2006 Week 2 Preseason Nuggets

Having access to Sirius Satellite radio and Direct TV is crucial to any football fan. The NFL network is playing every preseason game with tons of analysis. NFL radio on Sirius also offers football fans a great avenue for discussion and analysis.

Week two is when coaches start implementing their plans and trying a few more rookies. Unlike week one, you usually see a lot more starters for longer times. Having watched every preseason game thus far, a few things stand out thus far. So who looks good so far? Who looks bad? Sit back, relax, and let us do all the watching for you.

Arizona Cardinals:
Ding, ding, ding! The guy we've all been waiting for, Matt Lienert actually looked fantastic, for the first drive. Having held out for so long and not practicing, he did amazingly well. He came in and lead a hurry up offense and looked pretty good. His opening drive with 1 minute left in the first half lead to a nice field goal by Rackers. He even rushed twice for about 30 yards. The rest of the game did not go so well. He was in camp for only 5 days, so we will have more info on him next week. The running game for Arizona looked awful once again. We still think Arizona will be an offensive jugurnaut, but through th air.

Baltimore Ravens:
Steve McNair looked great once again, throwing for 148 yards on just 14 passes. Musa Smith carried the load on the ground and looked amazing. I would defiently keep an eye on him. Jamal was only in the game for the first few drives, but looked very strong and healthy. It looks like he is back to his healthy self. He, Heap, and Mason should have a great year. Darling had 5 catches for 125 yards. Wow! Keep an eye on this WR. 

Chicago Bears:
Grossman wanted a chance to redeem himself, and he finally didn't. That's right he didn't. He threw only 7/14 and 1 interception for an abysmal passer rating of 38. The scariest part is that this is an improvement from last week's performance. Bears fans better pray that Greise is the starter. Greise didn't play much, but ended up with a passer rating of 143 after coming in to the game for the last few minutes of the 3rd quarter. He was electrifying and the home crowd was chanting, "Greise, Greise!" It looks like Grossman will be ona very short leash. And Bear fans are clamoring for Greise. On the ground, both Jones and Benson were out, and Pope shined again. No matter who ends up with Pope, he will be a starter in the NFL someday. He has it all. He is a power runner that has a complete game. Benson's injury seems to be more severe than originally thought, and Thomas Jones will likely be the starter. Watch out for this Pope guy.

Cincinatti Bengals:
Both Johnson and Wright played very well. Both passed for a TD and neither threw an interception. They racked up a ton of yards. Chad Johnson had 73 yards on 5 receptions and 1 TD. They also had one rushing TD. Carson Palmer did not play. Apparently, he is slated to play next week. We will let you know how he looks.

Dallas Cowboys:
Drew Bledsoe redeemed himself to thwart off all talk of a QB controversy. He was impressive, throwing for 156 yards and 2 TDs. Romo also looked good. Not as good as his first game, but did pretty well throwing 138 yards and 1 TD. I would not be worried if Bledsoe went down, which he never has. Glenn looked back in his form and had about 73 yards on only 4 receptions. Wow! Watch out, the Cowboys look scary!

Denver Broncos:
Jay Cutler looked like a seasoned veteran once again. He threw 99 yards on 6 passes and 1 TD to Tony Scheffler. The more and more we see of Sheffler and Cutler the more we like what we see. Cutler looks very poised, mature, and experienced. More than any other rookie QB to joing the league, save Big Ben. He has a very Benesque poise, but his leadership ability and arm are much stronger. And he isn't an arrogant prick. The coaches love this guy and the fans love him. Granted, it was versus Tennessee. Another all star in the making is Mike Bell. He ran for 2 TDs and 73 yards. He looks like Terrell Davis did back when he was in Denver. He looks like an all around back. Mike Shanahan likes to use only one RB, if he can do it all, and Bell looks like he can. On a 34 yard run, it looked like Bell scampered out of bounds instead of putting his head down and taking on the defender. But it looks like Rod Smith talked to him about that incident. That is not allowed in Denver, except for QBs. The most prolific WR was the new TE, Tony Sheffler. He played out of his mind racking up 73 yards and a TD. Both receiving TDs were to TEs, one to Scheffler, one to Nate Jackson. Wow! Watch out! Even Darrien Nash and Cedric Cobbs racked up the yards on the grund, going for 72 and 65 respectively. Where does Denver find these guys? Someone will have to be cut eventually, it's looking like Ron Dayne.

