The NFL preseason is almost over, but we still have a weekend full of football to digest. We have four games on Friday night, highlighted by new Raiders coach Josh McDaniels taking on his former mentor Bill Belichick and the Patriots and Baker Mayfield getting some plays against the Bills in preparation for Week 1.
Things kicked off Thursday night as the Kansas City Chiefs picked up a home win over the Green Bay Packers, and the Houston Texans knocked off the San Francisco 49ers.
Each of the NFL’s 32 teams will treat this week differently. Some will play their starters a bit, some will play their starters more and some won’t. This week is actually more about the reserves as the league’s coaching staff figures out who will make their 53-man roster.
Below, we’ll break down the highlights from the 16 preseason games. Keep this post bookmarked as it will be your one stop shop for everything you need to see.
Schedule
Thursday
Chiefs 17, Packers 10 (Recap)Texans 17, 49ers 0 (Recap)
Friday
Panthers 21, Bills 0 (Recap) Cowboys 27, Seahawks 26 (Recap) Saints 27, Chargers 10 (Recap) Raiders 23, Patriots 6 (Takeaways)
Saturday
Jaguars at Falcons, 3:00 PM ET, NFLNRams at Bengals, 6:00 PM ET, NFLNCardinals at Titans, 7:00 PM ETBears at Browns, 7:00 PM ETEagles at Dolphins, 7:00 PM ETCommanders at Ravens, 7:00 PM ETBuccaneers at Colts, 7:30 pm ET Broncos, 9 pm ET, NFLN
sunday
Giants at Jets, 1 p.m. ET, NFLNLions at Steelers, 4:30 p.m. ET, CBS
Ben DiNucci throws the winning TD for the Cowboys
The Cowboys were able to overcome their preseason finale over the Seahawks thanks to Ben DiNucci throwing the game-winning touchdown pass to Peyton Hendershot. The 14-yard pass gave the Cowboys a 27-26 lead with 4:07 left as Dallas overcame 10 penalties to secure the victory.
DiNucci is a longshot to make the Cowboys, but he may end up somewhere in the NFL next week.
Brandon Smith has a TD catch for the Cowboys
Brandon Smith is a longshot to make the Cowboys’ 53-man roster, but he’s making an impression on the coaching staff with this outstanding touchdown catch. That 8-yard catch in the back of the end zone by Will Grier tied the game with the Seahawks in the third quarter.
Smith leads Dallas with three catches, making the most of his last chance.
Sam Darnold rushes for TD, leaves with ankle injury
Sam Darnold, now Carolina’s No. 2 quarterback, had his fair share of rushing scores for the Panthers last season. His 1-yard score put Carolina up 21-0 over Buffalo with 7:06 left in the third quarter.
Darnold had five rushing touchdowns last season for the Panthers, or as many as he had in his first three seasons in the league combined with the Jets.
It wasn’t all good news for Darnold, who left the field after suffering an ankle injury and will not return.
Drew Lock connects with a nice TD pass
Drew Lock’s experience is in full effect. After throwing an interception on his first play of the game, Lock earned another chance to show off his arm strength. Fighting for the starting quarterback job in Seattle, Lock hit Penny Hart with a 35-yard touchdown pass. Pitches don’t get much better than this in Week 3 of the preseason.
Lock has a chance to take the job from Geno Smith, who started this game for Seattle. Head coach Pete Carroll says he will name a starter after the third preseason game.
Mark Ingram gets the second TD in the first quarter
Mark Ingram is the NFL’s active leading rusher and is still playing a prominent role with the Saints, adding two touchdowns in the first quarter as New Orleans jumped out to a 14-0 lead over the Los Angeles Chargers, who play the majority of your backups.
That touchdown run was from 2 yards.
Baker Mayfield finds Shi Smith for the score
Mayfield won the starting quarterback job in Carolina and is putting the exclamation point on this training camp with a 19-yard strike to Shi Smith for the touchdown. Smith has been mentioned as Mayfield’s favorite target by some of the local Carolina writers, emerging as a contender not only for a roster spot, but for regular season games as well.
Mayfield has two touchdown passes in the first quarter. This may be for him.
To the surprise of some, the Texans’ starting quarterback took the field for the start of the second half. After a pedestrian first two quarters in which he threw an interception, Mills led a six-play, 77-yard drive that ended with a touchdown — a 16-yard strike to Chris Moore.
This is a nice bullet pass into the middle of the field. Houston has high hopes for its second-year signal caller.
It’s the Bushman’s world, we just live there
Matt Bushman is having a big night and posted 73 receiving yards on his first three catches. He scored his second touchdown of the game early in the third quarter on a play that looked like a touchdown waiting to happen.
Essential interception
What at first looked like a great touchdown catch by the Texans turned into an interception by the 49ers in the blink of an eye. Credit to both defensive backs on this play for fighting for the ball. Samuel Womack III let him go, and then Tarvarius Moore somehow got him out.
Whose was that man?!
Chiefs tight end Matt Bushman ran a simple corner route and it resulted in a 54-yard touchdown. The safety wasn’t looking his way, and the cornerback thought he was handing off the tight end to his teammate. This play will look ugly when the Chiefs review the film.
The Packers got off to a slow start Thursday night, going three-and-out on their first two possessions. Things started to click on their third drive, however, as Green Bay drove 83 yards down the field in 11 plays to score the game’s first touchdown.
It was Iowa’s undrafted rookie who got into the Packers’ end zone. Check out this EXPLOSIVE performance by Tyler Goodson, topped off with a spinning move.
Texans’ Dameon Pierce continues hot start
Houston’s rookie running back has been one of the stars of the preseason. After an impressive Week 1 outing, Pierce did not play last weekend. Texans head coach Lovie Smith said he kept Pierce because he was seen a lot in the first preseason game, according to Pro Football Network, which may mean he’s RB1.
Pierce played Thursday night, however, in the Texans’ first drive, rushing six times for 37 yards as Houston drove 85 yards down the field in 11 plays and scored a touchdown. Who scored for the Texans? I’ll give you a guess.
“Choir huddle” honors Len Dawson
Earlier this week, legendary Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson passed away at the age of 87. The former No. 5 pick was a Super Bowl champion, Super Bowl MVP, NFL Man of the Year and a Chiefs legend. To open Thursday night’s preseason game for the Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes took the field and lined up his offense in the famous “choir huddle” to honor Dawson.
After the delay of game penalty, which was denied by the Packers, Mahomes trotted off the field.