Review-NFL Pre-Season Week 1
From River Falls, Wisconsin
The first full week of the NFL pre-season came to an end last night with the Packers and Bengals at Lambeau Field as ESPN continued to drive into the ground the whole Brett Favre angle. It’s the NFL’s biggest story of August, but enough already!
A few thoughts and stars from the first week:
-Do you think anybody in Indianapolis is worried that the Colts are now 0-2 on the pre-season? Probably not, given the fact that in the last four seasons now, the Colts are 2-13 in the games that do not count. They were 0-5 in 2005, 1-3 the next two pre-seasons and now 0-2.Â
-I believe the Chargers required their patrons to pay regular season prices for their game last Saturday against Dallas. For this, San Diego fans got to see their team play without RB LaDainian Tomlinson, TE Antonio Gates, C Nick Hardwick, LT Marcus McNeill, WR Vincent Jacksona dn DE Luis Castillo. But Charger Fan probably didn’t care, since they beat the Cowboys.
-From the former Chiefs file, QB Trent Green was 1 for 3 for 16 yards and he was sacked once in the Rams game against Tennessee. Green played in only one second-quarter series. His completion went to WR-KR Dante Hall … C Casey Wiegmann started for the Broncos against Houston … DT Ryan Sims started for Tampa Bay, but was not credited with a single tackle … but DE Jimmy Wilkerson had two tackles and one sack for the Bucs … FB Boomer Grigsby had one catch for 14 yards for Miami … CB Benny Sapp had three tackles for Minnesota … LB Keyaron Fox was Pittsburgh’s leading tackler in the Steelers victory over Philadelphia with six tackles, one tackle for minus yardage and a pass defensed.
If you want to see some of the best plays of the first week of pre-season action, check them out here.
Some of the first week’s best performances:
PASSING
One of the best quarterback performances was turned in by New York Jets passer Brett Ratliff against Cleveland. This first-year guy out of Utah hit 14 of 20 for 252 yards and two TD passes. That’s a 145.8 passer rating. Considering the Jets quarterback situation these days with Brett Favre, Ratliff may be available come the first of September.
Former Iowa State star Seneca Wallace now the backup in Seattle hit 15 of 20 passes for 165 yards and three touchdowns in the Seahawks victory over Minnesota.
RUSHING
Little Quinton Ganther of the Tennessee Titans was the week’s leading rusher running for 115 yards on eight carries in a victory over St. Louis. Ganther scored twice, including a 45-yard touchdown run. He’s a first-year player who was selected by the Titans in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL Draft. Ganter is 5-9, 214 pounds.
Rookie free agent RB Louis Rankin out of the University of Washington ran eight times for 91 yards in Oakland’s victory over San Francisco.
Former Chiefs-Saints-Vikings RB Michael Bennett had 74 yards on 19 carries for the Tampa Bay Bucs.
RECEIVING
New York Jets WR David Clowney caught four passes for 163 yards and two touchdowns in a victory over Cleveland. One of those scoring plays went for 71 yards. His other touchdown was a 70-yard play. Clowney is a first year guy out of Virginia Tech.
Houston WR David Anderson caught six passes for 67 yards and a touchdown in the Texans victory over Denver. Anderson is a third-year man out of Colorado State.
DEFENSE
Seattle DT Howard Green had the top defensive performance with five tackles, two sacks, one interception and a forced fumble against Minnesota. The fourth-year LSU product appeared in just five games last year for the Seahawks.
Jacksonville DE Mkristo Bruce picked up 2.5 sacks in the Jaguars game against Atlanta. Mkristo is a first-year player who spent time on the Raiders practice squad last year.
Former Raiders-now Baltimore CB Fabian Washington had a pair of interceptions against New England.
Tennessee LB Keith Bulluck picked off a pass and returned it 13 yards for a touchdown against St. Louis.
SPECIAL TEAMS
New York Jets Dwight Lowery took back a punt 62 yards for a touchdown against Cleveland.
Oakland’s Johnnie Lee Higgins returned a punt 53 yards for a score against San Francisco.
The Jimmy Wilkerson departure was one that puzzled me a bit this past offseason.
Just from my perspective as an observant fan, I thought Wilkerson performed well in his spot duty with the Chiefs the last few years.
With the Chiefs not exactly drowning in defensive end depth right now, it made me revisit my curiosity as to why they were unable to retain Jimmy Wilkerson. Do you have any info on that, Bob?
—Tim
I too wish Wilkerson had stayed. He’d be a starter here, or at least split time with Turk and even the other side for Hali. But at the time he left, Jared was still here and hopefully looked like he’d be here for years. With he and Hali, Jimmy didn’t figure to see much time, so he went somewhere where he thought he’d play more. Irony of Ironies, he’d play tons here now.
Bob: Will the Chiefs have any interest in Jay Feely? It seems to me that he may be an upgrade over our current kickers.