Live Updates and Highlights from Thursday's Week 1 NFL Preseason Games

After being drafted by the Steelers in the second round of this year's draft, Germie Bernard has been making some waves in training camp. While speaking to reporters, Bernard said that he's making every effort to be ready when opportunity knocks.

"I'm making sure I'm doing my best to just study the plays, knowing my assignments and asking as many questions as I can," Bernard said. "I'm a very open book. Whenever I can take advice from anybody, I'm willing to do that so I can get better."

Bernard availed himself of those opportunities Thursday night—for the most part. Bernard reeled in four of five targets from Mason Rudolph in the first quarter, and narrowly missed hauling in a touchdown.

That sound you just heard was everyone in Raider Nation "oohing" at the same time.

One of the points of the preseason is to help teams eliminate silly mistakes. Cut out costly errors. Get the dumb penalties and poor execution out of their systems.

If the first quarter of Thursday's tilt with the Packers is any indication, Pittsburgh needs all the preseason it can get—the Steelers were penalized five times for 55 yards, including a holding call that wiped out a touchdown.

With Micah Parsons likely to start the season on the PUP list, the pressure is higher than ever on edge-rusher Lukas Van Ness to become the kind of impact player that the Green Bay Packers thought they were getting when they drafted Van Ness 13th overall in 2023.

One preseason sack won't make that pressure go away, but watching the former Iowa standout get home in the first quarter of Thursday's tilt with the Steelers had to put a smile on Matt LaFleur's face.

Get the bubble wrap.

GET THE BUBBLE WRAP!

Joking aside, it got lost in the stink from a terrible defense in 2025, but the Bengals offensive line wasn't good last year, either—and hasn't been for a while.

Watching Joe Burrow get dropped on his second drop-back of the first drive against defensive reserves isn't going to alleviate those concerns.

The Cincinnati Bengals had one of the NFL's worst defenses in 2025. The Bengals attacked that defense in every way they could in the offseason, adding multiple veterans highlighted by the trade for defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence.

That new-look defense's first drive of 2026 was—a mixed bag.

The good news was how the drive ended—a tip-drill interception by safety Jordan Battle.

The bad news is that the Lions' second-string offense was moving the ball before that turnover.

Still, a stop's a stop.

There was some talk leading up to Thursday's preseason opener against his old team that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers could play a series or two.

That will not be the case. Mason Rudolph will open the game, with youngsters Will Howard and Drew Allar both likely to see significant playing time.

A re-tooled defense in the Queen City will play a big part in the team's success (or lack thereof) in 2026. But at the end of the day, the Cincinnati Bengals will go as far as Joseph Lee Burrow takes them—and he's taken them pretty far in the past.

Given that, fans are no doubt glad to see Burrow out there for the preseason opener against the Detroit Lions—and apprehensive at the idea of him even being looked at funny.

One series, Joe. And then the bubble wrap goes on.

When last we saw New England Patriots tackle Will Campbell, he was being abused by the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX.

One practice doesn't necessarily mean that Campbell will be resigned to the same fate in his second season. But this footage from Thursday's joint practices with the Indianapolis Colts doesn't exactly inspire the warm and fuzzies.

Campbell and the rest of New England's starters aren't expected to play in Thursday's exhibition opener.

Entering his second season, New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart may be happy where the team is at entering the preseason—but his offensive coordinator doesn't appear to share that sentiment.

Per Pat Leonard of The New York Daily News, Giants offensive coordinator Matt Nagy acknowledged that Dart is struggling with a new offensive scheme in The Big Apple, although he made a point of saying that some preseason reps should help smooth the rough edges.

"It'll be really good to get out there as we get going here, with getting closer to these preseason games and just the prep side of it, making sure that he can take some of these things that we're finding in the process that maybe we want to get his eyes to a certain spot in the progression, and he's struggling to get to that point, finding those plays," Nagy said. "Like if there's one or two plays where he might not be seeing it well, let's figure out why you're not."

Head coach John Harbaugh declined to say definitively that Dart will play in Saturday's preseason opener.

But the winds appear to be blowing that direction.