The “It’s Just the Preseason” Concern and Excuse for Each NFL Team

Week 1 of the NFL season is the week that we say, “Well, no one knows anything about Week 1.”

HOWEVER, Week 2 of the NFL season is when we actually have more game film. If things aren’t going well for another consecutive game, doubt starts to seep in. It’s early, but you start to fear that the snowball effect of early problems will become an Achilles’ heel in the marathon of a season.

You cope with this now: “It’s still the preseason.”

I guess because we’ve minimized the preseason’s importance recently, we’ve used this excuse for the entire month of September to turn the season around.

If you ask a fan of every single NFL team, what is their “It’s still the preseason” concern and excuse that they bring up?

ARIZONA CARDINALS // The Marvin Harrison Jr. situation

“Maserati Marv,” who was heralded as the generational Ohio State wide receiver following in the footsteps of his father, has seesawed between bust, to “oh, he’s with Jacoby Brissett instead of Kyler now, maybe he’s turned it around!” to “Did you hear he put on a ton of muscle this offseason?” to back to a slow start again with 1 reception through 2 games on 4 targets.

The Cardinals are trying to be as well-positioned as possible to have a quarterback come in next year, and taking Jerimiyah Love, plus Trey McBride and Harrison (for his age and what he was made out to be coming out of college), is a major part of that. It’s still the preseason! He won’t have to face Derwin James and the Seahawks defense every week!

ATLANTA FALCONS // The Quarterback Conundrum

Michael Penix Jr. has been out, and he’s SURELY going to come back healthy and last the remainder of the season! It’s difficult for us to have any plays in the Red Zone with Cooper Rush and Jack Strand at quarterback! Bijan, Drake London, and Kyle Pitts all make up a great engine for a car, but the driver has been MIA.

Luckily, for the Falcons, you’re allowed to take a 0-2 mulligan in the NFC South if you’re competing with Todd Bowles and an 0-2 Tampa, a 1-1 Carolina team unsure if Bryce Young is the guy just yet, and a 1-1 Saints team that has had to try to pull off miracles each week.

BALTIMORE RAVENS // Wide Receiver Depth

Baltimore cooked the Colts and looked completely rejuvenated, with Zay Flowers fresh off a contract being the best wide receiver in the league with just one half of play before both he AND Ja’Kobi Lane went down with injuries. It changed the pace of the second half in their blown fourth-quarter lead when they tried forcing passes, and Derrick Henry only got 5 second-half carries. It’s a… John Harbaugh-esque, inexcusable loss in a game they should have won, but Lamar had the receiving threats we saw in game one. Lane and Flowers will return.

BUFFALO BILLS // The Hope

They’re humming along nicely in Buffalo, aren’t they? Beating the Texans on the road and then slicing up the Lions’ defense in primetime for the Highmark Stadium opener is making the “the Bills are finally falling off” presumptions this offseason with a coaching change look overblown. Bills fans have seen this before, though, and they want no part of this same old September hope if the wins don’t translate in January and February.

The Super Bowl window is always open with Josh Allen, and the regular season feels almost null and void until he finally gets to the mountaintop. It’s a rare circumstance where the regular season IS the preseason.

CAROLINA PANTHERS // The Bryce “Proved-it” Moment

The Panthers’ defense looked like a major issue in Week 1 against Chicago, and that likely would have been the big question going forward if they hadn’t annihilated Atlanta with 5 turnovers forced and a touchdown while allowing only 3 points. On the other side of the ball, Carolina has been buzzing! Bryce has effectively gotten the ball to Jalen Coker, Tet McMillan, and Darren Waller to be the best offense in the NFC.

It HAS been against the Bears and Falcons defenses, though. Whether or not they want to stick with Bryce remains to be seen until the preseason is over and they play a real opponent.

CHICAGO BEARS // The Defense in Non-Bear Weather

Obviously, Caleb Williams going down with a hamstring will make the remainder of the Bears’ outcomes preseason until he’s back and recovered. The main question is whether the Bears can field a competent enough defense to keep the Ben Johnson historic offense from having to do too much.

Giving up 9 points to the Vikings was a start, but it doesn’t count if you’re playing in a Bear Weather monsoon, and the one game that they DID play in standard conditions, the Panthers put up 37 points. It’s going to be even more difficult for them to score now with Caleb out, so this better just be the preseason for the Bears’ D.

CINCINNATI BENGALS // Joe Burrow’s Mobility

Joe Burrow has looked decreasingly mobile throughout, suffering brutal injuries behind that offensive line, but now, with a defense that is carrying the Bengals to 2-0, and Chase and Tee Higgins both on the field and producing, the mobility will come throughout the season as it always has for Joe Cool.

