The NFL preseason is almost over, but we still have a full weekend of football to digest. We have four games on Friday night, highlighted by new Raiders coach Josh McDaniels facing his former mentor Bill Belichick and the Patriots and Baker Mayfield getting some reps against the Bills in preparation for Week 1.
Things kicked off Thursday night as the Kansas City Chiefs won in front of their home fans over the Green Bay Packers and the Houston Texans blanked the San Francisco 49ers.
Each of the NFL’s 32 teams will approach this week differently. Some will play their starters a little, some will play their starters more, and some not at all. In reality, this week is more about the reserves as coaching staffs around the league figure out who will make their 53-man roster.
Below, we’ll break down the highlights from all 16 preseason games. Keep this post bookmarked as it will be your one stop shop for everything you need to see.
business hours
Thursday
Chiefs 17, Packers 10 (Recap)
Texas 17, 49 years 0 (Overview)
Friday
Panthers 21, Bills 0 (Recap)
Cowboys 27, Seahawks 26 (Recap)
Saints 27, Chargers 10 (Recap)
Raiders 23, Patriots 6 (Takeaways)
Saturday
Jaguars at Falcons, 3 p.m. ET, NFLN
Rams at Bengals, 6 p.m. ET, NFLN
Cardinals at Titans, 7 p.m. ET
Bears at Browns, 7 p.m. ET
Eagles at Dolphins, 7 p.m. ET
Commanders at Ravens, 7:00 PM ET
Buccaneers at Colts, 7:30 p.m. ET
Vikings at Broncos, 9 p.m. ET, NFLN
Sunday
Giants at Jets, 1 p.m. ET, NFLN
Lions at Steelers, 4:30 p.m. ET, CBS
Ben DiNucci throws winning TD for Cowboys
The Cowboys were able to take their preseason finale over the Seahawks thanks to Ben DiNucci throwing the game-winning touchdown pass to Peyton Hendershot. The 14-yard touchdown pass gave the Cowboys a 27-26 lead with 4:07 left as Dallas overcame 10 penalties to secure the win.
DiNucci is a longshot to make the Cowboys, but he could end up somewhere in the NFL next week.
Brandon Smith makes a toe TD catch for the Cowboys
Brandon Smith is a good shot to make the Cowboys’ 53-man roster, but he’s still impressing the coaching staff with this highlight reel catch. This 8-yard catch in the back of the end zone by Will Grier tied the game with the Seahawks in the third quarter.
Smith leads Dallas with three catches, making the most of his last opportunity.
Sam Darnold rushes for TD, exits with ankle injury
Sam Darnold, now the No. 2 quarterback in Carolina, had his fair share of rushing scores for the Panthers last season. His 1-yard run put Carolina up 21-0 over Buffalo with 7:06 to play in the third quarter.
Darnold had a career-high five touchdowns last season for the Panthers — or as many as he had his first three seasons combined with the Jets.
It was not good news for Darnold, who left the field after suffering an ankle injury and will not return.
Drew Lock connects on a nice TD pass
The Drew Lock experience is in full force. After throwing an interception on his first drive of the game, Lock earned another opportunity to show off his arm strength. Fighting for the starting quarterback job in Seattle, Lock hit Penny Hart on a 35-yard touchdown pass. Shots don’t get much better than this in the third week of the preseason.
Lock has an opportunity to take the job from Geno Smith, who started this game for Seattle. Coach Pete Carroll says he will name a starter after the third preseason game.
Mark Ingram gets his second TD in the opening quarter
Mark Ingram is the NFL’s leading active rusher and still has a prominent role with the Saints, rushing for two touchdowns in the first quarter as New Orleans jumped out to a 14-0 lead over the Los Angeles Chargers — who are playing the majority. of their backups.
This touchdown run was from 2 yards out.
Baker Mayfield hits Shi Smith for the score
Mayfield won the starting quarterback job in Carolina and is putting the exclamation point on this training camp with a 19-yarder to Shi Smith for the touchdown. Smith has been mentioned as Mayfield’s favorite target by some of the local writers in Carolina, emerging as a contender not only for a roster spot — but for regular-season games as well.
Mayfield has two touchdown passes in the first quarter. This could be it.
To the surprise of some, the Texans’ starting quarterback took the field for the start of the second half. After two pedestrian first quarters in which he threw an interception, Mills led a six-play, 77-yard drive that ended with a touchdown — a 16-yarder to Chris Moore.
This is a nice bullet pass in the middle of the field. Houston has high hopes for its second-year signal-caller.
It’s the Bushman’s world, we’re just living in it
Matt Bushman is having a big night and he recorded 73 receiving yards on his first three catches. He scored his second touchdown of the game early in the third quarter on a play that looked like a turnaround waiting to happen.
The must-see interception
What at first appeared to be a great catch by the Texans turned into an interception by the 49ers in the blink of an eye. Credit to both defensive backs in this game for fighting for the ball. Samuel Womack III picked it off and then Tarvarius Moore kind of pulled it back inside.
Whose man was he?!
Chiefs tight end Matt Bushman ran a simple corner route, and it resulted in a 54-yard touchdown. The safety wasn’t looking his way and the cornerback thought he was giving the tight end to his teammate. This play will look ugly when the Chiefs review the film.
The Packers got off to a slow start Thursday night — going three-and-out on their first two possessions. Things started to click on their third drive, however, as Green Bay went 83 yards down the field in 11 plays to score the game’s first touchdown.
It was the undrafted rookie from Iowa who got into the end zone for the Packers. Check out this EXPLOSIVE run by Tyler Goodson covered by the spin move.
Texans’ Dameon Pierce continues hot start
Houston’s rookie has been one of the stars of the preseason. After an impressive Week 1 outing, Pierce did not play last weekend. Texans coach Lovie Smith said he kept Pierce out because they saw so much of him in the first preseason game. according to the Pro Football Networkwhich could mean he is the RB1.
Still, Pierce played Thursday night and in the Texans’ opener, he ran six times for 37 yards as Houston went 85 yards down the field in 11 plays and scored a touchdown. Who scored for Texas? I’ll give you a guess.
“Choir huddle” honors Len Dawson
Earlier this week, the legendary Hall of Fame quarterback Len Dawson has died aged 87. The former No. 5 overall pick was a Super Bowl champion, Super Bowl MVP, NFL Man of the Year and a Chiefs legend. To open the Chiefs’ preseason game Thursday night, Patrick Mahomes took the field and lined up his offense in the famous “chorus formation” to honor Dawson.
After the delay of game penalty, which was declined by the Packers, Mahomes left the field.