10 Things We Learned From The 2010 NFL Preseason
Welcome to "Game Week No. 1" (of many) for the crew here at Where We Watch; this article will actually be about the NFL, although Thursday night (Sept. 2) the CFB season commences with a bunch of likely routs -- Ohio State vs. Marshall, Miami vs. FAMU -- and one pretty legit game (Pittsburgh vs. Utah).
The purpose of the below is to inform us of what -- if anything -- we learned during the NFL preseason. The preseason is essentially meaningless aside from injuries being racked up, even if "Hard Knocks" seems to make it more entertaining than it really is; as a result, most of the below will be about injuries, in some form or another. A few tidbits may help you with your fantasy team. All items are things you can discuss at the bar.
1. The West divisions in the NFL are awful: The NFC West is a mess: Rams (awful), Seahawks (rebuilding), 49ers (always "the next big thing" but haven't done it yet) and the Cardinals; it seemed like the Cardinals had enough pieces to keep winning the division, even after Kurt Warner. That's not seemingly true now -- Matt Leinart and Derek Anderson have looked crappy. If you had to pick, you'd say Niners, maybe at 9-7. On the AFC side of the West coin, the Raiders have a lot of work to do, the Broncos lost their only legit pass rusher this summer due to preseason injury (Elvis Dumervil) and the Chiefs are also a ways off. The Chargers do remain elite. You could argue the Chargers, even without LT and potential holdouts from Marcus McNeill and Vincent Jackson, are the best team west of the Mississippi by a stretch about as wide as the Mississippi.
2. Brett Favre may have a bad sense of timing: He comes back, and Rice is gone for half the year, Harvin's got migraines, and AP -- well, he's good, but he's still got that fumbling issue. Bernard Berrian is potentially the most elite guy Favre is throwing to for the next couple of weeks. You need to score a lot of points to beat the Packers, Cowboys and Saints in the NFC, so...
3. The Packers could have a disgustingly good offense: They scored 59 points -- 59 points -- on the Colts -- the Colts -- in a preseason game (28 from the first teamers). Disgusting receivers and a becoming-elite QB. This could be dangerous for the rest of the NFC. They play the Cowboys around Week 9 or 10. That game could be a laser lights show.
4. No idea what to make of the Pats: You'd assume the AFC East is earmarked for the Jets, right? (They talk like it is.) The Pats aren't dead yet -- although the injury to Ty Warren is kind of a mess for them in terms of occupying blockers on D. (Vince Wilfork is still there, supremely fat and athletic at the same time.) Tom Brady looked awesome in all his preseason reps, but the D gave up tons of yards and points to Sam Bradford, a rookie QB. Sleeper in the AFC East if the Jets choke and the Pats' D is weak: Dolphins.
5. Two elite jobs could open up: The Bears have looked like crap. The Cowboys are going to be really good, but with the Super Bowl in Dallas, that's SB-or-bust or else Wade Phillips will get canned. (Think of Brazil in the World Cup in four years.) Chicago and Dallas are both elite jobs. Coaches available will include Jon Gruden, Tony Dungy, Bill Cowher, and more. Whoa now.
6. The Skins seem a bit messy: Sitting in a bar recently, we heard someone down the mahogany predict the Skins would get one of the two NFC wild cards this year. It's remotely possible, although their preseason has been spotty and the Haynesworth junk is more dramatic than "Real Housewives of D.C." (an awful show, as an aside). That whole division seems in flux -- the Giants seem old, the Eagles seem young, the Redskins seem eh, and the Cowboys really can't call the year a success until they host the Super Bowl.
7. The Buffalo Bills might be the worst team in football -- but C.J. Spiller might be the best rookie: Not much more analysis needed here. The QB-RB tandem of the '11 Bills might be Jake Locker and C.J. Spiller. That's some foot speed back there.
8. Maybe... just maybe for the Texans: The Colts haven't looked great. The Jaguars are eh. Maybe the Texans can finally get over the hump in the AFC South this year. They'll know pretty quick; they open with Indy. (Tennessee will also be good here.)
9. Most regularly-quoted football stats are semi-meaningless: A lot of people we've heard at bars recently have been tossing around QB ratings stats. You know that Matt Schaub, of the aforementioned Texans, looks comparable -- if not better -- to Terry Bradshaw, a four-time Super Bowl winner at QB, using such stats? It's bollox. Define teams and players by wins; in that way, Philip Rivers is good -- but until they can win home playoff games, he's not elite. See?
10. AFC North is going to be competitive as heck: The Ravens look very good. The Bengals have a ton of weapons and a good D. The Browns can sneak four or five wins in there. And the Steelers may start slow, but they'll get a jolt when Big Ben returns, so ... you could have three nine-win teams in this division. All the teams play pretty good, hard defense too, so it's gonna be a messy series of divisional games.
We no doubt missed a few key themes here, but NFL doesn't return until a week from Thursday -- we'll be back before then with more.
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