With this being my 42nd year of NFL Fandom, I've grown to expect some very uneven performances in the early preseason, for myriad reasons.  Coaches do not game plan for preseason, and they don't want to tip their regular season hands.  The early preseason games are played mostly by bottom of the roster guys who likely will not  be on an NFL roster by the time the regular season roles around.  These bottom of the roster guys are still, in some cases, still struggling to grasp the playbook, to say nothing of the nuances of the pro game. Compounding this is the growing trend of not even bothering to play the starters much at all.  Before, starters would usually get at least a series or two before making way to the reserves, but teams are going increasingly risk averse in the attempt to minimizing injuries. Furthermore, the officials tend to throw a ton more flags to emphasize rules tweaks designed to mitigate certain behaviors and techniques.  That said, tonight's game can best be described as comprehensive offensive putrefaction.  Back circa 2000, we beat the Browns v.2.0 by the score of 48-0.  The game sticks out to me because the Browns, QBed by a guy named Spurgeon Wynn, never crossed midfield for the entire game!  I had never seen that before, and I never expected to see that again, yet with 2:00 left in the game, the team has not crossed midfield.  I'm thrilled the new season is upon us, but such a spectacular display of offensive ineptitude was painful to watch and is enough to dampen the enthusiasm to start the season.    In fact, I am left to wonder what I did or did not do, either in this life or the one before, to warrant being subjected to such offensive incompetence.

Here are some other observations and thoughts.

1.  Considering so many players were kept out of the game, the vets that played obviously have something to prove or improve upon.  One such player was Taven Bryan, whose play has disappointed many Jaguars' faithful.  While he had no big plays, he had his moments where he got push rushing the passer.

2.  Another such player is Keelan Cole.  While he has one more year of experience than Bryan and has more of a play-making resume than Bryan, he was nevertheless disappointing last year, and accordingly found himself in the game.  WRs in his position typically have to show some potential to contribute on Special teams to enhance his chances to remain on the roster.  He did exactly that with his 100+ yard kickoff return for a TD.  While it was called back, his return will stick in the minds of the coaches for a while.

3.  Still another vet that needed to show something was OL Will Richardson.  He was a complete nonfactor last year, spending all last season on IR without showing much in training camp.  In my second training camp report this year, I wrote that in my first extensive viewing of him, he looked pretty good.  Tonight was a different perspective.  He worked exclusively at RT, where in that second practice I attended, he switched between RT and RG.  While Richardson looked good early, there were subsequent possessions where he was pushed into the QBs face.  While seeing him is better than not seeing him, some of the enthusiasm I had for him has waned a little.

4.  I saw some people complaining abut Chark.  I had no problem with his performance.  Yes he had a drop and went for minimal gain on another play, he got behind the Ravens secondary deep, only to have a pass overthrown.


5.  While I will elaborate on the rookie QBs later, I will say it's most peculiar that a team with Super Bowl aspirations like the Jaguars would have such a woeful depth chart behind Foles.  Between the other three QBs on the roster behind Foled, there is  exactly one season of NFL experience.  I have to think that once the final cuts are made, the Jaguars will add a more experienced signal caller.

6.  I did not get as good a look on Datone Jones as I had hoped.  I will have to get back with you guys on that-maybe late Saturday or sometimes Sunday.

7.  Rookie Watch:

• Josh Allen-It was odd that Allen got playing time considering how many starters they kept out of the game.  I was holding my breath throughout the game, hoping Allen would not suffer an injury.  That aside, while Allen is best known for being a pass rusher, his hirst play had him making a splash against the run, tackling the ball carrier for a 2 yard loss.  There were a couple of other run plays where he seemed to decently hold the point of attack.  When it came to rushing the passer, he did not register a sack, and I did not see him get any pressures.  There was a play where Jackson rolled far to the right and Allen was free, yet he did not pursue very hard, perhaps because of Jackson's exceptional mobility necessitating him staying hime and keeping contain.
  
