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5 Things we have Already Learned from the NFL Preseason

For the most part, NFL preseason games are meaningless. They are meant to get teams ready for the regular season and help them find out what they have in terms of depth on the roster. But there are definitely some trends that have become apparent through two full weeks of action. 

Is the Pittsburgh Steelers passing offense really as good as it has looked thus far? Are the San Francisco 49ers prepared to take a step back towards mediocrity in 2014 after two poor preseason performances? Answering those two questions at this point in the preseason may be premature, but it’s still important to look at when addressing what a specific team might need to work on between now and the start of the regular season.

Today, we check on on five things we have already learned from the NFL preseason thus far. Keep in mind, that these represent nothing more than what this one scribe has seen up to this point and aren’t an indication of what we can expect when the regular season gets going.

1. Rookie Quarterbacks will sit a while

Strong preseason performances from the likes of Blake Bortles and Teddy Bridgewater, may not keep either from riding the pine when Week 1 rolls around in less than three weeks.

Courtesy of Fox Sports

Courtesy of Fox Sports

Despite a strong preseason that has seen him put up a 96.9 quarterback rating, the Jacksvonville Jaguars plan on sitting Bortles for the duration of his rookie campaign. Veteran Chad Henne will be the stopgap starter in his stead. Bortles is going to get some first-team reps in practice prior to the start of the regular year, but that’s more about getting him acclimated with the starters should something happen to Henne.

Bridgewater’s performance in his second career NFL game was nothing short of amazing. He led the Vikings on two fourth quarter scoring drives and threw a game-winning touchdown to Rodney Smith in Minnesota’s 30-28 win over the Minnesota Vikings. Overall, Bridgewater completed 16-of-20 passes for 177 yards and two scores in the outing. This didn’t stop head coach Mike Zimmer from declaring Matt Cassel the Vikings starter for their third preseason game.

In reality, this isn’t much of a quarterback competition at all. Minnesota seems content with Cassel, who has played well this preseason, to be its starter heading into Week 1.

The same thing can pretty much be said for Brian Hoyer in Cleveland, especially after Johnny Manziel struggled big time in his second preseason game. The rookie first-round pick completed just 7-of-16 passes for 65 yards and a score in the Browns 24-23 loss to the Washington Redskins on Monday night. He looked absolutely lost in the pocket at times and simply didn’t show any progression in terms of mechanics. While Hoyer didn’t necessarily play well himself, there is no reason to believe that Manziel will be the Browns Week 1 starter.

Interestingly enough, the one quarterback who might get a shot before all the others is Oakland Raiders second-round pick Derek Carr. The Fresno State product played extremely well last week against the Detroit Lions, completing 9-of-16 passes for over 100 yards and  a score prior to going down with a concussion.

Couple that with the fact that Matt Schaub has been a disaster this season, and it’s not too much of a stretch to think that Carr could get first-team reps before any of those higher-profile quarterbacks listed above. He’s still unlikely to be starting Week 1.

2. The Seattle Seahawks are just fine

Courtesy of Fox Sports: It might have been just a preseason game, but Seattle dominated the Chargers.

Courtesy of Fox Sports: It might have been just a preseason game, but Seattle dominated the Chargers.

It may just be the preseason, but any thought of a Super Bowl hangover in Seattle was thrown out the window this past week. Pete Carroll’s squad absolutely dominated a pretty good San Diego Chargers first unit, taking a 24-0 lead before the Seahawks starters were benched. Russell Wilson led scoring drives in all four of his possessions, helping the Seahawks tally up 281 yards before the whistle blew for the first half.

While it must be noted that San Diego didn’t necessarily put its a-team out there, especially with Philip Rivers attempting just four passes, Seattle’s pure domination in every aspect of the game will lead many to believe that it is fully prepared to defend that Lombardi Trophy.

3. Eli Manning and Co. struggling with new offense

The New York Giants first-team offense has been absolutely disastrous in three preseason games thus far. They have tallied a total of seven points in 10 preseason drives and that sole touchdown came on a 74-yard run by Rashad Jennings. For his part, Manning was downright horrible last week against the Indianapolis Colts. He completed just 1-of-7 passes for six yards and led the Giants to a total of 53 yards on 2o plays.

It’s reasonable to expect struggles from an offense learning a new scheme. And that’s exactly what’s happening with the Giants under first-year offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo. This hasn’t stopped head coach Tom Coughlin from airing his frustration (via ESPN.com).

We are realists, and looking at what looked to be a very poor performance in the first half with the 1s that didn’t really get a lot better once the 2s came in,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “It wasn’t impressive at all. We didn’t get a whole lot done. There’s no production. There’s nothing to look at from a production standpoint.

The good news here is that New York has an extra preseason game under its belt and that could very well help McAdoo and Co. figure out what clicks and what doesn’t on the offensive side of the ball. In reality, the Giants 3-0 record is much more meaningless than their first-team struggles on offense. That much is obvious.

4. San Francisco 49ers have a lot to work on

Preseason or not, you never want to be outscored 57-3 in two games. That’s exactly what has happened to the 49ers thus far this summer. They simply haven’t looked like a team that wants to be on the football field, and that could very well be an issue when it comes to a preparation standpoint once the regular season comes calling.

While the 49ers haven’t played their starters on the defensive side of the ball pretty much at all thus far, it’s the offense that is worrisome. Outside of three Colin Kaepernick-led possessions that have netted 130 yards, the 49ers offense has done nothing. In 17 possessions with Kaepernick on the sideline, the 49ers have netted just over 230 total yards. Backup quarterback Blaine Gabbert is 11-of-25 passing for 60 yards with zero touchdowns and two interceptions in nine possessions this preseason. For those of you who aren’t math majors, that’s an average of 6.7 passing yards per possession.

Outside of horrendous backup quarterback play, the 49ers defense has given up well over 700 total yards in two games. That’s less worrisome considering a vast majority of their starters have been riding the pine, but it’s still something to focus on. While scores mean nothing in the preseason, you want to see progression from your team each and every time they step on the field. That’s something 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh simply hasn’t seen (via NFL.com).

This is going to be an important week for us,” Harbaugh said. “We need to make decisions on who we’re playing with. We’re not going to keep experimenting. We’ve got to tighten this down fast.

And Harbaugh couldn’t be more right. There is no reason to panic in Santa Clara after two meaningless football games, but they need to see dramatic improvement up and down the roster against the San Diego Chargers this upcoming weekend. If they still struggle, especially with the starters playing throughout the first half, then there should be some worry in 49er-land.

5. Pittsburgh Steelers passing game looks dominating

The Steelers first-team offense looks darn good.

The Steelers first-team offense looks darn good.

It really does look like the Steelers aerial attack is going to be pretty darn good this season. Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers first-team offense has put up 17 points and 222 total yards in four preseason possessions thus far. For his part, Big Ben has connected on 9-of-13 passes for 174 yards and two scores.

Outside of Antonio Brown, who continues to show flashes of domination, other Steelers’ skill-position players have stepped up. Rookie Dri Archer seems to be ready to be the electric playmaker that Pittsburgh envisioned him to be when they drafted him back in May. He has put up 104 yards on eight touches. Meanwhile, both Martavis Bryant and Markus Wheaton have been impressive in two outings.

The better news out of Pittsburgh is the fact that Roethlisberger has not been sacked a single time in 13 dropbacks. While that seems like a small sample size, and it is, you have to realize just how much pressure he has been under for the vast majority of the past two seasons. Give him a clean pocket to work with and the Steelers passing game is going to be dynamic.

Photo: NJ.com

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