Winners and losers from NFL preseason Week 2
The second round of the NFL’s preseason – call it hump week now that the league has reduced its exhibition slate to three games – is nearly done, the Jacksonville Jaguars and New Orleans Saints set to tee it up in the the Caesars Superdome for the 2021 debut of “Monday Night Football.”
But the 15 games played over the four preceding days continued to shed new light on teams with commencement of the regular season less than three weeks away.
Your winners and losers ... from the latest round of games that don’t count in the standings yet count so much for so many:
Winners
Ben Roethlisberger: He threw two TD passes and posted a perfect 158.3 QB rating (8-for-10, 137 yards) in his first game action while operating new coordinator Matt Canada’s offense. Expectations for Big Ben, 39, who’s entering the final year of his contract, and the Pittsburgh Steelers have been generally muted following last year’s lateseason struggles and wild-card ouster. But Saturday’s performance – even though it came against the Detroit Lions – provided reason to revisit the reigning AFC North champions’ outlook.
Indianapolis Colts: They won their first two preseason games, the focus on QBs Jacob Eason and Sam Ehlinger as they battle for the backup job. All good and well, but nothing compared to the news that O-line stalwarts Quenton Nelson (foot surgery) and Ryan Kelly (elbow) are expected to practice this week ... along with new QB Carson Wentz, who’s evidently making a beautiful rebound from his own foot surgery. Apparently plenty of good luck in the Horseshoe right now.
Baltimore Ravens: They beat the Carolina Panthers 20-3, matching the heights of meaninglessness. Baltimore has won 19 consecutive preseason games, matching a mark established by Vince Lombardi’s Packers from from 1959 to 1962.
Teddy Bridgewater: Taking advantage of his first start of this preseason, he led the Broncos to touchdowns on both of his series, one coming on a 2-yard pass to KJ Hamler, in Denver’s 30-3 pasting of the Seahawks. The typically efficient showing (9-for-11, 105 yards) might give Bridgewater a leg up in his battle with Drew Lock for the starting gig, though neither player has yet faced a first-team defense in a game setting this month.
Losers
Angelenos: Though flush with NFL action there in, well, Inglewood, California, these poor folks are forced to watch the Rams and Chargers ... who refuse to play their starters prior to September.
Zach Wilson’s supporting cast: Tough week otherwise for the Jets, who lost pass rusher Carl Lawson to a seasonending Achilles injury last week during a joint practice with the Pack. Another of New York’s free agent pickups, LB Jarrad Davis, suffered an ankle injury Saturday and was carted off, as was backup OL Conor McDermott (knee).
Justin Fields: A week after his sensational preseason debut, when the Bears’ first-round pick said the NFL “was actually kind of slow to me,” he took some vicious shots from the Bills defense while being sacked twice in a much less impressive performance (9-for-19, 80 yards plus a game-high 46 rushing yards). Fields has shown exciting flashes on the practice field and in exhibition play during his first NFL training camp but also enough reminders that he’s a rookie and that there’s little reason for coach Matt Nagy to feed him to Aaron Donald and Co. in the regular-season opener ... especially when poor Andy Dalton can be thrown to the wolves, er Rams.