Detroit Lions:
Kevin Jones actually looked poor. He has a problem making decisions while running. He tied to bounce every run outside, and would not go through the tackles. This can be a serious issue for him. This was extremely evident to our staff, everyone commented on this issue. This is going to be a serious problem for Kevin Jones. You can't try to bounce everything outside. When he did go outside, he was getting stopped for losses and was not doing well. Jones is not looking very good at this point. Kitna and McKown looked equally as impressive. Kitna threw for a TD, while McKown did not. Surprisingly, that TD catch was a pass to Jones. Roy Williams, once again, was the most impressive WR for Detroit. Look for a great year from him. Martinez and Drummond came in second. Look for Charlie Rodgers to be cut. Mike Williams did play and had one catch for about 20 yards. It may take a while for the offense to start clicking. The most important thing we took away from this game was Kevin Jones awful decision making.

New Orleans Saints:
Reggie Bush did not do well. The Dallas defense smothered him. Bouman and Brees played well, but the NO offense only put up one TD. Nothing else really happened here. Bush did not look very good, let's just leave it at that. Let's see how he does next week. McAllister was back. They worked him in and he looked healthy, but he wasn't used much.

New York Jets:
The Jets actually had an offense this week. Pennington did not play, but the other three QBs all had their chance. None really stood out. Clemens did throw one TD. The running game was surprisingly well. Brad Smith, the former QB took a reverse about 60 yards, Houston and Blaylock also played well racking up 53 and 46 yards, respectively. None of the WRs were too impressive.

Oakland Raiders:
This is actually their third game, due to the hall of fame game. Aaron Brooks and the offense finally looked like they knew what was going on. Brooks and Walter both played well. Brooks still makes some dumb decisions and threw a very dumb interceptions. Jordan and Lee both rushed very well and look like a good combination. Doug Gabriel had the only receiving TD for Oakland.

San Diego Chargers:
Neither Philip Rivers nor Charlie Whitehurst looked good. Both threw interceptions. It was against a tough Chicago defense. This should be a game situation for Rivers to learn from. He handled it very maturely and remained poised. Burner and Perkins ran well against a stiff defense.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers:
The Bucs offense looked awful and anemic all game long. Simms and Rattay played the majority of the game and were unable to put a TD on the board. Simms passes were very crisp and he has a rocket of an arm, but was unable to move the offense. Finally, in the fourth quarter, Bruce Gradkowski took over and scored on a 48 yard pass. We've been just as impressed with Gradkowski as we have been with Jay Cutler. Gradkowski is the steal of the draft at QB. He is leadership, poise, talent, accuracy and skill all rolled into one amazing package. He looked terrific and almost lead the Bucs back to win the game, when a WR tipped the ball to the defense. He could have caught it or left it alone, but he decided to tip it up and screwing up the final drive. He passed for 193 yards and a TD. Wow! We would not be surprised if the Bucs drop the remaining backup QBs and stick with Gradkowski. This kid is simply amazing! Keep an eye on him in your dynasty and keeper leagues, Bucs QBs have not lasted too long.

Tenessee Titans:
Vince Young played well, apparently he is over his ankle sprain. He thre 19 times and ran only 4 times. He threw for 125 yards and rushed for only 19 yards. Yes, he was playing against a brutal, fast Denver defense, which should finish top 5 this year, but nonetheless, he performed very well. Young displayed a lot of courage and the ability to motivate his guys, moreso than Volek. Young just has something about him that is different. The offense looked very rejuvenated when Young was playing. Their only TD came off a Vince Young rush for 13 yards. The RB situation is looking sketchy. After sitting out the first game, LenDale White rushed 7 times for 28 yards. Chris Brown was second with 20 yards, then Vince Young then Travis Henry. None of the RBs looked really impressive. Of course, they were playing against one of the top 5 rush defenses, but they looked very pathetic. Volek did play and went 6/9 and 1 interception. Volek did not look very impressive. Volek will start the year and eventually hand the reigns to Young. The worse the team and Volek do, the sooner Young takes over. 

Philly Eagles:
Once again, Philly's first team offense looked superb. They have scored on every possession so far. They were also using the no huddle very often. Their staff is probably working on something. Westbrook was out this week with an injury. None of the RBs played very well in the ground game. Buckhalter did have one nice reception for 48 yards. Timmy Chang, one of the backup QBs looked phenomenol once again. They will probably have to drop Garthia or Detmer. I'd be very surprised if Chang is cut. Otherwise, not too much going on in Philly.

Stay tuned for more updates and nuggets from the preseason. Keep checking this article as we add more updates!