NFL Preseason Week 2: Takeaways from Thursday's Action

We're getting there, folks.

With each passing week of preseason football, we draw a bit closer to September 8, when the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos meet in a rematch of Super Bowl 50.

There's much to do before we get to that Thursday night, though. There are kinks to be ironed out. Young players fighting for their NFL futures. And with any luck, no injuries of note.

Thursday's slate of six games may not matter much in the standings, but that doesn't mean the evening's happenings don't have importance that could stretch well into the fall.

Here's what went down across the National Football League.

Mixed Bag for the Bengals

Associated Press

Just about every facet of the preseason I mentioned was on display for the Cincinnati Bengals in their 30-14 win over the Detroit Lions on Thursday night.

To their credit, it looked like the Bengals had many of those kinks I noted de-kinked. On their first drive of the game, quarterback Andy Dalton and the Cincinnati offense rolled 74 yards in eight plays, with tailback Jeremy Hill plowing into the end zone from nine yards out.

The first-team defense appeared in midseason form as well, at least up front. For the second straight week, the Cincinnati defense controlled the line of scrimmage. Strong-side end Michael Johnson piled up four first-quarter tackles. Batterymate Carlos Dunlap added a sack.

So what's not to like?

Well, as Jeff Wallner of the Sports XChange wrote, Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis allowed that the injury bug had bitten the team fairly hard already.

"Injuries are part of football," Lewis said. "The impact of injuries is more instantaneous because everybody hears about it. It's a bigger deal. It's part of it. That's why we put the squad together the way we did. You've got to have depth and guys who can step up and play."

After previous setbacks to William Jackson III, Andrew Billings and others, it bit them again. Offensive tackle Jake Fisher was carted off the field late in the first quarter with what looked to this writer like an Achilles injury, though Lewis confirmed after the game it was a sprained ankle, per CBS Sports.

Mr. Jones and Me

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It might be difficult to find a silver lining in the Lions' 16-point loss, but in preseason it isn't really about the score.

And there were positives for Detroit. Matthew Stafford was efficient in his time under center, completing eight of 11 passes for 113 yards.

The surprise was who his leading receiver was. Although at this point, maybe it shouldn't be that big of a surprise.

Over a week ago, Kyle Meinke of MLive.com wrote that free-agent acquisition Marvin Jones has emerged as Stafford's go-to guy in the Detroit passing game.

"Yeah, I think so," Stafford said, when asked if he was developing a rapport with Jones. "There's a ton of work to be done between now and the season opener. That's what these days are for."

That work appears to have carried over into game action. While Golden Tate hauled in three passes for 41 yards, Jones led all Detroit pass-catchers with four grabs for 65 yards.

Fantasy football drafters, take note.

A Pryor Engagement

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As a fan of the Cleveland Browns, I will freely admit I am leery of things like hope and happiness. On the shores of Lake Erie, they are much less common than despair and disappointment.

But through two preseason games, something strange is happening. There's hope in the receiving corps, and it has nothing to do with Josh Gordon's return.

For the second game in a row, Browns quarterback Robert Griffin III found wide receiver Terrelle Pryor for a long completion. Last week against the Green Bay Packers, it was a 49-yard strike. Against the Atlanta Falcons, it was one yard longer and for six points.

This wasn't a fluke play or a busted coverage. Pryor ran past Desmond Trufant, who is a more than capable professional cornerback.

After the Green Bay game, head coach Hue Jackson told Nate Ulrich of the Akron Beacon Journal that he's liked what he's seen from Pryor but wants to see more still.

“I think Terrelle is growing each and every day,” Jackson said. “But as a unit we need to continue to get better.”

That wish was granted Thursday, and while two preseason games do not a wide receiver make, Pryor's doing more now than just looking the part of a pass-catcher.

Griffin Gets It Done

Associated Press

OK, Cleveland fans. It's caveat time. Don't go getting carried away based off a quarter-and-a-half of football.

But what a quarter-and-a-half it was for Browns quarterback Robert Griffin III.

Griffin played his first decent stretch of football in a good long while against the Falcons—and it wasn't just the long throw to Pryor. In fact, Griffin's 29-yard rainbow to tight end Gary Barnidge was a better pass. It was, at the risk of sounding hyperbolic, perfect.

Griffin also did damage with his legs, scrambling for 36 yards on three carries. By the end of his night, Griffin accounted for 132 yards of total offense with two scores and no turnovers.

There are still any number of problems in Cleveland. The defense, led by Justin "the Matador (OLE!)" Gilbert was mostly awful, and outside Griffin the run game struggled (albeit without Joe Thomas opening holes).

But while he was in the game, Griffin was everything the Browns hoped for when they signed him. Everything the team has searched for seemingly since 1999.

Griffin was a quarterback.

Bigger Things for a Smaller Eddie Lacy

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Much has been made over the past few weeks about Green Bay Packers running back Eddie Lacy showing up to camp in better shape than a year ago.

In his first preseason game last week, Lacy picked up 24 yards on four carries. At the time, guard T.J. Lang told Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com that he saw real improvement from the fourth-year tailback.

