last week, the Cowboys’ first team defense blanked San Diego’s first team offense. The Chargers won the game thanks to 21 fourth quarter points.

Andrew Luck didn’t do great, but he didn’t do badly either. It is all a learning experience for the rookie quarterback. He threw his first interception and was sacked for the first time in his team’s visit to Pittsburgh, but there was plenty to like, too. He completed 16 of 25 passes for 175 yards. He also scored a touchdown on a triple option run.

Last night was the final game of the week as the Patriots hosted the Eagles. Tom Brady didn’t play at all – Belichick rested him and a few other players as last night’s game marked the start of a 3-game-in-10-day stretch. Michael Vick sustained a hit on his ribs that knocked him out of the game. It was the second week in a row he left with an injury, though the X-rays came back negative for the second straight time. The good news for the Eagles is that Nick Foles did well in backing up Vick, going 18-28 for 217 yards and a pair of scoring throws against the Patriots’ first team defense. The Eagles went on to win 27-17.

This week action begins on Thursday again, but the last games will be played on Sunday, so my next look-back will be next Monday. Tomorrow I will post this week’s Things You Need to Know, so keep a lookout for that. Thanks for reading everyone!