CLEVELAND BROWNS // The Deshaun Watson Era

The Browns are 1-1 somehow. Does that mean that Deshaun Watson is here to stay because he won them a game that was delayed for several hours due to a tsunami in Florida? Probably not! The Watson era is the preseason!

When Cleveland fans boo him, and one of the other four quarterbacks comes in to relieve him, he will be essentially knighted with cheers! And with their draft capital, the next era will begin in 2027 with Denzel Boston and KC Concepcion looking like viable options!

DALLAS COWBOYS // Tackling

Giving up the worst EPA per play in the first week wasn’t a glowing start for Christian Parker’s defense, and they continued to miss tackles in the second game against Washington, but they’re generating pressure!

Daniels and Mariota looked significantly uncomfortable, and eventually those pressures will turn into sacks and tackles!

DENVER BRONCOS // Second Half Bo Nix

In a comeback win over Jacksonville, Bo Nix returned to doing what Bo Nix has done best throughout his career since college: looking like possibly one of the worst quarterbacks you’ve ever seen in the first half before turning it on and leading three consecutive scoring drives to win the game. He’s still recovering from looking completely immobile, so the first game against Kansas City, where he had no power from his lower half, is just a testament that his recovery still makes Denver’s final form a process.

Also, if you look at the play calls from Davis Webb in that second half leading the comeback, there’s a lot of creativity to build on that will make Nix’s life easier, which is exactly the process that revived his career going from Auburn to Oregon.

DETROIT LIONS // The Secondary

While they locked down Tyler Shough in the first half in Week 1, they almost let him lead the largest comeback in Saints history in the second half. They followed that up by giving busted coverages to wide-open Bills receivers all night at the Highmark debut, where Josh Allen threw for four touchdowns in the first half.

They’ll tell you it’s preseason, they’re going to get Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph back, and the secondary was always going to be the weakness.

GREEN BAY PACKERS // The Pass Rush

There’s a guy named Micah Parsons who hopes to be back by Week 8. The story of the NFC North right now is that Minnesota’s defense appears to be the single best unit to provide balance in the division. When Micah comes back and takes the Pack’s other side of the ball to another level, they’ll have time to get right and won’t rely so much on Jordan Love to hit home-run balls to Christian Watson to win games.

HOUSTON TEXANS // The Balanced Offense

Soon enough, CJ Stroud will have a healthy receiving group to pass to, and they’ll figure out how to use newly-acquired David Montgomery to generate more than 60 yards collectively as a team against Cincy on the ground.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS // Communication on the defense

Just one week in, after how poorly the Colts looked against Baltimore, the green-dot communication went from the safety to the linebacker, and they stayed significantly more competitive against the Chiefs instead of looking befuddled against Baltimore. Sauce Gardner and Charvarius Ward have the potential to be the best cornerback duo in the nation if they can get this side of the ball sound and their ducks in a row. It’s just preseason!

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS // Travis Hunter’s Utilization

Hunter and his mother have even made it known: why have Ohtani if you’re not going to use him?? That’s incredibly overstated and shortsighted, but with Lawrence’s reliance on Parker Washington, they’ve got to find a way to actually want to consistently use a figure who one can only describe as an “athlete” rather than a position player if he’s going to be used on offense, or make him focus on defense full-time. After a full season of trial and error and a lackluster first two games, the call looks like it’s coming soon.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS // The #2 Option

We all heard Cris Collinsworth on Sunday Night Football salivating over the rejuvenated connection of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, who has turned back the clock after tying the knot and looks spry! 9 catches for over 100 yards for a podcaster!

Pat can rely on him, and now the ground game in Kenneth Walker, as security blankets following his injuries, but we still haven’t seen the platter of Rashee Rice, Tyquan Thornton, or Xavier Worthy emerge as the certified #2 that Reid got so creative with working with Tyreek Hill. One of these roadrunners will be implemented into the offense more consistently.

LAS VEGAS RAIDERS // Brock Bowers in a Cryochamber

The Raiders are leading the AFC West with Kirk Cousins, their franchise quarterback on the bench learning, and Brock Bowers hasn’t even played a snap yet? It’s just preseason for what this Kubiak offense can accomplish once the big man comes back, baby!

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS // Chargering

It’s about as bad as it could get for the Chargers after we ate the preseason slop like pigs in a trough once again. But Justin Herbert is a committed man, now! But Mike McDaniel is an offensive guru! It’s been all bad. 30th in turnover margin, 3rd-worst in points per game, but #1 in plays that just look dumb.

If you’re a Chargers fan, you’re trying to convince yourself that going from Greg Roman to Mike McDaniel is like going from taking elementary addition to taking calculus on offense. But Justin Herbert was an academic All-American at Oregon, and we were told he was a nerd, right?