“He does look quicker,” Lang said. “He’s making good reads. That’s kind of always been his M.O., making guys miss. I don’t want to make it too big of a deal, but I think he’s off to a good start.”

Maybe Lang would like to make a big deal out of it now. Because against an Oakland Raiders defense with a fair bit more talent than the Cleveland Browns, Lacy looked even better.

On Green Bay's first possession, the Packers went on a 14-play march that could best be called "The Eddie Lacy Show." Nine of the 14 plays were Lacy runs, including a 20-yard rumble and a one-yard touchdown.

With a healthy Jordy Nelson and a more effective Lacy, the Green Bay offense looks set to rebound in a huge way in 2016.

You Take the Good, You Take the Bad

Associated Press

If you glanced at the score at halftime of Thursday night's matchup between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers, you would have thought it was a great night for the Eagles' starters.

And to an extent that was true, especially on defense. The Eagles intercepted Pittsburgh quarterback Landry Jones four times, including one by Pro Bowl safety Malcolm Jenkins and a pick-six from cornerback Nolan Carroll.

Jim Schwartz's fingerprints were also apparent on an Eagles defensive line that appears to be taking well to his wide-nine front.

At first glance, Philadelphia starting quarterback Sam Bradford's stat line looks good as well—14 completions in 19 attempts for 115 yards without an interception.

But before the game, Bradford told Dave Zangaro of CSN Philadelphia he wanted to see the offense get into a rhythm after limited action in Week 1.

“I’d really just like to see us get into a flow," Bradford said. "Get into a nice rhythm."

Yeah, not so much. Despite getting solid field position time and again thanks to Jones' giveaways, the Eagles' first-team offense kept stalling out, managing only a field goal.

If the Eagles are going to make any noise in the NFC East in 2016, the team will have to do a better job of capitalizing on turnovers.

No Running with Scissors!

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Thursday night's tilt between the New England Patriots and Chicago Bears got off to a weird start. As Marc Sessler of NFL.com reports, Tom Brady was originally supposed to start the game, only to be scratched after—and I kid you not—cutting his thumb with a pair of scissors.

Stop looking at me like that. I'm serious.

"An accident occurred and Tom will be OK in time," Brady's agent, Don Yee, told Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (via Sessler).

No word on whether he was using the scissors to poke holes in footballs.

HA! I kill me!

With Brady sitting out the first four games of the regular season, the exhibition contests are all about getting backup Jimmy Garoppolo ready anyway.

And against the Bears, Garoppolo looked ready.

Garoppolo completed 16 of 21 passes for 181 yards and a 16-yard touchdown throw to reserve tight end A.J. Derby, while tailback LeGarrette Blount chipped in 69 yards on 11 carries with a score of his own.

If Garoppolo and Blount perform at that level during Brady's Roger Goodell-imposed vacation, the Patriots will be just fine when the Golden Boy gets home in Week 5.

They Aren't Blocking, Coach

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It's important not to get wrapped up in any one happening in a preseason game. You can't get too excited about the good stuff, or too despondent about the bad.

Unless, of course, the bad involves your multi-jillion-dollar quarterback repeatedly looking out of his earhole.

Last year, only one quarterback in the NFC (Aaron Rodgers) hit the turf more times than Seattle's Russell Wilson, who was dropped 45 times behind a shaky Seahawks O-line.

If Thursday's matchup with the Minnesota Vikings was any indication, that line still has work to do. Wilson was sacked four times in the first half and harassed on a number of other throws, leading to a shaky 5-of-11 stat line.

The sacks weren't entirely the line's fault, and the team did well running the ball (55 yards on 10 carries for Christine Michael), but four sacks in a half is, as they say, ungood.

Earlier this week, Dave Boling of the Tacoma News Tribune talked up the improvement he's seen from the Seattle front in 2016.

"The five Seahawks who will line up against the Vikings," Boling wrote, "are huge (averaging 6-5 1/2, 315 pounds) and young (24.6 average age). And maybe they are being measured against the low threshold of last season’s line, but there’s definitely been improvement."

Perhaps he spoke too soon.

The 'Mom Would Be Proud' Play of the Night

Associated Press

In Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman, the Atlanta Falcons have a talented one-two punch at tailback. It's unlikely that undrafted free-agent tailback Brandon Wilds will crack that rotation in any meaningful sense.

However, the youngster did make an impression in his preseason debut, scoring his first NFL touchdown. He told Andrew Hirsh of the team's website last week it was quite a feeling.

“After scoring a TD, it was like, ‘Welcome to the NFL,’” Wilds said. “It was a great feeling.”

If that felt great, then Thursday against the Browns must have felt phenomenal. Because not only did Wilds score again, but he picked up more yardage on one carry than in all 10 of his totes for 26 yards a week ago.

In the third quarter of a 24-13 Falcons win, Wilds took the ball around the left end, skirted the sideline, made safety Rahim Moore miss and punched it in from 32 yards out.

Take a bow, young man.