What are the top takeaways from the AFC teams in the 2022 NFL Preseason?
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00:00 The NFL preseason is officially in the books and joining me with some notes from the weekend
00:06 are Fan Nation publishers, Chad Jensen, David Beauclair, and Noah Strachbein.
00:10 I'm caught up with Montana Pattison with SI right now.
00:13 And Chad, let's go to you first.
00:15 What were your biggest takeaways from this past weekend?
00:19 From the third preseason game itself, my biggest takeaway was Broncos fans can exhale.
00:26 Everything is going to be okay after the Buffalo Bills curb stomped him the game prior.
00:31 Fans were starting to, some of that PTSD of the last six years was rising to the surface.
00:37 Little bit of a backlash against Nathaniel Hackett, questioning whether or not he was
00:41 ultimately the right hire.
00:43 Was he too much of a love them up kind of players coach?
00:45 Could he drop the hammer?
00:47 And I think he answered that question with the twos and the threes out there in game
00:50 three against the Vikings.
00:52 Broncos played with a lot of intensity.
00:55 It actually looked like players were fighting for their jobs.
00:58 You know, that's what you want to see as, and that was kind of absent in the second
01:02 preseason game.
01:03 And apart from that, it turns out he really does have a plan for a rushing game.
01:07 They went from averaging less than two yards per attempt as a team in games one and two
01:12 to six yards per attempt against the Vikings.
01:15 So I think Broncos fans can exhale all as well and look forward to seeing Russell Wilson
01:20 debut as a Bronco week one against his old team, the Seahawks.
01:24 I'm definitely looking forward to that one.
01:26 We're going to touch on that later next week, but David, let's send it down to you in Tennessee.
01:31 Biggest takeaways from this preseason finale.
01:34 You know, the biggest thing is that rookie quarterback Malik Willis is a fast learner.
01:39 There's no question coming out of this game that Malik Willis is the Titans number two
01:44 quarterback for this season.
01:45 And I think they have a target squarely on Ryan Panahill's back for 2023.
01:54 And they want Willis to be the guy then.
01:57 They are in love with his athleticism and all the things he can do.
02:01 And the fact that he can learn as quickly as he has, has given this franchise a lot
02:05 of confidence.
02:06 All right.
02:07 Well, speaking of quarterbacks, let's go over to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
02:10 Noah, that's been a top storyline for the Steelers pretty much all preseason.
02:15 Any clarity with that position?
02:18 You'd think so, right?
02:19 But no, after a third preseason game, Mike Tomlin said that he thinks that he has a quarterback
02:25 in mind for the starting job, but he isn't ready to announce it yet.
02:28 You'd have to imagine that still Mitch Trubitsky.
02:31 Can he pick it?
02:32 Put up a good fight these last two games.
02:33 But overall, Trubitsky has stayed consistent.
02:37 The Steelers wanted him to be the starter and he didn't lose that job.
02:41 I think it was a good thing.
02:42 I think now the storyline is more did Mason Rudolph put himself on a map or a target list
02:49 for enough NFL teams to call and maybe offer up a trade worth value to deal him.
02:54 The Steelers really like that veteran presence at the quarterback position.
02:58 I think walking out of the third preseason game, you look at all three quarterbacks and
03:03 you say the Steelers have options.
03:05 Do they want all three of them in week one?
03:07 And for right now, we might not know their starter, but we know that they want all three
03:11 of them.
03:12 (upbeat music)
03:14 (upbeat music)