NFL pre-season, the players that matter
NFL finally kicked off on Thursday night and all eyes were on those players that mattered. Whether they are in a new system, in camp battle, or need to be battled tested, I will cover it here.
After game 1, the Washington Redskins are not anywhere near a running game that will be complimentary to a pro level. Did they make a mistake in letting Alfred Morris go? After yesterday, it appears so. Matt Jones had two carries for just one yard, and rookie Keith Marshall had five carries and came away with one negative yard. Seven carries for no yards is not going to cut it. Head coach Jay Gruden said about the ground game "We've got to fix it," Gruden said. "We've got to get our line coming off better, we've got to give it off to the right people. There's no excuse, we have to run the ball better."
Mark Sanchez played like Mark Sanchez. He finished his night with 10-of-13 passes for 99 yards, one touchdown, and one interception. His interception came off a tipped ball, while his touchdown was caught by a wide-wide-wide open Demaryius Thomas. Sanchez who is battling Trevor Siemien for the starting position leads by a nose.
Cody Latimer? The former second-round choice in 2014 was finally spotted on the field by a quarterback. Both Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch teamed up to get Latimer eight targets, and Latimer came down with seven receptions for 82-yards. He needs games like this, as he is on the roster bubble, and played behind Bennie Fowler through camp.
TJ Yeldon had a good preseason start to his 2016 campaign. He rushed four times for 26 yards and caught one pass. After a below average rookie season, this start looks promising. When it came to goal line work it was all Chris Ivory. He was able to get one touchdown on a one-yard plunge. It appears as we thought. Yeldon will be the one with the third down role and spell Ivory as he will be the guy near the goal line and have a bigger share of carries.
Carson Wentz completed just 12-of-24 passes for 89 yards and an interception. He was also knocked around by the Tampa Bay defense. He struggled air mailing passes but did show his athletic ability. Don't look for Wentz to be someone you want to target in redraft leagues, but get the green light for dynasty purposes, especially in PPR.
Kenneth Dixon maybe a player you will want to keep your eye on. The rookie had a solid game as he rushed nine times for 44-yards. He also had a long of 19-yards. In a competition featuring himself, Terrance West, Buck Allen, and Justin Forsett (had the night off) he won round one.
Terrance West rushed nine times for 25-yards and scored two touchdowns. This is what Baltimore wanted to see out of West as he appears to be the man in goal line and short-yardage situations.
Rookie WR Michael Thomas caught 4-of-6 targets for 67 yards. He started with the second team behind Brandon Coleman, but as long as he continues to make over the shoulder grabs and catch most of his targets it won't take long to overcome Coleman who had just one target.
Jimmy Garoppolo played the entire first half and was productive connecting on 11-of-18 passes for 168 yards. He started slow out the gate but completed six of his last eight attempts. It was definitely a shaky start for Garoppolo as 56 of Garoppolo's yards came on a screen to James White, and he more times than not would have been intercepted as he tried to throw across his body into the middle of the field. We will see how he fares next week, but should have some credit as he played without the services of Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski.