LOS ANGELES RAMS // The Superstars Healthy and Present

The Rams are 1-1, have played games on another continent, and have had Puka Nacua, Aaron Donald, and Myles Garrett miss games in the process.

The Dream Team Super Bowl favorite is living in the preseason until January.

MIAMI DOLPHINS // Full Fish Tank Mode

The Dolphins are 0-2, and Malik Willis is somehow still trying. Fish fans want full fish tank mode if you look at this incoming quarterback class and to just keep Achane healthy for next year.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS // The Passing Attack

The 2-0 Vikings have done so without Kyler Murray! Carson Wentz has been propped up by a Brian Flores defensive unit, likely the best-performing side of the ball in all of football thus far. What we saw from Kyler before his concussion was… not great. But if there is any deep-ball threat to Justin Jefferson with this defense, and now Aaron Jones looking spry, they’re the most balanced in the NFC North.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS // Drake Maye Looking Like Last Year’s Drake Maye

Last year. You could have asked anyone in the league who they want to start a franchise with long-term, and the answer was Drake Maye. He got shut down by a Seattle defense in game one, and while he only put up 20 points against the Steelers in week 2, they’re still missing AJ Brown, and the primary target, Romeo Doubs, has not made it easy.

With increased mobility after possibly still recovering from his end-of-season injury and an offensive line getting it together, Mike Vrabel teams need to marinate.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS // The Start of the Game

Tyler Shough in the first half of games: 5 yards per attempt, 59.5% completion, 61.4 passer rating

Tyler Shough in the second half of games: 8.6 yards per attempt, 74.5% completion rate, 112.2 passer rating

Imagine when the offense gets it all together to play a full game of football!

NEW YORK GIANTS // The Big Blue (Tent) Nation

The Giants are living in the blue injury tent, with Jaxson Dart spraining an MCL and possibly needing season-ending surgery, Malik Nabers having to pop his shoulder back in, and who knows what will happen with Cam Skattebo by the end of the year if he keeps moonlighting as a WWE wrestler.

Jim Harbaugh will have to hammer home the cautionary tale of Lamar Jackson needing protection, as he did in Baltimore while building his system.

NEW YORK JETS // Finishing the Game

If Aaron Glenn knows how to manage a clock at the end of a game, maybe even hires a single Madden-playing consultant, your New York Jets are 2-0!

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES // Identity

There’s been a considerable lack of Philly chippiness thus far now that AJ Brown is gone, Jalen Hurts hasn’t been able to tush-push with Landon Dickerson on IR, and Saquon being removed from game 2 with a stinger.

All things considered, Philly is still 2-0! Jalen Hurts actually showed a glimpse of personality for once, telling the Titans they finished the job! The Eagles are at their best when they have some form of identity or a glimpse of being doubted. The doubt takes time in the City of Brotherly Love.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS // The Conspiracy Theory Boys’ Connection

DK Metcalf tried to sound like he had a connection with Aaron Rodgers by hopping aboard the conspiracy-theory train and talking about Antarctica being suspicious. The two still haven’t been able to put anything together. Rodgers feels like a type of person where it’s hard to fake a bond with. Maybe they need a bye week together in Antarctica, and the relationship will blossom with time?

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS // The Run Defense

If the 49ers‘ only problem so far has been limiting the run compared to every other unit, it won’t matter since other teams will have to throw behind Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, and a rejuvenated offensive line.

Just stay healthy, Niners.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS // The Thunder in the Offense

With Darnold on the shelf, the Seahawks have done the responsible thing on offense with Drew Lock: get it to your best player, Jaxson Smith-Njigba, as much as possible. On their red zone drives, they haven’t had a finishing move with Zach Charbonnet still out and Jadarian Price being a different kind of back, making Emmanuel Wilson the focal point of those carries.

The thunder will come to match the lightning, and the Dark Side Defense will keep them in every game.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS // The Baker Moxy

The Bucs are 0-2? Baker, king of the chip on his shoulder, has us right where he wants us.

TENNESSEE TITANS // Cam Ward with Another Coach

Cam Ward is still a #1 pick, guys! He has another coach this year and is still figuring it out! The first year was a mulligan on a bad team, and it’s definitely not his fault at all as he learns a new playbook, right?

WASHINGTON COMMANDERS // The Discipline on Defense

Obviously, being without Jayden Daniels with another elbow injury feels like a lost season on offense.

One thing the Commanders did try to do on defense was… add younger players. Sonny Styles and the defense will learn discipline with time and maturity, and the freak athlete already marked the loss as “unacceptable.”