Arizona Cardinals
~Result- W VS Houston Texans 32-0
~MVP- WR John Brown
~Best Rookie Performance- WR John Brown
~Breakout Defensive Player- ILB Lorenzo Alexander
The Cardinal QB play was incredible, Carson Palmer starting the game 5-5 for 84 yards, capping the drive with a lightning strike to Larry Fitzgerald from 7 yards out. Drew Stanton followed, throwing for a game high 152 yards, and a 5 yard strike to Jaron Brown. Logan Thomas took the number 3 QB spot, going 11 of 12 for 113 yards, and his 12 yard TD throw to Dan Buckner. Thomas added 5 runs for 8 yards on the ground.
The running backs were largely unimpressive, rookie Zach Bauman leading the team with his 7 runs for 29 yards, barely over 4 yards per carry. Andre Ellington, the expected starter, was given 2 runs for 7 yards. Stepfan Taylor and Johnathan Dwyer, the two backs expected to rotate to back Ellington, combined 13 runs for 16 yards.
John Brown was stunning, catching 5 passes for 87 yards, and flashing his speed and explosiveness every play. Rob Housler stepped up and took a 38 yard dart from Carson Palmer upfield. Larry Fitzgerald made the 7 yard TD catch and a 4 yard screen pass catch, and Stepfan Taylor showed he does have hands with a nice screen pass-turned-upfield 11 yard pickup.
The offensive line was great in pass protection, and the Cardinals are starting to look better. Antonio Cromartie took one of Ryan Fitzpatricks 2 INTs, the other one going to Marcus Bernard, who had blown coverage on the intended target, but the pass came to short, and right to Bernard.
Atlanta Falcons
~Result- W VS Miami 16-10
~MVP- RB DeVonta Freeman
~Best Rookie Performance- RB DeVonta Freeman
~Breakout Defensive Player- OLB Prince Shembo
The Falcons QB play was great, Matt Ryan starting the game 7 of 7 for 53 yards, taking the team downfield to set up Jacquizz Rodgers 2 yard run. TJ Yates and Sean Renfree both passed for 100 yards, but neither of them made it to a 50% completion percentage. No INTs were thrown by the Falcons.
DeVonta Freeman ran 10 times for 50 yards, including a nice 14 yard outbreak as his longest run. However, he turned a screen pass into a 57 yard gain. He's explosive, and he's just what the Falcons need this season. Jacquizz Rodgers took 7 runs for 20 yards, along with his TD, and Steven Jackson watched from the sidelines, giving the start to Rodgers. Antoine Smith has 3 runs for 5 yards officially, although he took a run 60+ yards for a TD, it was erased to a Jake Matthews holding penalty.
Bernard Reedy is a must watch player. He is a truly underrated prospect from Toldeo, very explosive WR. He led the Falcons team in receiving yards, with catches of 35 and 26 yards to put a grand total of 61. Roddy White caught 4 of Ryans 5 passes for 27 yards, no Julio Jones on the field. Levine Toilolo is currently in the lead for the starting TE position replacing the retired to be hall of fame player Tony Gonzalez.
Jake Matthews truly struggled, but he has 3 games or so to pull it together. Expect him to improve a lot in the next few games.
Prince Shembo looked extremely impressive, collecting 3 tackles and a sack, the lone Falcon sack of the day. He is currently 3rd on the depth chart as strongside LB.
Baltimore Ravens
~Result- W VS San Fransisco 49ers 23-3
~MVP- K Justin Tucker
~Best Rookie Performance- RB Lorenzo Taliaferro
~Breakout Defensive Player- ILB CJ Mosely
Tyrod Taylor played most of the game, putting together an average game, Joe Flacco passing 4 of 5 of his throws for completions, for 52 yards. He led the team to Bernard Pierces' 2 yard run.
Ray Rice is going to be more explosive this season, and he started showing it in the Harbaugh Bowl. 3 runs for 17 yards, while sharing time with Pierce. Lorenzo Taliaferro took 13 runs for 71 yards, putting the most impressive offensive performance of the day.
Steve Smith and Owen Daniels have caught their first passes in Raven uniforms, and Jacoby Jones had 2 catches for 16 yards. Apart from that, the receivers may be the ones who made the QB's look bad, due to lack of depth and talent on the team at those positions.
CJ Mosely pulled off an incredible 5 tackles and a sack from the ILB position with limited snaps. He was all over the field, and played over-all well.
