Top 10 takeaways from Week 1 of the NFL preseason

NFL preseason football had us hyped in Week 1 after a debacle ruined the mood during Hall of Fame week. With 15 games on the schedule from Thursday to Saturday, there was plenty of action to soak in and enjoy.

Sunday will act as a night cap, when the San Francisco 49ers host the Houston Texans. But before you get in your last NFL fix before the work week, let’s catch up on the biggest stories around the league.

From a backup quarterback who will be pressed into action for New England to rookies who impressed to a terribly inept performance by a team that should be better, these are the top takeaways from Week 1 of the NFL preseason.

1. Jimmy Garoppolo looked outstanding

With Tom Brady literally not in the house Thursday night at Gillette Stadium, third-year quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo took center state.

It was an important start for the young quarterback. He’s slated to be under center for the first four regular season games. In this, Garoppolo needed to prove he can perform at a high level in a high-profile environment.

That’s exactly what the former second-round pick did. After struggling out of the gate (3-of-7 with two sacks in first three possessions), Garoppolo closed out the first half strong. He completed 8-of-11 for 153 yards to end the half with nearly 170 passing yards.

It was a strong game plan for the Patriots too. They simply didn’t refrain from letting him toss the rock around the yard throughout the first half. This seems to be an indication that New England won’t change up its offense early in the year.

2. Carson Wentz, not so much

We should be clear here. No one really expected Wentz to perform at a high level in his NFL debut. Despite some concluding that North Dakota State’s pro-style offense would help him, there are bigger issues at hand.

First off, the difference in competition at the NFL level is going to create a rather large learning curve. That was evident Thursday against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Secondly, the rookie No. 2 overall pick wasn’t able to play with the Eagles’ starting offensive line. That led to multiple breakdowns in pass protection Thursday evening.

One play in particular saw Wentz face pressure from the interior of the line. He didn’t see it coming, instead throwing off his back foot. This led to him airmailing a ball over a receiver’s head for an interception.

Those are the plays that even veteran quarterbacks struggle with. That’s one of the primary reasons defenses focus as much on interior pressure as EDGE pressure in Today’s NFL.

Despite all the excuses people want to use as a defense for Wentz, he did struggle in his debut. He led the Eagles to a total of three points and 65 yards in six possessions.

Overall, the small-school product completed 12-of-24 passes for 89 yards with a pick. That’s not a stat line indicative of someone ready to play in a meaningful NFL game.

3. Michael Thomas can play

This rookie from Ohio State may be the Saints’ fourth receiver. That won’t matter if he continues to impress during the summer.

After a stellar training camp, Thomas took to the field for the first time as a NFL player on Thursday. He responded by putting up four catches for 67 yards on six targets.

This just shows Thomas’ rather ridiculous catch radius. At 6-foot-3, he can go up and get the ball with the best of them. That’s never been in question. However, the ability to give himself up to make a play downfield is what might turn Thomas into one of the biggest steals in this year’s draft.

With Brandin Cooks, Willie Snead and Brandon Coleman ahead of him on the depth chart, it’s going to be hard for Thomas to see consistent action. Of course, that’s only if he gives the Saints a choice. His performance on Thursday lends credence to the idea that New Orleans simply needs to play Thomas.

4. Jaguars first-team offense dominates

We can talk about Jacksonville’s seemingly improved defense all we want. That’s what might take this team to playoff contention in 2016. Though, it really is about the team’s dynamic young offense.

Displaying flashes of brilliance in 2015, the Jaguars boasted a 4,400-yard passer and two 1,000-yard receivers. If this unit can now turn that into a top-10 overall ranking, Jacksonville might be able to contend in the AFC South.

It’s in this that the Jaguars should be pretty excited about how Friday night’s game turned out. Despite losing to the New York Jets, the Jags held a 10-0 lead after the first quarter.

Blake Bortles completed 6-of-7 passes for 105 yards, leading Jacksonville to scores on his only two possessions. Meanwhile, the likes of Allen Robinson, Allen Hurns and Marqise Lee caught all eight passes thrown in their direction for 142 yards.

More than anything, the bulk of this success came against a pretty darn good first-team Jets defense. This could very well be a sign of things to come. If so, the rest of the AFC South should be worried.

5. Chicago Bears’ disturbingly bad offense

Jay Cutler threw four passes. Alshon Jeffery suited up for just a handful of plays. That’s fine and dandy. Chicago can use this as an excuse for a disgusting all-around offensive performance.

Overall, the Bears gained 130 yards of offense and eight first downs in their preseason opener. The team put up seven three-and-outs on 12 possessions. Two others ended in a block punt and a safety. Oh, and Chicago didn’t score a single point in the game.

More than anything, the biggest issue here was pass protection. Bears quarterbacks were sacked a total of seven times and finished with 18 net passing yards.

It doesn’t matter who is playing, this is an unacceptable performance from an offense that has a ton of expectations heading into the season.

6. Watch out for the Titans 

Based on offseason activities, we got the idea Tennessee’s offense would resemble a steamroller this year.

The team drafted offensive tackle Jack Conklin and Heisman Trophy winner Derrick Henry out of Alabama in the second round, then brought aboard running back DeMarco Murray and center Ben Jones in free agency.

Then Marcus Mariota made a comment that implied he would be handing the ball off an awful lot (more on that here).

Sometimes things don’t work out in real life the way they do on paper, but that doesn’t appear to be the case for the Titans in 2016.

