NFL Preseason Week 3 Roundup: Edelman, Ware Injuries Cast Pall on Friday Action

It's dress rehearsal time!              

It's the all-important third week of the preseason, when NFL teams give their starters their longest look before the games start to count in September.

So far this week, we've seen a shootout in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field, where both Carson Wentz of the Eagles and Jay Cutler of the Miami Dolphins looked good at quarterback, and a game in Jacksonville in which neither Chad Henne nor Blake Bortles of the Jaguars really did.

It's the NFL's most depressing quarterback controversy.

Friday's slate featured a pair of games. In Detroit, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots put on an offensive clinic against the Lions at Ford Field, while the Kansas City Chiefs struggled to get anything going on offense at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.

However, the story of Friday for the Patriots and Chiefs was potentially major injuries, and we'll start our look at the biggest takeaways from the evening's action there.

Julian Edelman Carted to Locker Room After Injuring Knee

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

The Patriots annihilated the Lions in the first half Friday night before hanging on for a 30-28 win, but the victory that didn't count may have come at a high price.

After making three catches for 52 yards on New England's first touchdown drive, wide receiver Julian Edelman hobbled off the field with what appeared to be a non-contact knee injury.

The news went from bad to worse when the 31-year-old Edelman, who made 98 catches for 1,106 yards in 2016, was carted to the locker room.

The Patriots, as they always are, were forthcoming with absolutely no information whatsoever on the injury, but ESPN's Adam Schefter tweeted that the team has scheduled an MRI for Saturday and fears Edelman tore his ACL.

That the Patriots offense didn't appear to miss a beat without Edelman speaks to the ridiculous amount of depth New England has at wide receiver. And the team has a player waiting in the wings in Danny Amendola, who has a similar skill set to Edelman's.

But Amendola isn't Edelman, who was Tom Brady's favorite target on their march to another championship last season. According to NFL Research, since Week 10 of last year, no player in the NFL has averaged more receiving yards per game than Edelman.

Not Antonio Brown. Not Julio Jones. Julian Edelman.

Losing him for a significant amount of time might not be a catastrophe for the defending Super Bowl champions, but it's a blow nonetheless.

Spencer Ware Leaves on Cart vs. Seahawks

John Froschauer/Associated Press

Unfortunately, Edelman wasn't the only offensive star for a Super Bowl contender who left Friday's action on a cart after what appeared to be a non-contact knee injury.

In the first quarter of the Kansas City Chiefs' matchup with the Seattle Seahawks, tailback Spencer Ware went down in obvious pain after planting awkwardly on the FieldTurf at CenturyLink Field.

Just like Edelman, a dejected Ware was carted off the field. The severity of his injury isn't yet known, but given how it looked and how Ware acted, it's not a stretch to imagine that he will be sidelined for a significant amount of time.

If that's the case, it's a massive hit for a Chiefs offense built around running the football. Ware led the Chiefs in rushing last year with 921 yards, and while Kansas City has a promising young rookie runner on the roster in Kareem Hunt, the 21-year-old's next NFL carry that counts will also be his first.

Hunt, a 2017 third-round pick, did at least have a relatively solid game against a stout Seattle defense, picking up 39 yards on nine carries.

The last thing any NFL team wants in the exhibition season is an injury, and with a pair of offensive stars going down with potentially serious injuries Friday, the debate about the benefits against the risks of a monthlong preseason is sure to reignite.

The New England Offense Looked Like a Buzzsaw

Rick Osentoski/Associated Press

Thanksgiving came early at Ford Field.

The Pats carved up the Lions defense like a turkey.

At the end of the first quarter of Friday's throttling, it was 24-0 New England. Tom Brady was brutally efficient, completing 10 of his 11 pass attempts for 157 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

In a quarter.

Both of those scoring passes went to wideout Chris Hogan, who had four grabs for 70 yards in the first 15 minutes. If Edelman is indeed sidelined for a substantial amount of time, Hogan could be primed for a monster year.

Take note, fantasy football drafters.

Brady was already going early in fantasy drafts, but if anything, his asking price may go up. The Golden Boy did throw an interception, but he finished the night 12-of-15 for 174 yards and two scores, completing passes to seven different receivers.

