The second week of the preseason is almost always more exciting than the first one, and that’s because we actually get to see some starters on the field. On Thursday night alone, we saw Kyler Murray, Andy Dalton and Matt Ryan all take some snaps.
During Friday’s slate of games, all eyes are going to be on Giants rookie quarterback Daniel Jones, who will be trying to follow up his perfect performance against the Jets last week when he goes up against the Bears (Spoiler alert: He wasn’t perfect this week).
For a look at all the best plays and top highlights from the three games that were played on Friday night, be sure to keep reading below.
If you’re favorite team didn’t play on Friday, you can check out the entire schedule for Week 2 of the preseason below, a schedule that still includes seven nationally televised games (NFL Network, ESPN, CBS and FOX). If you’re favorite team isn’t on national television, remember to check your local listings because games that aren’t being televised nationally are generally still televised in each team’s local market. If you’re interested in watching every preseason game, they’re available for streaming on fuboTV (try for free) or NFL Game Pass (out of market).
Here is the complete schedule for Week 2 of the preseason.
Scores and schedule
Thursday
Eagles 24, Jaguars 10 (box score)
Jets 22, Falcons 10 (box score)
Ravens 26, Packers 13 (box score)
Bengals 23, Redskins 13 (box score)
Raiders 33, Cardinals 26 (box score)
Friday
Bills 27, Panthers 14 (box score)
Giants 32, Bears 13 (box score)
Buccaneers 16, Dolphins 14 (box score)
Saturday
Browns at Colts, 4 p.m., NFL Network
Patriots at Titans, 7 p.m.
Chiefs at Steelers, 7:30 p.m., NFL Network
Lions at Texans, 8 p.m.
Cowboys vs. Rams (in Hawaii) 10 p.m., NFL Network
Sunday
Saints at Chargers, 4 p.m., CBS
Seahawks at Vikings, 8 p.m., FOX
Monday
49ers at Broncos, 8 p.m., ESPN
Daniel Jones looks sharp, but makes two ugly mistakes
Although there’s no quarterback controversy in New York right now, Daniel Jones is definitely doing his best to try and start one. The rookie quarterback had an impressive game against the Bears on Friday, and that happened even though he lost two fumbles.
The fun for Jones started on the first play of the second quarter when he threw a perfect deep ball to Cody Latimer that ended up going for a 40-yard gain.
If that pass is proof that maybe Jones should be allowed to compete for the starting job, his very next play proved that he’s still a rookie learning on the job. One play after hitting Latimer for the big gain, Jones fumbled the ball on the snap and the Bears ended up recovering it. And just like that, his magic was briefly gone. (You can see the ugly fumble by clicking here).
When the Giants got the ball back for Jones’ third possession of the night, things got even worse for the rookie. On a third-and-11 from his own 33-yard line, Jones dropped back to pass, but he never got to throw the ball, because he got stripped by Bears linebacker James Vaughters, who also recovered the loose ball.
The bright side of the fumble for the Giants is that Jones did save a touchdown on the play, which means they now know he can tackle.
Although there’s not usually any upside to having your rookie quarterback fumble the ball away two times in one game, there is an upside in the preseason, and that’s because you get to find out how he responds to adversity. In Jones’ case, he shook off the two fumbles and responded by throwing a perfect 15-yard touchdown pass to T.J. Jones with under 90 seconds left to play in the first half.
Jones’ second game definitely wasn’t as impressive as his first game — and that’s because it’s kind of hard top a perfect performance like the one he had against the Jets — but the rookie has played well enough that Giants don’t look completely crazy for taking him with the sixth overall pick.
Jones’ night ended at halftime with a stat line — 11 of 14 for 161 yards and one touchdown — that would have potentially started a quarterback controversy if he hadn’t lost two fumbles.
Eli Manning comes out firing
The Giants aren’t technically holding a quarterback competition right now, but don’t tell that to Eli Manning, who looked like he was playing for his job on Friday as he came out firing against the Bears.
In one offensive possession of action, Manning finished 4 of 4 for 42 yards and a touchdown. The veteran’s best throw of the night was probably his first one. On New York’s first play from scrimmage, Manning threw a dart to Cody Latimer that ended up going for a 20-yard gain.
Latimer caught two passes for 60 yards in the game.
Manning’s only offensive drive of the night ended with a touchdown after he hit Bennie Fowler for an eight-yard score. Although Manning got off to a hot start, it might not be enough to stave off the fans who want to see Daniel Jones play, although those fans might have slightly calmed down after Jones lost two fumbles against a decimated Bears defense.
That’s right, the Bears left most of their defensive starters at home. Although Jones and Manning were both impressive, Giants fans shouldn’t get too excited, and that’s because the Bears sat nearly everyone on their defense, including Khalil Mack. Matt Nagy’s decision to give his first team defense the night off was a big reason why the Giants offense exploded in New York’s 32-13 win.
Bears’ kicking competition going sideways
The Bears are currently holding the most high-profile kicking competition in the NFL, and it’s starting to seem like no one wants to win the job. After the first week of the preseason, it seemed that Elliott Fry had a leg up on Eddy Piniero and that’s because Fry was perfect last week against the Panthers. In a 23-13 loss, Fry hit his only field goal attempt from 43 yards and his only extra point try. As for Pineiro, he went 1 of 2, missing from 48 yards.
