It’s that time of the year again. After a very long (maybe too long?) off-season, the NFL’s engines are ready to roar again.
The pre-season is about to end, then the franchises will have a week or so to decide their roster (a third of the pre-season players will be cut, bringing the active contributors from 90 to 53, the number of athletes the league allows) and then the kickoff weekend will put things in motion.
While we write this, the teams are holding their final joint practices, getting ready for pre-season week 3. To find the results and best odds for pre-season games, visit https://www.oddschecker.com/us/football/nfl/playoffs, a very well-known comparator website which lists all the games and their statistics, in order to let everyone bet after having read and evaluated all the variables.
What happened in week 2?
Let’s see how some of the franchises are faring during this pre-season. We kept our focus on the teams that have important position battles to sort out, because there isn’t really a point in watching the sides that already have a clear idea on who their starters are.
These teams are simply playing for reps, while the others need to figure out who they are and what to do with the talents at their disposal. The NFL pre-season, actually, is pretty much built to answer these questions.
Obviously, another topic to keep an eye on, during this period, is the impact of the rookies. These players make their league debut during pre-season and they start to adapt to the speed of the game and the complexity of the schemes, at this level.
On our NFL section you can read everything about the pre-season, plus some predictions on the next season and other curiosities about teams and players.
Buffalo Bills at Chicago Bears
This preseason game won’t exactly be remembered as a balanced one. The Bears dominated and won 38-0 against a Buffalo team that has not a lot of reasons to play for. The Bills have their starters already sorted out while the Bears are looking for confirmation under the new head coach, Ben Johnson.
The staff were looking for positive signs from their young QB, Caleb Williams, and they found plenty. He was poised and precise, finding his receivers and playing with determination. The franchise has probably seen enough from him and he will probably rest in week 3.
Cincinnati Bengals at Washington Commanders
The Commanders lost again, in their second preseason game. The issues are mounting for them: too many injuries and some contract problems with a star WR like Terry McLaurin aren’t helping their cause and need to be fixed before the season begins.
The Bengals won and that is a nice thing, of course, but their offensive line seems weak and QB Joe Burrow had to run for his life on a couple of occasions. This shouldn’t happen during the pre-season.
Green Bay Packers at Indianapolis Colts
In a pretty tiring game, the Pack won 23-19. Nobody cared about that, especially in Indy. For the Colts, this match worked as a confirmation: this is a Daniel Jones-led team. Anthony Richardson, the athletic QB who should have been the leader of the project after Andrew Luck’s retirement will be his backup and could maybe be traded away.
Miami Dolphins at Detroit Lions
In a game barely won by Miami and played by a lot of reserves, the Lions enjoyed watching their rookie WR, Isaac TeSlaa, while the Fins caught some positive signs from Quinn Ewers and Ollie Gordon, two rookies fighting to get in the team that could bring some energy to their offense.
