The NFL preseason was supposed to bring clarity, but as is often the case we have been left with as many questions as answers. Some of those questions are about large and league-wide things, while others are specific to one team or one thing.
With Week 1 finally upon us, there are a ton of things to watch in the hopes that we might get at least a few of these things answered.
While that’s happening, we’ll probably end up with a whole bunch of new questions for next week as well.
We’ll at least get some of these out of the way the Sunday though. Here are some of the things I’m really looking forward to getting some clarity on during Week 1.
Can Peyton Manning succeed without Wes Welker?
While the Denver Broncos could get him back sooner, the reality is that Wes Welker isn’t going to be around for at least Week 1. As the Denver Post’s Mike Klis has reported, Welker’s four-game suspension may get cut down, but that hinges on the new HGH Testing/Drug Testing agreement the NFL and NFLPA are sorting out.
That could take time, so what does this mean for the Denver Broncos offense and Peyton Manning?
On the surface, the answer is “no” because of the other weapons and the fact that Manning is the quarterback. Manning, like Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees, is the type of quarterback who elevates the game of the players around him.
In theory, he’ll be fine with whomever he throws to.
On top of that the Broncos have Demaryius Thomas as their top receiver and tight end Julius Thomas handling things across the middle and in the red zone. And speaking of the red zone, Jeff Legwold of ESPN.com reported recently that the Broncos have special red zone packages for rookie Cody Latimer.
Latimer has great size and hands, so it’s a role he could excel in. He may also eventually take over slot duties, though for now that will fall to Emmanuel Sanders.
On paper, this offense is built to survive a loss like this.
Of course, they play games on the field, not on paper. With Welker’s three concussions in less than a year, you have to think he’s at the end of his career.
So we’ll get some insight into what this offense might look like post-Welker and what it has to do to prepare for that eventuality, if anything.
How bad is the New York Jets Secondary?
You can subtitle this one as “Will Derek Carr overcome the Jets pass rush?” since ultimately that will determine a lot of this game.
Jets coach Rex Ryan has predicated his defense on strong cornerbacks but the team doesn’t really have any. Dee Milliner is out for Week 1 and that leaves Darrin Walls and Antonio Allen (affectionately known by some as Antonio HoldsEm for his long list of pass interference penalties) as the starting corners.
The Jets had a chance to bring Darrelle Revis home this offseason and didn’t, which has left them in a precarious position, made worse by Milliner’s injury and the bizarre tenure and subsequent dismissal of Dimitri Patterson.
They may have lucked out in that they face the Oakland Raiders in Week 1, though that brings us to the aforementioned subtitle. Rookie quarterback Derek Carr was the clear choice to start under center for the Raiders, especially since he looked good against the Seattle Seahawks in the final preseason game.
However, Carr had issues with pressure at Fresno State and while he played very well against Seattle’s first team in the starting series of that preseason game, there were several passes which never should have left his hand.
Which is really just what you expect from any rookie. So Raider Nation should remember to be patient, especially if he struggles against one of the better defensive fronts in the NFL.
Then again if the Oakland offensive line can stymie the Jets pass rush, Carr could look very good against the battered Jets secondary.
The Jets feel they can compete for a playoff spot. The Raiders believe they’ve found their franchise quarterback. We’ll get some clarity on both those topics by the end of Sunday.
Will the KC offensive line fall apart?
The Kansas City Chiefs let left tackle Branden Albert and guard Geoff Schwartz leave in free agency in the hopes that the guys they had remaining would be able to step in and fill the gap.
Unfortunately, Albert’s replacement Eric Fisher struggled in the preseason. The Kansas City Star’s Terez Paylor reported that the team feels that is because of some offseason surgeries, but whatever the cause, he hasn’t been playing well.
The rest of the line isn’t exactly setting the world on fire, and while the team can mitigate it with a lot of Jamaal Charles runs, there’s only so much you can do if the line falters.
On the one hand, the Chiefs lucked out because the Tennessee Titans aren’t known for a dominating pass rush.
On the other hand, that would just make it worse if the Chiefs can’t stop them.
It would certainly put a damper on the team’s hopes for a repeat trip to the playoffs.
Which new offenses will click?
There are a lot of new faces in new places this year, many of them heading up offenses which are very different than what took place before.
Washington, Cincinnati, Houston, Minnesota, Cleveland, Tennessee, Tampa Bay and the New York Giants all have new offensive coordinators (and in some cases, new head coaches) and all of them gave us very little to look at in preseason.
In some cases, what they did show us wasn’t promising. I’d assumed the struggles of the Giants would lessen as the preseason went on, but they looked as shaky in late August as they did in late July. The Browns didn’t seem to have any particular direction in the offense, in part because they weren’t sure who would be throwing the ball, and in part because their best receiver is suspended for the season. The Texans have talent on offense but no real answer at quarterback.
The Vikings and Bengals didn’t show us all that much, as they kept things pretty vanilla this preseason, so while the offenses looked OK for the most part we don’t know what to expect as we hit Week 1. The Titans could look much different under head coach Ken Whisenhunt, who is looking for quarterback Jake Locker to step it up.
Washington’s success hinges on Robert Griffin II, who hasn’t looked settled yet. Can Jay Gruden reach him in a way that Mike Shanahan couldn’t? Can Griffin get comfortable in the pocket? Will the offensive line hold off the pass rush for him?
Finally, we know the defense will be solid with Lovie Smith coaching the Buccaneers. But Lovie has never been known for prolific offenses, and Jeff Tedford has never coached at the NFL level. Plus, Josh McCown is there quarterback and while he looked good when he replaced an injured Jay Cutler in 2013, many wonder if that was more to do with Bears coach Marc Trestman’s ability to get a lot out of even average quarterbacks than McCown suddenly being starter-worthy.
One week won’t solve it all, but it may give us an early indication of who could be in for a long season.
Can Houston survive on defense alone?
I touched on this in the last section, but it deserves its own spotlight. The Houston Texans continued to build an impressive pass rush during the NFL draft, but are hoping that new head coach Bill O’Brien can work magic with Ryan Fitzpatrick.
That’s a tall order and one which even the most hard core Texans fan is a bit apprehensive about.
The team acquired Ryan Mallett from the New England Patriots, and according to Lance Zierlein of The Sideline View they went after the Philadelphia Eagles’ Matt Barkley before that.
That doesn’t sound like confidence in your quarterbacks.
So the real question becomes, can this defense carry the offense?
This week presents a test of questionable strength as Washington has its own issues, some of which we discussed. We didn’t touch on the shaky defense though, and the secondary looks no better than it did last year.
That said, if the Texans offense is so bad it can’t produce points against this defense or the Texans defense struggles against Washington’s offense, we will have a clue as to how grim things might look for the rest of the season.
New Rules – will enforcement change the game?
I suppose it’s not so much new rules as it is the enforcement of them.
We saw a lot of flags for pass interference this preseason, but very few in the first game of the season. The Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers got through Thursday night without major interference penalties and that can give fans of defense some hope that they won’t see 500 yard passing totals every week.
But we’ll get a better sense of how the games will really get called this weekend.
There will certainly be course correction one way or the other each week, but we’re all anxious to see if the calls are more frequent, more consistent and more obvious for the first week of the season.
Without a doubt, teams are capable of adjusting to whatever new rules or enforcement the NFL deems necessary. Still, in a league where it seems to get harder and harder to play defense, we’ll all be watching to see what impact this new enforcement of pass interference rules has on the game we all love.