This time around, it was Fry who couldn’t put the ball through the uprights. During the second quarter, Fry sent a 47-yard field goal attempt wide left. As for Pineiro, he ended up getting two attempts in the first half and he nailed them both (41, 27). Although Fry tacked on an extra point in the second half, neither kicker got to attempt a field goal over the game’s final two quarters.
Josh Allen carves up Carolina’s defense
Bills quarterback Josh Allen isn’t really known for his accuracy, but we might have to change the scouting report after the way he diced up the Panthers defense during his one quarter of action on Friday. Yes, it’s only a preseason game, but you can bet the Bills were ecstatic after watching Allen complete 9 of 11 passes for 102 yards.
Allen’s best pass came on his fifth throw of the game when he hit tight end Tommy Sweeney for a 22-yard gain on a drive that ended with a 30-yard field goal from Stephen Hauschka.
Here’s a look at Allen’s throw to Sweeney.
On the Bills’ next offensive series, the team got the ball at Carolina’s 35-yard line thanks to a solid punt return from Andre Roberts, and Allen made sure to take advantage of that. With two quick throws, Allen quickly led the Bills down to Carolina’s 4-yard line. First, the Bills quarterback hit Cole Beasely for a 14-yard gain. Allen then followed that up with a 25-yard pass to Sweeney, which led to a touchdown run by LeSean McCoy. (The Bills were called for holding on the drive, if you’re wondering how Allen competed two passes for 39 yards on a drive that started 35 yards away from the end zone).
If Allen proved one thing on Friday, it’s that he loves throwing to Beasely. The former Cowboys receiver was Allen’s favorite target, catching five passes for 44 yards.
By the time Allen exited the game, the Bills had jumped out to a 10-0 lead on their way to a 27-14 win. Although Allen had an impressive game, the star for the Bills was probably Christian Wade. Before this month, the former English rugby player had never played in an NFL game. In his first preseason game ever last week, Waded scored on a 65-yard touchdown run against the Colts. Wade almost picked up another touchdown against the Panthers when he rumbled his way to the two-yard line after making a 48-yard catch.
Wade is starting to look like someone who’s inching closer to earning a roster spot in Buffalo, a thought that was almost improbable just two weeks ago. Wade had three touches for 52 yards in the game.
For the Panthers, Kyle Allen got the start in place of Cam Newton, and although he didn’t have very many highlights, he did throw a jump pass, which was probably the highlight of his night.
Allen finished 4 of 11 for 32 yards before being pulled in the second quarter in favor of rookie Will Grier. Grier wasn’t much better as he completed just 10 of 19 passes for 75 yards while also throwing an interception.
QB competition continues for Miami
With the Dolphins in the middle of a quarterback competition, coach Brian Flores had hinted this week that Josh Rosen would get the start against the Buccaneers and that’s exactly what happened in Tampa Bay on Friday.
Although the Dolphins struggled at times with Rosen on the field with two three-and-outs in the first half, Miami’s offense did show signs of life with Rosen under center. Early in the second quarter, Rosen led the Dolphins on a 35-yard scoring drive that ended with a 45-yard field goal from Jason Sanders. Rosen’s most impressive throw on the drive was a simple 11-yarder that went to Brice Butler.
Rosen played behind a bad offensive line in Arizona last season and as he learned on Friday, things aren’t much better in Miami.
Rosen played the entire first half and finished the game 10 of 18 for 102 yards before giving way to Ryan Fitzpatrick in the second half. Although Rosen didn’t made many highlight reel throws during his time on the field, that might actually be how Flores wanted it. After Rosen made his preseason debut last week, Flores had one big complaint and it was the fact that Rosen played with a gunslinger mentality. The coach wanted to see Rosen make safer throws, and that’s exactly what he did during his one half of action against the Buccaneers.
With Rosen playing a completely average half of football, that left the door open for Fitzpatrick to run away with the quarterback competition, but instead, he slammed the door closed on himself with an ugly half of football. Over the game’s final two quarters, Fitzpatrick completed just 3 of 9 passes for 20 yards while also throwing one interception.
The pick was classic Fitzpatrick: He tried to make something out of nothing. If Flores hates gunslingers, then he definitely hated the fact that Fitzpatrick threw the ball to a covered receiver as you can see below.
Like Rosen, Fitzpatrick had to deal with a bad offensive line, which doesn’t seem like its improved much since the team fired its offensive line coach back in July.
Although Fitzpatrick didn’t have much success throwing the ball, he absolutely steamroll a Buccaneers defender in the third quarter, which has to count for something, right?
In a twist of irony, the drive of the game for the Dolphins was probably put together by third-string quarterback Jake Rudock, who led a touchdown drive in the game’s final minute that gave the Dolphins a 14-13 lead. Rudock, who finished 6 of 11 for 72 yards, sealed the drive with an eight-yard touchdown pass to Patrick Laird with just 34 seconds left to play.
Surprisingly, that touchdown didn’t put the game away. In what turned out to be the most entertaining game of the night, the Buccaneers responded with a five-play, 45-yard drive that set up a Matt Gay game-winning field goal with just seconds to play. The 48-yard kick was Gay’s second field goal of the game as the rookie also converted from 32 yards.
Buccaneer general manager Jason Licht was probably breathing a huge sigh of relief after Gay’s kick went through and that’s because he’s the second kicker in three years that the Bucs have spent a draft pick on. Back in 2016, the Bucs selected Roberto Aguayo in the second round, and we all know how that turned out. Fortunately for Licht, Gay seems to be able to handle the pressures of being an NFL kicker, which means the Tampa Bay’s long search for a placekicker might finally be over.
