Monday Morning Ball Spot

I'm not going to engage in trying to draw fairly limited conclusions from pre-season games... mostly because I am really tired of watching them. Chad Pennington was snapped up by the Dolphins though. And that is something interesting. For an excellent take on it, I direct you here. I'm really hoping I can pick up the Jets-Dolphins game in Week 1 though. 

So, let's recap this week's games. See if there's anything going on. 

Detroit 13, Giants 10

I wouldn't call the Detroit defense a very good one, but Carr looked pretty decent with 104 yard and a TD. Manning, on the other hand, appeared mostly out of practice. Not a good early sign from Jim Colletto's offense though, as QB Drew Stanton was the leading rusher. Going to need better effort than that if Marinelli wants to build a tough team. 

Jets 24, Browns 20

The Jets' WR situation is something to watch. With Coles, Cotchery, Wright, Stuckey, Clowney, Ball, Raymond, and Smith all competing for positions, I think they might find a pretty decent group once they finish making cuts. Browns gave up a lot of pass yardage though. It isn't necessarily an indictment of their current starters, but it does reflect a real lack of depth behind them should anyone in their secondary get injured. As good news,  the re-vamped D-line didn't give up a lot of running room. 

Ravens 16, Patriots 15

Raiders 18, 49ers 6

Raiders showed what was expected: great running game, terrible passing game. I think QB Walter has some value though, but he's wasted as a backup. He could be good trade bait. Difficult to judge defense because of how bad the 49ers are on offense. It mystifies me why the 49ers would put J.T. O'Sullivan up against the Raiders' starting defense in his first ever (pre-season included) NFL start. Either way, the fact that they're looking at him shows Smith and Hill are bombing pretty hard.