On Saturday night, Tennessee’s first-team offense treated the defense of the San Diego Chargers to a good, old-fashioned butt-kicking. Mariota went five-for-five passing for 45 yards while Murray and Henry rushed for 167 yards and two touchdowns.

Murray looked like the 2014 version of himself, especially on this 71-yard touchdown run.

Whoa.

While everyone is rightfully excited about the Indianapolis Colts, Jaguars and Houston Texans, watch out for Tennessee as a sleeper in 2016.

7. Cowboys might not have a backup quarterback problem after all

The prevailing question around league circles as it concerns the Cowboys this year is, “How will they compete if Tony Romo goes down again?”

After all, we all saw how bad things got last season when Romo was lost due to his collarbone injuries. Heading into Saturday’s preseason game against the Los Angeles Rams, that question was at the forefront of our minds, but perhaps not so much any more.

The reason for this is that rookie Dak Prescott was masterful in his debut. Playing from the start because Romo was held out, Prescott completed 10-of-12 passes for 139 yards and two touchdowns.

Even more encouraging as it relates to the whole, “what happens when Romo…” issue is that Prescott displayed excellent chemistry with receiver Dez Bryant. Looking healthy and bullish as ever, Bryant hauled in two impressive catches delivered by Prescott — one of which was a gorgeous touchdown.

Yes. It was only one game. Yes. It’s the preseason. But Prescott was darn impressive. Maybe the Cowboys don’t have a backup quarterback problem, after all.

8. Where will the Bills find their pass rush?

Football is a game that is won and lost in the trenches. For the Buffalo Bills, this is a truth that is proving problematic, because defensively there just isn’t much talent or depth on the edge.

Heading into the first week of preseason action, Buffalo’s defensive front was already in dire straits. Manny Lawson is currently out with a partially torn pectoral muscle, and rookie Shaq Lawson is going to be out a while after undergoing shoulder surgery this offseason.

Stepping up of late has been Geno Smith’s favorite human being, IK Enemkpali. Unfortunately, he suffered a painful knee injury during Saturday’s contest against the Indianapolis Colts and had to be carted off (more details here).

This puts Buffalo in a precarious spot defensively, which is exactly the opposite of what the franchise was hoping for in Rex Ryan’s second season. After enduring a miserable campaign on the defensive side of the ball last year, things were supposed to be different this time around.

That’s going to be awfully tough without having players to bring pressure off the edge.

9. Adam Gase has his work cut out to improve Dolphins offense

Gase was the hottest commodity on the NFL coaching search circuit this past offseason because he has been a wizard at getting offenses to perform at peak productivity in the past.

Thus far in Miami, let’s just say it’s a serious work in progress.

Reports coming out of South Beach haven’t been kind regarding the Dolphins’ ability to make hay offensively during training camp. Then things were downright ugly for Ryan Tannehill and the first-team offense on Friday night against the New York Giants.

The offensive line, which has been one of the worst in the league since Tannehill was a rookie, is still a mess. While he wasn’t sacked once, the former Texas A&M Aggies quarterback did get hammered a couple of times.

New York’s first-team defense dominated the trenches. Tannehill’s final play on offense ended with him on the turf after having been hit by both Jason Pierre-Paul and new Giants pass rusher Olivier Vernon.

Things did improve later in the game, but it’s clear this offense is nowhere near where it needs to be.

10. Other rookies impress in debuts 

It might have only been one hit. Jack might not have played more than a couple dozen snaps. All that’s fine and dandy. What he did bring to the table Thursday against the New York Jets was a presence.

It’s a presence that tells us he’s the same freak athlete we saw at UCLA. It also tells us that his knee injury is clearly behind him. Jack might not start out of the gate, but it’s readily apparent he’s going to be starting at some point this season. That much was obvious in his debut.

On the other side of the ball and in a completely different conference, New York Giants second-round pick Sterling Shepard awed onlookers in his debut. Prior to exiting with what’s being deemed as a minor groin injury, the Oklahoma product made a dazzling catch.

He also beat a Miami Dolphins defender at the line on what should have been another 20-plus yard catch. Unfortunately, Ryan Nassib overthrew Shepard on the play.

All said, Shepard finished with just that one catch on three targets. Though, it’s not about stats here. It’s about him continuing to perform the way the Giants have seen during camp. His own defensive coordinator recently confused him with none other than Odell Beckham Jr.

With a ton of upside and a readily apparently NFL skill-set, look for Shepard to make a huge impact as a rookie.

Staying at wide receiver, Minnesota Vikings first-round pick Laquon Treadwell put up a heck of a performance in his debut. The Ole Miss product caught four passes for 41 yards on five targets.

Those numbers might not seem to great. That’s until we realize Treadwell did exactly what the Vikings drafted him to do. This is to say, he acted the part of a pro-ready possession receiver.

His first catch came with the receiver dropping down between coverage on second and nine. Treadwell proceeded to gain 18 yards, putting Minnesota in field goal position to close out the first half.

It’s this specific type of play that could help him come up big time for Teddy Bridgewater as a rookie.

Fellow Vikings rookie Mackensie Alexander recorded his first interception since high school (no, really) in the same game. While some will call it dumb luck, the play goes to show us just how acutely aware of the ball the former Clemson standout is. He’ll be a big-time player for the Vikings.

Other rookies stood out during the first weekend of action. Though, these guys have three more games to prove to their teams that their ready to make an immediate impact. Some did just that in Week 1. Others will be looking to make their names known next week.