Now that we’ve got the first week of NFL Preseason play in the books, let’s see what definitive things we can say about the 2015 season that will most certainly actually be proven false.
Kirk Cousins is creating another quarterback controversy
Look at Kirk Cousins! He went 12-for-14 with 154 yards and a rushing touchdown. A rushing touchdown! You know who didn’t rush for a touchdown? Of course you do.
In two drives to start the game, RG3 was just 4-of-8 for 36 yards. Never mind, of course, that Pierre Garcon dropped an embarrassingly wide open would-be 60-yard touchdown pass on the opening possession. That would ruin the narrative!
No, it was Cousins who rallied the troops from a 14-3 deficit (against the second-string Cleveland defense) for a “thrilling” 20-17 victory over the Browns. Now is probably a good time to remind you that Washington is 14-3 (!) in the preseason since 2011.
(AP Photo/David Richard)
AP Photo/David Richard
Marcus Mariota is a bust
The Titans’ rookie quarterback was supposed to be immune to interceptions. That was the narrative coming out of college at the University of Oregon, where he threw just 14 total interceptions over a three-year career that included 1,167 pass attempts and 105 touchdowns, then managed not to throw a single one during training camp.
But in his first preseason game, Mariota threw a pick deep in his own end on his very first drive. Can you believe it? A rookie quarterback might not be invulnerable? Mariota fumbled on his next possession, but put together a touchdown drive on his third, finishing the night 7-of-8 for 94 yards and a passer rating of 76.0, just a touch below the 81.0 that Titans quarterbacks averaged last year.
(AP Photo/David Goldman)
AP Photo/David Goldman
The Raiders are back, baby!
Amari Cooper! Latavius Murray! The rebirth of Michael Crabtree! Before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s remember that the team the Raiders beat was the St. Louis Rams. Cooper only had three catches for 22 yards. Second-year quarterback Derek Carr was just 6-of-9 for 43 yards and a pick. And when both first-team units left the field, the game was in a 3-3 deadlock.
Oakland should certainly be more exciting with the improvement in talent at the skill positions. And the Raiders may well come through on my February prediction, made right after the Super Bowl, that they will win more games than the 49ers this year. But that has far more to do with the growing tire fire in Santa Clara than the promise of the Silver and Black.
(AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Chip Kelly has unlocked the secret of Tim Tebow
OMG TIM TEBOW TOUCHDOWN! It’s amazing ESPN has talked about anything else this week.
Of course, that touchdown came in the midst of an outing in which he went just 6-of-12 passing for 69 yards and was sacked three times for minus-28 yards. It also came in the fourth quarter of the first preseason game, against a defense of which a good portion of players likely won’t survive final roster cuts.
Tebow may find a role as Kelly’s two-point specialist, considering the hyper-aggressive coach has even more incentive to go for two this season with the extra point being pushed back 15 yards. But there’s a reason he’s listed as the fourth-string quarterback on the depth chart in a sport that rarely has more than three on a roster.
(AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Ameer Abdullah is the next Barry Sanders
Just look at him go!
We’re a very visual culture, to be sure. But what is it about our propensity to, when we see a guy in the same uniform position, forcibly draw conclusions to a past player in that role for the same team? After all, he did this against the Jets, the 24th-ranked defense in the NFL last year, so we should probably, you know, cool our jets.
The Lions play in Washington on Thursday, where Abdullah will no doubt look like the second coming of Walter Payton while Cousins rallies the Redskins to a come-from-behind victory against Detroit’s third-string defenders, most of whom will be cut the following week.
(AP Photo/Ben Margot)
WASHINGTON — The NFL Preseason is our annual rite of overreaction to meaningless exhibition play and our opportunity to draw wildly speculative conclusions based on games that don’t actually matter. So now that we’ve got the first week in the books, let’s see what definitive things we can say about the 2015 season that will most certainly actually be proven false.
