Jason La Canfora: NFL Preseason Week 1 Diary

The Atlanta Falcons are in big trouble.

Their preseason debut under new head coach Kevin Stefanski and new front office exec Matt Ryan being a total disaster isn’t really even the point. 

Broncos head coach Sean Payton, who has no love lost for the Falcons from spending most of his career as head coach in rival New Orleans, getting off some shots at their expense about the sparse crowd, doesn’t even really matter. 

Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa looks washed – not a surprise in the least, either – but yeah, that is a problem.

Executives around the league we really trust have been scoffing at Stefanski’s first offseason in real-time, as it was coming together. 

They don’t buy Tua, and the fact he immediately missed practice time with a back injury (his slight frame and health have always been a concern even when the Dolphins paid him big money) is suboptimal. 

Nothing about the former top five pick looked remotely comfortable or productive as the Broncos pushed Atlanta around for four quarters in their preseason debut.

“What we put out there is not a reflection of the hard work that we’ve put in the first two weeks of training camp,” Tagovailoa told reporters after the debacle, “and it does no justice to the work our coaches have implemented. It starts with me. I’ve got to be better with that.”

Tagovailoa not only isn’t a playmaker – and has significant physical limitations and has a serious concussion history – but he became a locker room lawyer in Miami. 

His leadership was under serious question and he is probably a back-up at this point. His relationship with recent first-round pick Michael Penix is being watched closely (“That’s a weird mix of personalities,” as one personnel exec said).

A franchise desperate to get more out of recent top picks receiver Drake London and tight end Kyle Pitts and running back Bijan Robinson – all making big money now and no longer on their rookie contracts – settling on this dink-and-dunk QB is not going to go well. 

“They had a bad offseason,” one GM told me, noting he didn’t mind the contract extension but didn’t like the outside talent they brought in.

Quarterback drama has been far too big of an issue for them in recent years, and there’s reason to think that’s far from over. The NFC South is no juggernaut, but multiple evaluators have told me they see the Falcons being the worst of the bunch.

Steelers’ Building a QB Room for the Future

Steelers rookie quarterback Drew Allard is getting lots of accolades for his showing in his first preseason game.

He looked great, while few are talking about how comfortable and productive second-year QB Will Howard looked; the Steelers might actually have the deepest QB room in the league.

Starter Aaron Rodgers, of course, might be cooked, although the Steelers right now may be four deep at the position and team sources have indicated to me on numerous occasions that they could keep all four. 

It’s certainly being discussed. I suspect in the end, however, that veteran back-up Mason Rudolph could be a legit trade option as roster cutdowns approach. Keeping four seems rich.

Putting either young QB on the practice squad would be too dangerous if they put up another outing like both did in the opener. Head coach Mike McCarthy was raving about Howard throughout the offseason. “He loves that kid,” one team source told me.

Pittsburgh also may have found their latest discovery in their long history of finding wide receiver steals in the draft. Yes, it’s just one exhibition, but rookie Germie Bernard (second round) seems incredibly at home in the slot and was generating some buzz in scouting circles after his debut.

Green Bay’s Kicking Woes Solved? Mahomes, Chicago, Jaxson Dart snippets

The Packers kicking game has been awful for years. 

Green Bay kickers converted just 83.3% of their kicks the last two years, 22^rd in the NFL. 

In kicks between 40-49 yards, somehow, Packers kickers were 12-of-21; a poor 57% conversion rate.

Rookie Trey Smack from Florida was a beast kicking in their preseason debut, crushing a 50-yarder and making another kick that got waved off; he was oozing confidence. 

They traded up in the sixth round to land him, and the kid looks the part. 

He could be a real weapon to help a team that has found ways to blow leads when it matters most.

From what we heard, Patrick Mahomes looked great warming up for the Chiefs on Saturday afternoon and was pushing pretty hard to play in that preseason game coming off knee surgery. Given his history of appearing in exhibition games, we bet he gets a run before Week 1. 

The Bears have resisted overtures about back-up quarterback, Tyson Bagent, in the past, and they extended him last summer with a two-year pact for good reason. 

Head Coach Ben Johnson has done a tremendous job developing him, and they could field more calls on him if a contending team loses a starter. 

They also have more-than-competent veteran Case Keenum under contract. 

Jaxson Dart’s lack of understanding in protecting himself continues to bring out some skeptics in the scouting community. He took some big shots in the preseason debut. “An accident waiting to happen”, one evaluator told me.