Buffalo Bills
~Result- W @ Carolina Panthers 20-18
~MVP- RB Bryce Brown
~Best Rookie Performance- WR Sammy Watkins
~Breakout Defensive Player- ILB Jimmy Gaines
EJ Manuel showed the same pocket presence I saw in him last week. Standing tall in the face of danger and injury. The different thing about this week was the quick passes to Sammy Watkins, and his 69.2% completion rate. Thad Lewis got more playing time this week, and looked average, and Jeff Tuel fired in a 1 yard TD pass to Chris Summers, the FB, and a INT to Josh Norman.
Bryce Brown, the former Philadelphia Eagle, looked in good form, taking the ball a total of 11 times for 82 yards. 2 of those were catches put in for 18 yards. Andre Dixon took in the TD, but he failed to make the 3.2 AVG mark. CJ Spiller flashed explosions from last season, but Fred Jackson averaged 2 yards per carry with 5 runs.
Sammy Watkins finally bloomed, catching a couple quick screen passes and a 14 yard bullet from EJ Manuel. His catching ability looks unblemished. Robert Woods looked impressive for the second straight week, bringing in another 4 catches this time for 31 yards. His longest catch went 10 yards. Mike Williams, expected to start opposite Watkins, made 1 catch for 28 yards.
Jimmy Gaines led the team with 6 tackles, and led the Bills to a 3 sack 2 INT game. The defense regestered 2 takeaways while he was in the game.
Carolina Panthers
~Result- L VS Buffalo Bills 18-20
~MVP- QB Joe Webb
~Best Rookie Performance- WR Kelvin Benjamin
~Breakout Defensive Player- CB Josh Norman
Cam Newton sat out the game to recuperate from his offseason surgery, and Derek Anderson got the nod to start the game. He didn't play too much, completing 5 of 7 passes for 65 yards and a 29 yard strike to Kelvin Benjamin. Matt Blanchard looked extremely unimpressive, I'll be surprised if he makes it to the next game on the roster. Joe Webb was impressive, throwing 28 times, completing 16 passes for 180 yards, plus a TD and INT each. Webb led the team in rushing with his 4 runs for 30 yards. Very exciting and dynamic player still unproven on winning games.
Darren Reaves, a college football free agent add on, will most likely spend the season on the practice squad. He took 8 runs for 19 yards, his longest run being his 6 yard TD. Unimpressive performance overall. Kenjon Barner took 8 runs for 8 yards, very much like his rookie regular season performance. Most unimpressive.
It's hard to give a best rookie performance based on one play, but Kelvin Benjamin did that. He made a 29 yard TD catch underthrown, yet a most beautiful play. He made a great catch, putting his hands under the ball to make sure it didn't hit the ground, and that's what determined his place. Tavarress King, former Bronco draftee, caught a team high 4 catches for 50 yards, playing with Joe Webb. The Panthers are trusting on players like King to give them the depth at the WR position.
Josh Norman tied the team lead with 6 tackles, and made the only INT of the game picking Jeff Tuel off. Norman looked much better then the average corner, and might just get some first team snaps next week when Carolina meets Kansas City Sunday Night.
Chicago Bears
~Result- W VS Philadelphia Eagles 34-28
~MVP- TE Zach Miller
~Best Rookie Performance- QB David Fales
~Breakout Defensive Player- CB Demontre Hurst
Jay Cutler started the game 9 of 13 for 85 yards and his TD strike to Zach Miller in the 1st Q. Jordan Palmer threw a TD and a INT, but Jimmy Clausen, former Panther 2nd round pick, tossed 2 TDs and led all game QBs with his 150 yards passing. David Fales went 5 of 7 for 68 yards, and an INT, but was clearly, hands down, the best rookie on the field for Chicago.
The RB's were entirely unimpressive. Jordan Lynch, former QB in Northern Illinois, led the team in rushing with a total of 7 carries for 24 yards. Kadeem Carey took 10 for 22 yards. They couldn't bring a consistent run game without Matt Forte to the table against the Eagles 2nd and 3rd team players, giving Matt Forte a need to be healthy this entire season due to lack of depth.
TE Zach Miller bloomed in action, catching 6 passes for 68 yards and 2 TD's. Miller is currently second on the depth chart, but should see a lot of playing time anyways. Brandon Marshall made 5 catches for 31 yards, he still has the hands. Alshon Jeffery made a catch for 16, and Michael Spurlock looked most impressive with his 4 catches for 56 yards and a 22 yard strike from Jimmy Clausen.
