— There are 32 teams in the NFL; on Rams-Chiefs-49ers-Packers, the head coach is really the offensive coordinator, so that leaves 28 OC’s in the league right now. Of those 28 OC’s, 16 of them are in their current job for the first season in 2024.
That makes handicapping early season games a lot harder, with so much turnover in the coaching ranks. 17 of 32 defensive coordinators are also in their first year in this job.
Notes from NFL preseason games:
— Rams 13, Chargers 9
Game-winning TD was caught by rookie WR JJ Laap, who won a national title last year playing Division III football at Cortland State in central New York.
Hall of Fame QB Dan Fouts was the TV analyst for this game; he was not complimentary when analyzing Rams’ backup Stetson Bennett, who has taken every snap every center for the Rams so far this summer.
— Cowboys 27, Raiders 12
Raiders have a QB dilemma, as in, neither guy has played very well this summer.
Kicker on Dallas made a 66-yard field goal at the end of the first half.
— Ravens 13, Falcons 12
Atlanta failed on a 2-point conversion in the last minute.
Not sure why, but rookie QB Michael Penix didn’t play for the Falcons.
— Texans 28, Giants 10
Daniel Jones threw a God-awful pick-6 for the first score of the game.
Giants turned ball over five times on 11 drives, were outgained 369-279.
— Lions 24, Chiefs 23
Detroit kicked a 43-yard FG as time expired for the win.
Carson Wentz is the Chiefs’ backup QB now, his 5th NFL team in nine years.
— Famous birthdays, August 18th:
Robert Redford, 88
Greg Pruitt, 73
Denis Leary, 67
Lafayette Lever, 64
Jim Les, 61
Edward Norton, 55
Christian Slater, 55
Bogdan Bogdanović, 32
Seiya Suzuki, 30
— Vikings 27, Browns 12
Part of the reason starters play less now in preseason games is that they get lot of work in during the week, when the teams practice against each other. I’ve read where coaches say they just get more reps in during those practices, which makes them more beneficial.
Browns QB Deshaun Watson is scheduled to play against Seattle next week.
— Bears 27, Bengals 3
Rookie QB Williams was 6-13 for 75 yards passing.
Backup QB Bagent was 7-8 for 87 yards passing, but the media only talks about Williams.
— Bills 9, Steelers 3
Russell Wilson played five series, during which the Steelers didn’t score.
Buffalo scored total of 15 points in splitting two games this month.
— Colts 21, Cardinals 13
Gus Bradley is the Colts’ defensive coordinator; right now his son Carter is the 4th string QB for the Las Vegas Raiders- he is fighting for a job on an NFL roster.
Colts backup QB Kedon Slovis was 8-11/79 passing; he played for three different colleges- the offensive coordinator for his high school team was Hall of Fame QB Kurt Warner, whose son was a receiver on that team.
— Dolphins 13, Commanders 6
Tua Tagovailoa led Miami to a TD on the only series he played.
Rookie QB Jayden Daniels played two series for Washington- they drove 46-52 yards on the two drives, splitting pair of field goal tries.
— Titans 16, Seahawks 15
Rookie kicker who wasn’t expected to make Tennessee’s roster kicked three FG’s in the 4th quarter, including a 59-yarder. If he doesn’t wind up in Tennessee, he’ll be on somebody’s roster.
Former Commanders QB Sam Howell was 11-14 for 153 yards passing for Seattle.