Pre-Season Week 2 Recap: AFC

Added on Aug 23, 2010 by Eric Galko in

NFL

Clemson defeated Kentucky 21-13 in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl.

In another Pre-Season week that showed us how some past studs and promising rookies looked, we’ll take the time to recap it.

Some impressive teams and players showed up this week and maybe proved that they can’t be counted out quite yet when it comes to having a good season. Plus, a player comes back from a serious injury and another player maybe won’t come back to his team.

CJ Spiller Showcasing Top 10 Talent
Coming into the pre-season, many fans, thanks to fantasy football, were more excited about Ryan Matthews from San Diego or Jahvid Best from Detroit because of the fact that they have a solid team around them and should produce solid stats in their rookie year, than Spiller, who has a terrible offense and maybe a worse offensive line.

However, despite that poor offensive line, CJ Spiller still wowed in his first chance to against the Colts this past weekend. He finished with 54 yards and a touchdown, but like the ending score, stats don’t matter that much in pre-season. He showed explosiveness and shiftiness that people expected to see. He has the talent, but we’ll have to see if he’s more Chris Johnson or more Reggie Bush.

Tom Brady Hates the Jets
Not a major, impactful story, but still an intriguing one and one that could help the Patriots more than people think. When asked if he had watched “Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets”, Brady said no, and that he “hates the Jets”.

Despite the reasons on why he “hates the Jets”, this proves the theory that I have been claiming for a while: The Patriots are legitimate Super Bowl contenders. Brady saw the other top two quarterbacks in the NFL, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, in the Super Bowl. Brady sees the Jets and sometimes the Dolphins predicted to finish higher than them. Brady sees his paycheck, which is slightly more than David Garrard this season. He’s hungry for a few wins and I wouldn’t be against him playing 19-20 games this season.

Raiders Defense Looking Very Solid
Another Raiders story two weeks in a row, but the more I watch them play, the more I’m starting to highly doubt that Al Davis is still in control of the player personnel. The Raiders have loads of talent on defense, and their offense isn’t too shabby either.

Kamerion Wimbley, Matt Shaughnessy, Richard Seymour, Rolando McClain, and Ndamni Asomungha former quite a unit on defense across the board, and with depth at most positions, they could definitely surprise in the weak AFC West in 2010.

Dennis Dixon Still Clamoring to Get a Shot to Start
With Big Ben getting some pre-season snaps and Byron Leftwich already handed the starting job in Pittsburgh, I can’t be too surprised nor in disagreement with Dennis Dixon saying “what the f***” to the staff of the Steelers.

Dixon played well in pre-season games over his career, and played well enough last year when Big Ben was hurt. Reports are (maybe were, now) that Mike Tomlin likes Dixon alot and that Dixon was one of the reasons the Steelers at least toyed with trading Roethlisberger.

Wes Welker Back from Knee Surgery and Back to Normal
Last year, Wes Welker suffered a devastating knee injury, one that takes 8-12 months to recover from at best and sometimes is career threatening. Reports were that Welker may never be back to his originial form, maybe not NFL worthy.

However, Welker showed in last week’s pre-season game that he can still catch, still cut, still run, and still pick teams apart for a long drive. If Welker’s back to normal and Randy Moss and Brady are as hungry as I think they are, it could be a 2008 type season for the Patriots.

Vincent Jackson 2010 Season Still in Doubt
The Chargers seem unwilling entirely to work a deal out for Jackson to get back on the field in San Diego and be a weapon for Phillip Rivers. Without him, this receiving corp goes from being deep and versatile to lacking an identity very quickly.

Jackson and the Chargers agreed to let the Seahawks talk contract with Vincent Jackson and talk trade with the Chargers, but they have been the only team allowed to do so. It’s an interesting story to follow, and one that likely will end with Jackson no longer playing in the powder blue Charger uniforms again.