Demontre Hurst didn't impress me with his coverage skills, he impressed me with his tackling skills. This guy could probably be made a Strong Safety, as the 2nd year player led the team with 8 tackles, all solo. Jared Allen saw no action, but new add-on Ryan Mundy looks solid, already with an INT.
Cincinnati Bengals
~Result- L @ Kansas City 39-41
~MVP- QB Matt Scott
~Best Rookie Performance- RB Jeremy Hill
~Breakout Defensive Player- CB Dre Kirkpatrick
Andy Dalton started Thursdays first game of the preseason, hitting 3 of 5 passes for 71 yards, including a 53 yard bomb thrown perfectly into the hands of AJ Green. His deep ball looks much better already this season, and with a large contract on his belt now, he looks to be the long term starter in Cincinnati. Jason Campbell threw 4 TD passes... Unfortunately, 2 of them were to Kansas City. He went an unimpressive 6 of 15 for 72 yards. Matt Scott was the most impressive on the field, going 7 of 11 for 66 yards and 2 TDs, plus his 6 runs for a game high 68 yards. One of his TD passes followed a puke on the field. AJ McCarron missed the action due to tightness in his shoulder.
The Bengals have a problem on their hands with their running backs- a good problem. They have so much talent going back to RB 6, and they can't possibly keep it all on the roster when the 53 man cut gets in. Rookie Jeremy Hill led the Running backs with 6 runs for 36 yards, Rex Burkhead picking up 21 on 5 carries, and Cedric Peerman picking up 20 on 5 carries. That's not mentioning BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Giovani Bernard, or James Wilder Jr, who combined 9 carries for 26 yards. They have so much skill and talent, the Bengals will be scary.
AJ Green led the team in receiving yards. Unfortunately, reports are arriving that Marvin Jones will probably miss the next 5 weeks with a foot injury- giving people such as Mohumad Sanu a chance. The starting TE's made no catches, but looked good with their route running and blocking.
Dre Kirkpatrick was my selection for his pick-six. He made the catch and ran past everyone to score the TD on Chase Daniels INT. If he stays healthy, Kirkpatrick might just validate the 1st round pick the Bengals used to get him in 2012, making him a breakout canadite. Darqueeze Dennard made 3 tackles plus a sack in his limited action.
Cleveland Browns
~Result- L @Detroit Lions 12-13
~MVP- K Billy Cundiff
~Best Rookie Performance- QB Johnny Manziel
~Breakout Defensive Player- LB Zac Diles
Brian Hoyer still has the job for the regular season, Johnny Manziel is still trying to get that job. There's no doubt that Hoyer did struggle, and Manziel looked much more exciting and overall more talented. Hoyer went 6 of 14, but on those 6 completions, he got 92 yards. He played well when he had to and that's what matters. Manziel, however, came off the bench and led his team doenfield to score 2 FG's, and turned 2 yard runs on 3rd down into memorable plays. That's Manziel's nature. Tyler Thigpen was so unimpressive, Cleveland waived him on Tuesday, and signed former Bear and Redskin Rex Grossman.
Ben Tate looked much better then Terrence West, Tate gaining 25 yards on 6 carries, West gaining 22 yards on 10 carries. West was inconsistent, running for 10 yards on one play, and without that play, he averaged 1.3 yards per carry. Edwin Baker got some playing time and took 3 runs for 9 yards. Dion Lewis was most unimpressive, running 3 times for 6 yards. As receiving threats, Dion Lewis is a nice screen threat, and West got a nice 13 yard pass that he turned upfield.
Andrew Hawkins looked good working with Brian Hoyer, catching 3 balls for 30 yards. Josh Gordon got 2 catches for 32 yards, he may face an 8 game suspension due to illegal drug use. Marvin Austin wasn't too active, catching a pass for 15 yards, and Jordan Cameron missed the game due to injury. The Browns will struggle without Cameron or Gordon, no matter who is QB.
Zac Diles is the backup RILB for the Browns, and he tied for the team lead with 4 tackles. He looks good and strong, and should play pretty well this season in his limited duty. The Browns need some help with tackling, Jordan Poyer missed an open field tackle on Joique Bell that resulted in an 11 yard gain.
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