The Pats found success on the ground too, gashing the Lions for 89 yards in the first half. The rushing attack was keyed by Mike Gillislee, who picked up 38 yards on eight carries and scored a touchdown in his first game action for New England.

It was a surgically precise beatdown. A symphony of offensive assault.

If there was any doubt as to who the Super Bowl favorites are in the AFC, there isn't anymore.

There wasn't. But if there were, there isn't.

Now I'm confused. Moving on.

The Lions Looked More Pretenders Than Contenders

Rick Osentoski/Associated Press

The Lions were a surprise playoff team last year, thanks in large part to a number of fourth-quarter comebacks led by quarterback Matthew Stafford.

If they play in the regular season like they did Friday against the Patriots, there won't be any coming back from it.

The Lions were thoroughly outclassed. The defense allowed over 250 first-half yards and had no answer for a New England team that moved the ball at will both in the air and on the ground.

Injury was added to insult as well. As ESPN.com's Michael Rothstein reported, linebacker Tahir Whitehead, who led the Lions with 132 tackles last year, missed the second half of the game with a knee injury of unknown severity.

Bad night for knees.

The first-team offense fared a bit better. Stafford was 15-of-22 for 190 yards and a pair of touchdowns, although he also threw a costly interception. Tailback Ameer Abdullah, who missed most of the 2016 season with an injured foot, piled up 99 total yards. Wideout Marvin Jones Jr. hauled in four catches for 62 yards and a score.

The disclaimer is that Detroit did most of that damage in the third quarter once the Patriots began resting defensive starters. The first half was all Pats, and if this game was a litmus test against the NFL's best, the team got a D+.

And that's if you grade on a curve.

Alex Smith Was Awful Against the Seahawks

John Froschauer/Associated Press

From the moment the Chiefs traded up and selected Patrick Mahomes 10th overall in April's NFL draft, the writing was on the wall: Alex Smith's days with the team are numbered.

And if Smith's performance against the Seahawks is any indication, that number might not be especially big.

The 33-year-old signal-caller didn't get any help from ham-handed receivers or an offensive line that looked like it was practicing to be a bullfighter, but Smith had a dismal outing, completing just seven of 17 passes for 44 yards.

That's a whopping 2.6 yards per attempt, folks.

Let's put it this way: When Mahomes relieved Smith in the third quarter, his first completion was for 12 yards.

It was the Chiefs' longest offensive play to that point.

Prior to the game, Smith told ESPN.com's Adam Teicher that it was important for the Chiefs to execute on offense Friday night:

"I think as a unit you want to go out and have success. Rarely does [preseason success carry over to the regular season], but if you're not doing the fundamentals correctly in preseason—blocking, tackling, running, catching, throwing—I think you have problems there. You want to go out there and be able to do those things well."

The Chiefs didn't come close to accomplishing that goal.

You Cannot Stop Chris Carson...

Elaine Thompson/Associated Press

...you can only hope to contain him.

The rookie seventh-rounder has become the talk of training camp for the team and a darling of fantasy football drafters after he inserted himself into the battle to start at running back for Seattle in 2017.

With Thomas Rawls and third-down back C.J. Prosise sitting out Friday's matchup with the Chiefs, Carson saw his greatest workload of the preseason.

He made the most of it.

Of all Seattle's backs, Carson had the most success on the ground, averaging almost six yards a pop and picking up over twice as many rushing yards as Eddie Lacy. The 6'0", 218-pound Oklahoma State product also added 44 yards on a pair of catches, including a 37-yard rumble.

Prior to the game, running backs coach Chad Morton lauded Carson's work ethic while speaking with John McGrath of the News Tribune.

"He's very mature, very serious. He wants to get better. He's always asking questions. He doesn't say a lot, not just because he's quiet, but because he knows that's what he's supposed to do. You don't need to be out here messing around. That's the great thing about him. For him to be that young and act like that, it's refreshing."

At this point, it no longer appears to be a matter of whether Carson will make the team.

It's a matter of how far up the depth chart he'll be when he does.