Ameer Abdullah 2015 NFL Preseason Week 1 highlights
Jameis Winston will make his debut for the Buccaneers on Saturday. Here"s all you need to know to catch the three games.
The first week of the 2015 NFL preseason is nearly in the books, with six games on Thursday and six games on Friday. But there"s still plenty of action before it"s said and done, including three games on Saturday and a game between the Indianapolis Colts and Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.
On Saturday, the San Francisco 49ers will face the Houston Texans, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will play the Minnesota Vikings and the Kansas City Chiefs will take on the Arizona Cardinals. There"s plenty to pay attention to from each game, from the debut of Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston to determining what the heck the 49ers will actually look like after such a ridiculously poor offseason.
Winston will be the most interesting thing at this stage. He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, and the Buccaneers are putting all of their eggs in his basket right off the bat. This is Winston"s team, and seeing how he looks for however long he plays will be plenty interesting.
Below, we"ve got the full schedule and something to watch for during each game (all times ET,stations via 506sports):
San Francisco 49ers at Houston Texans(Away: KPIX-CBS 5, Home: KTRK-ABC 13) -- 8 p.m.
As noted above, the 49ers had an absolutely wretched offseason. There"s a new coaching staff; they lost Patrick Willis, Anthony Davis, Justin Smith and Chris Borland to retirement (only one of them -- Smith -- was expected to retire anytime soon). They saw Frank Gore, Michael Crabtree, Perrish c*x and Chris Culliver leave in free agency.Aldon Smith got arrested again, prompting his release from the team.
Obviously, they have a ton of stuff to prove at this stage in the offseason. New coach Jim Tomsula needs to fill holes all over the roster, including the middle and right side of the offensive line. If Colin Kaepernick is to progress and take advantage of new weapon Torrey Smith this season, they really need to get that offensive line figured out.
But hey, that"s not all that"s worth watching in this one. The Texans also have a pretty important battle on their hands at the quarterback position. Brian Hoyer and Ryan Mallett are battling for the starting job and neither seems to have an edge at this stage. It sounds like they"ll need more than just this one game to figure out that battle.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Minnesota Vikings(Away: WFLA-NBC 8, Home: KMSP-FOX 9) -- NFL Network, 8 p.m.
We"ll see how the Vikings look a day after head coach Mike Zimmer called an early end to practice due to everything seemingly going wrong. The Vikings are a young team with a lot to prove, and Zimmer will be expecting the best out of them. They did play in the Hall of Fame Game, and looked solid in a win over the Steelers, but apparently Zimmer needs to see more from the team in practice.
Whatever the case, the Vikings will be hoping to spoil the first game action of the aforementioned Winston. The Buccaneers made Winston the top pick and didn"t even set him up with a quarterback battle in training camp. Winston was immediately named the starter, and he"ll have a chance to show his stuff against the Vikings on Saturday.
On the other side of the ball, the Buccaneers need to find some kind of pass rush (and, similarly, the Vikings need to show they can handle one to keep Teddy Bridgewater clean). Don"t expect the Buccaneers to reveal any of their elaborate blitz schemes in the preseason, but they should send extra men early and often in this game.
Kansas City Chiefs at Arizona Cardinals(Away: KCTV-CBS 5, Home: KNXV-ABC 15) -- 9 p.m.
The Cardinals have been one of the more surprising teams in the league over the past couple seasons. They"ve been dominant in one of the toughest divisions in the league, and that"s even with huge issues at the quarterback position. Carson Palmer is solid, but he"s somewhat injury-prone and the Cardinals need to concentrate on keeping him upright.
On Saturday, Palmer is expected to play at least a series, and the offensive line will need to pull out all the stops to make sure Palmer stays on his feet in the limited time he"s in action.
For the Chiefs, the biggest thing to pay attention to is that Eric Berry will be in action on Friday. Berry missed the end of the 2014 season due to cancer, but he recently returned to the team. Head coach Andy Reid has already announced that Berry will be playing. It"s a great story about a great player, so it"s definitely worth checking out. Other than that, the Chiefs are primarily looking to get out of this one without injury, as they don"t have a bunch of major position battles to figure out at this stage.
Source: http://www.sbnation.com/nfl/2015/8/15/9151217/2015-nfl-preseason-schedule-week-1-saturday-jameis-winston
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