Preseason Week 1 discussion!

[Servo]

And two of Braxton's three receptions were hardly off the line of scrimmage?

Obviously a super small sample in a meaningless game but hopefully Houston has a bit better playbook than just trying to get the ball in his hands w/o him running a route.

[ninotoreS]

Savage checked down and chose to dink and dunk. Because he's Tom Savage and that was Carolina's first-team defense. Watson, even if it was vs second and third teamers, looked so much better. i.e. Like a QB that actually has the confidence to sling it and attack a secondary.

Anyway, Miller's been running great slant and post routes in practice, reportedly. I doubt we're gonna see a full route-tree from him soon, but there's plenty of good receivers that almost exclusively run slants, posts/corners, and fades. Let Nuk run the more nuanced intermediate-level stuff, let Miller stretch the field or go over the middle. That's pretty much all the Texans had Fuller doing opposite Nuk, too.

[Pet_Smith]

Anyway, I'm mainly poking my head in here to correct that deceptive, lazy blurb on Braxton Miller rotoworld put out. It implied Miller wasn't the starter in 2-wide. Wrong. He was the starter in 2-wide on 8 of 11 snaps, and moved to the slot in 3-wide for the other three snaps as Strong came in for those sets to man the outside. smh @ rotoworld blurbs.

What did Braxton look like? more of a PPR gem, or did he flash any potential for big plays out there?

[StableOfRBs]

Anyway, I'm mainly poking my head in here to correct that deceptive, lazy blurb on Braxton Miller rotoworld put out. It implied Miller wasn't the starter in 2-wide. Wrong. He was the starter in 2-wide on 8 of 11 snaps, and moved to the slot in 3-wide for the other three snaps as Strong came in for those sets to man the outside. smh @ rotoworld blurbs.

What did Braxton look like? more of a PPR gem, or did he flash any potential for big plays out there?

was 3 for 10 and running opposite Hopkins to start the game, two of them were bubble screens near the LoS from Savage that went nowhere against the Panthers first team defense (and honestly Savage was pretty bad most of the time he was out there) then later he was taken inside and didn't return but nobody is sure why, no injury was announced and he walked off without help, in contrast Jaelen Strong had one target and caught it for 18 yards over the middle

apparently Miller has been running some nasty slant and post routes in camp but who knows if we'll get a chance to see them before the season starts, given Savage's play and the limited time spent on the field I don't really think this will do anything to Miller's value, he's still the super athletic player who ran the 5th fastest 3-cone out of any player at the 2016 combine so I think if they open up the playbook and Watson can take over or Savage starts playing better (although not gonna base his whole career off one preseason game) then Miller could do some damage and be a nice short-mid catch YAC guy

[koalabear]

So I'll post my annual one comment about the preseason games. In the 40 years I've been following the NFL, I've never watched them. These games are important for those fringe players trying to make teams but as a fan the games are unwatchable for me. The best part about this time of year is watching the overreaction of owners making moves based on preseason action. It can be quite entertaining.

X2 only time the results mean anything to me are in my 32 teamers because just a sliver of hope that someone *might* be an average backup makes them worth a pickup sometimes (32 teams max 58 theoretical roster size)

Eh, what about Dak Prescott last year? He wasn't rostered in any of my 1 QB leagues until his 3rd preseason game sparked a waiver wire budget battle. Huge win for who picked him up.

[ninotoreS]

What did Braxton look like? more of a PPR gem, or did he flash any potential for big plays out there?

Truthfully, he didn't look like anything at all, because Savage made the passing-game mostly impotent. The only guy that flashed even a little during Houston's first-team possessions was Alfred Blue with a 15 yard run; he came on after Lamar played on only the first 3-and-out.

Braxton tweaked something after his three catches on four targets with Savage, and went to the locker room with trainers before emerging an hour later, apparently fine. It might not have happened regardless in this game, but of course I and everyone else is eager to see Nuk, Braxton, and Strong with Watson at QB. Hopefully we'll get some of that next week. Watson actually had confidence out there throwing at his receivers, Savage still looks like a clipboard holder primarily concerned with not making mistakes.

[Valhalla]

And two of Braxton's three receptions were hardly off the line of scrimmage?

Obviously a super small sample in a meaningless game but hopefully Houston has a bit better playbook than just trying to get the ball in his hands w/o him running a route.

It worked for Tyreek last year...
I worked for Patterson his rookie year...

I don't know the %, but I'd guess a pretty decent % of passes in the NFL today are within 5 yards of the LOS. If that's true, it's hardly shocking that two of the three passes were quite short.

