Your “The Starters Are Playing For The First Half? [faints]” Thursday Night Football Open Thread

Yes, it’s the beginning of the vaunted third week of the preseason, when the players that we love/hate play for a wee bit. That is, unless they’re the teensiest bit injured. I like to think of it as a teaser for what is to come. Of course, if my team doesn’t do well I can always fall back on the old, “It was just ONE half of ONE preseason game! I’m not about to get my knickers in knot”. On the other hand, if my team does well I can blurt out, “OH, WOW! This year we’re headed out of the basement/looking at .500/gonna make the playoffs/gonna win a playoff game/looking like a Super Bowl contender, etc., etc. Adjust your individual team expectations accordingly. TO THE GAMES! (both of them)

Falcons/Fins-As a fan of a team with a remarkably average backfield I envy Atlanta’s Freeman/Coleman duo. The former has a nose for the end zone and the latter just needs a bit of space to make a big play. I took me a little look at wr Julio’s game-by-game yardage numbers and this is what I saw-141, 164, 162, 137, 160, 178 and 149. Man, you know what this means? That’s right, recent signee Mohamed Sanu should have a field day on the other side of the field. In this offence he’ll be getting about 110 targets or so.

I fully expected qb Tannehill to get it done last year but it didn’t happen. After doing a wee bit of homework I discovered that he wasn’t give any freedom at all. If he didn’t like what he saw at the line of scrimmage last year’s OC (I don’t know his name-I didn’t do “that” much homework) demanded that he call the one backup play that heretofore not-mentioned OC had given him. He seems to me to be a bright guy-hopefully this year’s playcaller, HC Adam Gase will give him a bit of responsibility. With a wr triumvirate of Parker, Landry and Stills he should be able to do some damage.

‘Boys/’Hawks-Head-scratching first round pick Eezy-keel will get low double-digit carries tonight before he is shut down. The rook that everyone loves, DAK! Prescott (I can’t not include an exclamation point after his name when I type it) will be spelling Romo sometime during the second quarter or after the latter scrambles and hurts…something. I’m calling “ulna”. Dez and his concussion will be on the sidelines trying to figure how to make his absence from the game all about him.

Rb Rawls and te Graham are out. But that’s okay for a bordering-on-the-ridiculous offensively deep Seattle squad. All they have left at the skill positions are Wilson, Lockett, Baldwin, Kearse, Willson, Micheal and Prosise. There’s little doubt in my mind that Head Truther Carroll will be strutting down the sideline multiple times again this year.