It goes without saying that trying to glean too much information from preseason is a fool’s errand. Taking deep dives into a team’s performance and trying to extrapolate that out to regular season success will only make you look like a dope. For the majority of teams they’re running vanilla schemes, or trying gimmick plays — sometimes both. That said, what we can learn from these games is the 30,000 ft view, the big picture, seeing some trends that could be promising, or worrying depending on what side of the coin you’re on.
Thursday night gave us three games all of which featured fairly solid teams who figure to either be contenders in 2025, or at the very least playoff hopefuls. Here’s what we learned from the games, and the teams that took the field last night.
The Bengals get a big ol’ grimacing face emoji
So here’s the deal: The Bengals’ first team offense looked fantastic. Joe Burrow was on point, Ja’Marr Chase lit things up, and everything was clicking. The problem is, they absolutely should have done that considering the Eagles rested all their starters.
The idea for Cincinnati was to make this a statement game. It’s been a tumultuous offseason that’s still lingering with Trey Hendrickson unhappy with his contract, and Shemar Stewart only reaching an agreement on his rookie contract two weeks ago. When you throw your starters out for significant time in Game 1 of preseason you’re trying to sell a fanbase on hope, and when you lose that game it’s extremely worrying.
What we learned from the Bengals’ 27-34 loss is that the depth in Cincinnati remains a mess. This team falls off a cliff after its 1st team is out of the picture. While you can say that for most teams, the Bengals watched as their 1st team was competitive against the Eagles’ 2s, then got dominated when they moved to backups against Philly’s 3s — and so on. Yes, we’re talking about the Super Bowl champions here, but the vibes aren’t great when you expected to come out and run up the score and easily dominate this game.
There is no planet in which Tanner McKee should be able to go 20-for-25, throwing for 252 yards and 2 TDs against your defense. Will Shipley averaging 6.9 yards-per-carry bodes poorly for the future. All-in-all the Bengals appear to have the same issues they have for years now, where outside of Burrow, Chase, and Higgins there’s not a lot to hang your hat on — especially on defense.
It’s not like we can say Cincinnati aren’t going to compete based off this one game, but we saw in real time how thin they are. Going deep in the playoffs inevitably means leaning on a few key backups to carry the load, and based on what we saw Thursday, I’m not sure they have the talent down the roster to do it.
I think the Colts will be fine
Indianapolis had an ugly game against the Ravens, but I remain fairly bullish on Anthony Richardson despite the limited reps he saw on Thursday night. What I saw from Richardson was a much more condensed throwing motion, and far better decision making with the ball in his hands. There wasn’t a lot of separation from his receivers, the majority of whom were 2nd and 3rd stringers, but he was still able to make plays.
There was one near-pick from Richardson on a 50/50 ball, which I tend to think is more attributable to a great play from DB Jalyn Armour-Davis, rather than a true mistake on the part of the quarterback. That said, what I didn’t love was the Colts’ protection. There was far too much edge pressure coming through when Richardson was under center, which is a bigger problem for the Colts than most teams in this position. Indy is in the process of trying to rebuild Richardson and remove his pocket jitters which tend to make him escape too early, rather than stand tall and go through his progression. Bad protection has a chance to make those traits relapse, and that can’t happen for the Colts this year.
Daniel Jones was extremely mediocre. I don’t know how this can really be a QB battle at this point. Jones had happy feet in the pocket, rarely looked comfortable, and often times overreacted to perceived pressure. He just doesn’t look comfortable in this offense and doesn’t have the arm talent to make the frozen rope throws that Richardson attempted into traffic.
I love what Keaton Mitchell showed for the Ravens
Baltimore’s third string running back put on a show against the Colts, finishing the game with 9 carries for 68 yards and a TD. The Ravens were blocking phenomenally for him, which was definitely a factor — but he also showed tremendous poise with the ball in his hands. Mitchell’s ability to be shifty and process the field quickly could make him a sneaky weapon for the Ravens this season as a change of pace back.
This is a player who is lightning quick and has tremendous twitch to his game. Numerous times on Thursday night he took what would have been a simple 4-to-5 yard gain because of blocking, and opened it up into 10+ because of a move he made in the open field. I love that trait to him, and I think long term he could be a weapon in key packages, potentially evolving into a true RB2 behind Derrick Henry.
Jalen Milroe has an ‘it factor’
As much as I disliked the mammoth contract the Seahawks gave to Sam Darnold, a lot of that worry is ameliorated by them having Jalen Milroe waiting in the wings. It’s clear this is going to be a work in progress for the Seattle. Milroe’s big windup in the pocket is a problem, and simply won’t work in the NFL — but he showed some amazing playmaking ability out of structure in limited time on Thursday night.
Milroe has a great ability to keep his eyes downfield while scrambling laterally, not dissimilar to Bryce Young with the Carolina Panthers. While his mechanics aren’t nearly as crisp, there are building blocks here — and Milroe is infinitely quicker when carrying the ball. I see this as a potential bright spot for Seattle moving forward, and if they can continue to develop him.
Cam Miller might be a guy to keep an eye on
Every year we get a dark horse late round QB, and I really loved what I saw from Raiders’ third stringer Cam Miller. A sixth round pick out of North Dakota State, he showed the arm talent needed to run a Pete Carroll offense better than Aidan O’Connell did.
Naturally it’s easier to look good against the back-end of the roster, but I really loved what I saw from Miller in limited time. This is Geno Smith’s team, and rightfully so, but I want to see more of Miller in preseason because the flashes were bright enough to wonder if he can’t develop into something more than a QB3.