[Dynastychamp111]

Watching this game made me really happy that i just traded Lamar miller. I still think he is the best back there but the Foreman hype scares me. Those dogging Watson, yes he missed a wide open TE down the middle and made some bad plays, but he also made some really good ones. Savage is terrible, game manager at best. I think watson wins the job easily.

As for picking guys up off waivers, there was a time last year when i posted about Dak, i was strongly considering it after his second preseason game. Said to myself, ill see one more then decide. Well i missed the boat on him, he was picked up the next day for $1 FAAB.

Swing away....

[ninotoreS]

Foreman bounced a 3rd-and-1 to the edge for a failed conversion that's utterly inexcusable for a 235lb RB. I hope he gets chewed out in the RB meeting room, because that crap is bush-league. His stat-line looks nice, but owners should be pissed about that carry.

Bouncing things to the edge when he shouldn't is one of his primary flaws on tape, and apparently he's made zero progress correcting that throughout OTAs, minicamp, and TC. Foreman's experience practicing against Houston's D this offseason should have already been more than enough to teach him that he's not fast enough to bounce to the edge as often as he did at Texas. He has all that weight and power; he needs to man up, lower the pads, and use it when it's appropriate. And it's never more effing appropriate than on 3rd-and-1. smh


As for Watson, his accuracy is a significant issue; he wasn't just overthrowing, he was also inaccurate on some short throws (same as at Clemson), which caused his receivers to have to adjust to make the catch and effectively prevented any possibility of run-after-catch.

I liked almost everything else I saw, though. Just like at Clemson, he moves in the pocket well, makes clutch throws with D-linemen and linebackers in his face, and most importantly, he always keeps his eye up looking at his receivers while he's mobile. And as I suspected, the talk about his velocity was much ado about nothing. His zip was just fine, and you can see he wasn't significantly changing his motion for intermediate throws, just like he wasn't at Clemson. That's your real indicator of a guy's arm-strength.

[Servo]

If my eyes served me correctly, it definitely appeared like Foreman got the first down and there was a terrible spot...I'm pretty sure the announcers agreed to boot...granted, yes just get the 1st down in the simplest fashion but I thought he still got it.

I wouldn't be too critical as Houston gave it to him on a 4th & 1 or 2 and he picked it up, up the middle...on their own 30/40 yard line.

[GridironGuerilla]

I completely understand that the pre-season must be taken with a grain of salt and is the perfect breeding ground for overreaction, but I still like to watch because A) It's football, and B) I get to watch rookies I'm interested in play for the first time in the NFL. I know it's not a real scouting opportunity. Rarely does the preseason affect my rookie rankings or cause me to make serious roster changes but picking up guys who flash and stashing them on the end of you bench for the 1 in 1000 chance you get a Prescott, well, that's just fun and part of what I love about Dynasty.

[ninotoreS]

If my eyes served me correctly, it definitely appeared like Foreman got the first down and there was a terrible spot...I'm pretty sure the announcers agreed to boot...granted, yes just get the 1st down in the simplest fashion but I thought he still got it

Even if he was close, if he gets it by inches bouncing outside against third-teamers, against first-teamers he'll be stopped for a loss.

As for the 4th down conversion, I mean, I'm glad he lowered his pads and got north-south then like he was supposed to, but that's like praising a guy for remembering to wipe. He should do that every time in those situations, not just sometimes. If a 235lb RB isn't confident pushing for a yard or two at the LoS, then he probably isn't long for the NFL. The only time someone as big as him should be failing to convert those situations is if his O-line allows him to get hit before he even reaches the LoS.

I completely understand that the pre-season must be taken with a grain of salt and is the perfect breeding ground for overreaction, but I still like to watch because A) It's football, and B) I get to watch rookies I'm interested in play for the first time in the NFL. I know it's not a real scouting opportunity. Rarely does the preseason affect my rookie rankings or cause me to make serious roster changes but picking up guys who flash and stashing them on the end of you bench for the 1 in 1000 chance you get a Prescott, well, that's just fun and part of what I love about Dynasty.

Some seem to be forgetting that depth-chart battles are important, especially here in dynasty format, and those are a fixture of preseason action.

Preseason is for watching player development and getting intel on where the coaches' minds are at as they evaluate their roster depth heading into the season. That's not nothing.

[GridironGuerilla]

Some seem to be forgetting that depth-chart battles are important, especially here in dynasty format, and those are a fixture of preseason action.

Preseason is for watching player development and getting intel on where the coaches' minds are at as they evaluate their roster depth heading into the season. That's not nothing.

Well said.

[Dynasty DeLorean]

Perine fumbled, lol.

[Dynos]

didnt see fournette but was he good?