• Jawaan Taylor-Did not play
  
• Josh Oliver-Did Not Play-Hamstring injury
  
• Quincy Williams-Did not play-Meniscus surgery
  
• Ryquell Armstead-like he has in camp, Armstead had some nice runs, running with attitude and authority.  I did not notice him in the passing game.  Left the game with a concussion.
  
• Gardner Minshew-the popular rookie backuo had a rough first preseason game.  he suffered two hits that knocked his helmet off, including a hit right in front of the goal line where he looked like he fumbled.  There were at least a couple of throws where there were open receivers outside the numbers that he underthrew
  
• Dontavious Russell, didn't focus much on him.  I will have to come back to him later.
  
• Mike Walker-had a decent return but nothing special
  
• Tyre Brady-I only saw one pass thrown to him, which he dropped.
  
• Charles Jones-he dropped a pass over the middle.
  
• Bunchy Stallings-got a lot of snaps in at C in the second half of the game.  He showed decent mobility, but did not seem to get much movement in the running game.
  
• Andrew Wingard-had a couple of nice run support fits, but has a bad holding penalty that negated Cole's kickoff return for a TD.
  

8.  The two Tres-Tre McBride and Tre Herndon had some good showings.  McBride was the most effective WR on the field tonight, making a couple of decent catches.  he seemed to play with more energy than the others.  I don't know if he'll make the team, even if he replicates his performance, but he made a favorable impression tonight.  Herndon had some nice pass breakups.  I feel comfortable with him as the 4th or 5th CB.

9.  Bottom line:  as bad a performance as it was, I'm sure glad it's just preseason.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

There's really only two take aways from this game...

Minshew needs more air in his helmet and a tighter chin strap. His helmet came off at least 3-4 times.

The depth on this team needs A LOT, A LOT and A LOT more work.

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My thoughts -

Cole is a guy that drives me crazy. I have to keep him on the roster because I know he can play. I also know he will drop some easy balls. He is Alvis Whitted in present day.

McBride could fight his way on this roster.

Minshew is actually pretty good. I would like to see him play with the 1s.

Our 2s on the Oline better get better or get cut. Period. Tonight was just terrible.

Armstead picked up a nice blitz.

Our Second team DBs are aweful.

Last but not least Ramik Wilson doesn’t belong on an NFL field. He was thinking too much or something.

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There's really only two take aways from this game...

Minshew needs more air in his helmet and a tighter chin strap. His helmet came off at least 3-4 times.

The depth on this team needs A LOT, A LOT and A LOT more work.

(Emphasis added)

The only positions I feel comfortable with the depth at this point are RB, D-Line and CB.  If we get some more guys back healthy, you could add LB and maybe OL to the list.

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Worst to 1st.  Curse Reversed!

This being preseason game 1 I expected trash. Well, got it. Some things stood out for me.

- How can you expect to evaluate players with a restricted play book. It was 5 main plays the entire game. Sadly, it looked like nearly every game from 2018.
- O-line coaching is still bad. So tired of poor spacing and no playing to the whistle.
- Defensive depth is not an issue.
- Offensive depth is an issue.
- Conditioning is an issue. Nearly every player was sucking wind bad.
- There should be at least 10 cuts from this game alone. Wingard should stay in Baltimore. Lee can help him pack. Smoot can make a Youtube video of the occasion. The others I don’t even care to remember.

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1. Our backup QB situation is flat out, awful! Minshew showed me nothing. He never got us passed midfield and he just looked like the game was too fast for him. Why was his helmet constantly flying off? That guy is gonna have brain damage before the season starts, if he doesn't find a tighter fitting helmet. He reminded me of watching Cody Kessler. Can we cut Tanner Lee now? This guy has no future as a QB in any league. He has no feel for the pass rush, lacks instincts, and is inaccurate. His first series reminded me of Blake Bortles, on his worst day. McGough was awful as well, against guys who will be bagging groceries in a few weeks. It's time to start drafting a young QB in the 2nd to 4th rounds and quit waiting until the 6th or 7th rounds. We're not going to find Tom Brady. That was a one off. Let's develop a guy with actual talent and a proven record to develop behind Foles. If God forbid, Foles gets injured, we WILL have the #1 pick in the 2020 draft. Pray he stays healthy.

