The first full week of the NFL preseason concluded Saturday night. Most of the attention Saturday was given to the first professional game of rookie quarterback Johnny Manziel. He came into the Cleveland Browns-Detroit Lions game late in the 2nd quarter, and played into the 3rd quarter for the Browns, in a 13-12 game won by the Lions.
Manziel played pretty well in his first game in the NFL. He was 7 for 11 passing, for 63 yards, with no touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran for 27 yards on 4 carries. The starter for the Browns was Brian Hoyer. Hoyer was 6 for 14 for 92 yards passing, but had a few drops, including a possible touchdown pass to Josh Gordon. So Manziel didn’t gain any ground on the starting job in this game.
Interestingly, the best performance by a quarterback in this gain was by Kellen Moore of the Lions. He was 11 of 13 for 121 yards, and the only touchdown of the game, which put the Lions ahead for good. After the game, all the attention was on the losing Browns and Manziel. Well he is Johnny Football.
The worst beatdown of the weekend was the final game of the evening. The Arizona Cardinals clobbered the visiting Houston Texans 32-0. The Texan quarterbacks threw for a total of 82 yards in the game, while the Cardinals’ quarterbacks threw for 326 yards, and each of their 3 quarterbacks tossed a touchdown pass, and had a passer rating well over 100.
The highlight for the Texans was a tackle for loss by the #1 pick in the last draft, Jadeveon Clowney. If the Texans play the regular season anywhere near as poorly on defense as they did in this game, against an offense that isn’t one of the strongest in the NFL, then they will have another miserable season. I don’t expect big production by any of their quarterbacks in the near future.
While this is only the first week of preseason games, other than the Hall of Fame game last weekend, and they mean virtually nothing, sometimes it’s clear that your team stinks right from the get go. These next few weeks are mainly to figure out which players the coaches want on their team, and also whether they will start, be 2nd string, or designated to just special teams.
Even so, it’s great to have football back, after the longest offseason of any of the major sports. Of course it is the most grueling, so that makes sense. Welcome back NFL!
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Sports With Frank Thomas
