The worst week of preseason games is in the books. We will be looking at some reactions from the blog and see what weight they carry. Homer and hater alike let’s dig into some theories.
Denver Broncos:
Overreaction: Chad Kelly Flashes Greatness
Did Kelly look good? I’ll say maybe. He looked better by contrast. At a position where confidence is as important as it is to a professional golder, Kelly flashed plenty of it. His arm has some pop in it and he showed decent mobility.
But his first TD pass was on a blown coverage. His second TD pass was better but he was helped by an athletic Lindsay finding the end zone. His stat line was 14/21 with 2 TDs and an INT (and almost threw a second INT), against 3rd stringers. By comparison Trevor Siemian was 11/17 with 2 TDs and an INT. Both are 7th rd draft picks and both threw their first TD on a badly blown coverage.
Underreaction: Paxton Lynch should be 3rd string
This guy needs to be off the team and out of the league. Rumors are swirling that Paxton thinks he’s already made this team and isn’t working to get better. He’s a detriment to WRs and RBs trying to make this team. As of right now he’s 3rd string, but he needs to be gone.
Oakland Raiders
Overreaction: PJ Hall will have great career with Oakland
Yes PJ Hall had a sack on his first play in the game. Hooray for PJ. But he also played in a third of all the defensive plays in this game. PJ Hall’s stat line at the end of the game? 1 sack.
I understand the position he plays and I understand the lack of stats. But let’s pump the breaks a little and see how things play out. We can also add Mo Hurst to this. He had a 0 stat line.
These guys could both turn out to be dynamic, but seeing all the articles about how great the start was to their careers has been, I’d expect more than one sack between two stat lines.
Underreaction: Chris Warren looked good
Yes the former Texas RB did look good. But there’s more to it. For a big man the guy can move, he flashes a punishing running style that not many backs can actually maintain at this level. He could make the muscle hamster irrelevant, and a one-two punch of Lynch and Warren could really wear down defenses, giving Carr a little more breathing room.
LA Chargers
Overreaction: Trade Cardale Jones and Geno Smith
While neither guy really played well and neither guy actually fits the scheme that the Chargers run, its a little early for this. Geno is set to be a career backup at this point in his career and will probably end up with the #2 job, Cardale Jones has only played in one game as a pro with a terrible Buffalo team. Give him some time to develop. Let him get some chemistry.
I’m not guaranteeing either guy is going to become “the guy” or become “the future” but with iron man Rivers still starting your backup QB won’t matter much. Let the chips fall and worst case scenario pick up a guy who becomes a camp casualty.
Underreaction: Four turnovers
The Chargers turned the ball over 4 times this week. Now I’m not saying the # of turnovers is a big deal. I’m saying the turnovers looked like they came because this team wasn’t ready to play. It looked sloppy. Hopefully with all the ones in the sloppiness ends.
Kansas City Chiefs
Overreaction: Mahomes is a checkdown Charlie
The Mahomes stat line wasn’t impressive. And yes it was full of check downs and dumps to the flat. But Mahomes flashed some pocket presence by feeling pressure and getting the ball somewhere safe for a positive play. At this point in time, showing he can be safe with the ball after his training camp INTs is not a bad thing.
I think we all know he will be able to air the ball out. It will be his decision making that is the real issue this year. As long as he continues to push down the field and scores some points this preseason they should be fine.
Underreaction: Depleted secondary played well
Outside of penalties from David Amerson, the Chiefs secondary without both starting safeties played well against Houston’s depth. While I understand it was Weeden and Webb, it should be encoraging to know that this unit can play.