2. The O-Line was pathetic. The interior was decent, (not great), but the Tackles were awful. Richardson needs to be used exclusively at OG. I'm almost ready to bring back Jeremy Parnell. If Taylor can't win the starting RT job, that's gonna be a HUGE problem area, because I fear Ogbuehi would start there and after watching him fail miserably here in Cincinnati, I can honestly say, I'd rather have Flowers back. Ogbuehi is a dumpster fire.

3. We played very conservatively tonight, but there were some concerning drops by the receivers. Mainly from guys who probably won't make the team, but still, it was a little alarming.

4. The run defense gave up some very big plays. Granted, our starters didn't play, but we apparently need more consistent play at backup NT and way more depth at Linebacker.

5. I was hearing good things about Breon Borders, but he looked bad. He missed a couple key tackles and got beat on a couple big plays. I was not impressed. Luckily, he probably would not have made the team anyway. We are pretty deep at CB.

6. Once again, our overall depth is a concern. If we get the injury bug like we did last year, it'll be a very long season. My biggest concerns are QB and OT's on the offensive side and NT and linebackers on the defensive side. If we lose key starters at any of those positions, it'll cost us dearly.

This was not the look I wanted to see from this team to start the season. I know it was the first preseason game of the year, but sheesh! That was ugly. Very few positives to focus on.

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Cole dropped a beautiful timed out route. It hit him in both of his hands. He had separation and the pass was on time and placed perfect.

Cole flat out dropped it. He’s not helping himself. 2017 was a fluke so far.

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All the teams I watched looked pretty good- with the exception of 1. #ColinColusion

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You Gotta Be Able To Run Da' Rock~

Not really worried as it's just preseason and 32 players sat out. Do we remember 2017 preseason? It was atrocious at times to watch those games, even with the starters in, players seemed to run through mud. Then the opener against Houston came and guys were flying and we played one of the cleanest game that year.

That said, it was really really bad to watch.
I'm rooting for Minshew as much as anyone but he was off. Chark had that great move at the LOS leaving the CB behind on the second play of the game and if Minshew doesn't misfire it's an easy TD to start the game.
Obviously playing with that patchwork of 2nd strings of OL against the Ravens 1st was gonna end up badly and we couldn't do anything.
Armstead seems to have some moves but I wonder about his durability, the guy has been out a few times already since he was drafted in April and left the game yesterday with possible concussion.

The entire offense was unwatchable, hard to judge WR's and passing game with no game plan, no protection, no time for the QBs (who were mostly off anyway) to throw.

The defense who started wasn't bad, other than a missed assignment and a "lucky" throw by Jackson they held their own well against most of the Ravens starters.

All in all an horrible game to watch but at least I didnt' have to fear for any starter to possibly get injured. I hope Jawaan Taylor was out mainly because of the team being cautious than because of a more serious injury.
If I heard correctly we might get Cam Robinson news this coming week, likely he will be activated within 7-10 days. (same with M. Lee but I'm more looking forward to improving the OL right now).

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Yes, it was a hard game to watch, in fact I quit after the first half, but, from what I understand, the Ravens were playing their starters.

I always try to stay positive about things. However...

Man, that game was garbage. I can't believe they put stuff like that on TV or that they charge admission for such a thing. If they keep doing stuff like that, eventually some fan will file a class-action lawsuit and charge the NFL with fraud for calling that a "game" and charging admission.

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Meh.

The only takeaway from this game is how poorly this team addressed the backup QB position. If Foles misses time (which is likely since he has never played a full 16 game season), we are in deep doo doo.

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I think it's hard to make an evaluation from a fan perspective when you start out with so many scrubs playing, especially on the offensive line.

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I rember,and the jags were able to score points then. you can't win games if you can't score,and can't  stop the other team from scoreing.  Jags only team in nfl last night to not score points. I know its pre-season,but 3rd string coouldn't even score againest ravans 3rd string.

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snowwolf titans owner in madden.

note titans owner means im undeafted againest them. 

The things that stood out to me:

Minshew, he had a couple good moments but mostly bad moments but it seemed like he was missing guys and just flat out underthew a couple of passes, I guess that's due to the lack of arm strength everyone keeps talking about. Was hoping to see more. Keelan Cole looked great on that TD return, the hold call was a phantom. CJ Reavis and Josh Allen flashed.

The rest: well the Ravens got momentum obviously when their ones where against (mostly) our second line players. Outside of a few select backups, our depth is suspect.

It's pre-season.

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I'm condescending. That means I talk down to you.

We sat 2/3 of the opening roster. Whatever. A FG at least would have been nice though

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My main takeaway was that the jags should have just kept Bortles to be the backup since they had to pay him anyway.

He'd be a decent backup and the cap hit this year wouldn't have happened, possibly helping with signing ngakoue to a new deal.

Instead the front office once again made a bad move based on feelings and compounded it by drafting a QB to be the backup that has an arm so weak he'll never stand a chance.

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Yes, it was a hard game to watch, in fact I quit after the first half, but, from what I understand, the Ravens were playing their starters.  

I always try to stay positive about things.  However...

Man, that game was garbage.  I can't believe they put stuff like that on TV or that they charge admission for such a thing.   If they keep doing stuff like that, eventually some fan will file a class-action lawsuit and charge the NFL with fraud for calling that a "game" and charging admission.

For us, the Philly game next week might be worth what we're paying for it as we'll get to see friends in the tailgate lot and in our seats, get to go to the stadium, have a couple of beers, etc. It's pre-season for the fans. That being said, the pre-season Atlanta game in 3 weeks is such a waste of money and underscores your point.

As an aside, Bullseye mentioned Spergeon Wynn as the QB in the 2000 Browns game. Wynn was the 6th of the six quarterbacks drafted that year before Tom Brady at #199. The Browns had 9 chances to take TB12 in that draft and passed every time. Wynn amounted to nothing in the NFL (TD/INT = 1/7 in 3 career starts...ouch) but went on to a successful career in the oil and gas business in Houston.

On topic: Reavis can play and is a tough kid; Cole likely made the team on the runback, good hands and acceleration there; I liked Stallings late but it was scrubs so I'll defer to the experts here.

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Season Ticket holder since 2004.

 

        

Disappointing night and an awful game. I just wonder how much last night helped in the evaluation, hell I wonder how much the Ravens got from last night.

It was basically a rookie/backups dream, get to play pre season game 4 in game 1 and give themselves a chance to separate from the rest. I didn't feel anyone really stood out or dominated their matchups.

Its week 1 of preseason, this was working out what FA's down the road we do and dont call. I know health is important, but we do have a new OC, QB and O system that need to gel and just saving it until week 1 and hoping it clicks seems a bit risky.

The Ravens have a whole new O system, they played the starters for most of the 1st. I guess its weighing injury risk to getting players experienced in the new system.

I guess it's one of those if you start the season flying, the Ravens were right. Jackson gets injured week 6, we were right.

Roll on Philly.

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I think overall, my disappointment is the fact even with backups and no names, it just didn't pass the eye test. There didn't appear to be any resemblance of a football TEAM. Watch any of the other games and there was organization, flow, discipline, and looked like players were really trying for a roster spot.

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Ouch.

https://twitter.com/johnoehser/status/11...34112?s=21

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Minshew didn't look good, but I'd like to see him behind a better line. Hopefully we'll see that before the pre-season is over.

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