MONDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK

Aaron Rodgers will not play in final preseason game

Jets head coach Robert Saleh left the door open to playing quarterback Aaron Rodgers in the team’s final preseason game throughout training camp, but he slammed it shut on Thursday.

Saleh told reporters at a press conference that Rodgers will not take the field against the Giants this weekend. Rodgers did not play in either of the first two games this month either.

The decision means that Rodgers’s first game action since tearing his Achilles in the season opener last year will come against the 49ers on the first Monday night of the regular season. Rodgers did get some work in joint practices and that will have to suffice to get him ready for his long-awaited return to the lineup.

Saleh said most of the team’s other starters will also stay on the bench as the team turns its attention toward the regular season.
_____
_____________

I think Saleh is scared too.

 

Matthew Stafford is ready for regular season, despite not playing in preseason

Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is practicing. But he hasn’t played, and won’t play, in the preseason. Is he prepared for Week 1?

“Yeah, I think so,” Stafford told reporters on Thursday. “We still have time before the first one, so we just continue to work against each other, sharpen our skills both offensively and defensively. The season is a process. I want to make progress throughout it. That’s what we’re trying to do. . . . [T]here might be days where you’re going to have some tough ones. Can you bounce back and keep going? It’s just like a season, right? You don’t play the first game and get seventeen times better in the last game of the season. You’re just fighting, finding ways to win ball games and doing that along the way. That’s what we’re up to right now. Just trying to work through some things [and] get guys in position. We have some guys still out that hopefully we can get back pretty soon. It’s really a valuable experience for everybody.”

Stafford has recovered from a hamstring injury, well enough to practice fully and completely in a joint session with the Texans.

He also has a thumb injury, which happened away from football.

“I’m not going to take you through the details,” Stafford said. “I cut it at my house, like a normal human being and I have to protect it for a little bit. I’ll be fine.”



PFT

 

Steelers' Mike Tomlin not ready to make QB decision, says it will come 'at the end of the work week'

With just over two weeks until the start of the 2024 regular season, most teams have come to a decision on who will be under center for Week 1.

But that decision will have to wait a little longer for those in Pittsburgh.

In the wake of the Steelers' final preseason game Saturday, a 24-17 loss to the Detroit Lions, head coach Mike Tomlin told reporters that he was not ready to announce a starting quarterback, and that the decision as to whether Russell Wilson or Justin Fields will lead the team will be made "at the end of the work week."

"We've got three days of Steelers versus Steelers work and why not do it then?" Tomlin said of his reasoning for the extended waiting period. "It kind of minimizes the Steelers versus Steelers work when we start making decisions prior to the completion of that. We've got ample time to prepare for Atlanta and make whatever decisions or announcements regarding divisional labor or pecking orders and so forth.

"And so, we will do it at the end of the work week."

Wilson started for the Steelers on Saturday for the second straight week, but unlike his frustrating outing against the Bills, the veteran led the starters on a quick touchdown drive, going 60 yards on five plays to open the game. Wilson was 2 for 2 with 26 passing yards, including a deep completion to George Pickens on third-and-long, and thus ended his day.

"They were able to put together a scoring drive and really just provide an opportunity to get Justin in there sooner," Tomlin said.

Added Wilson: "Well, I thought our No. 1 objective was to go up and down the field and score, that was the first thing. I was ready to play however long coach wanted me to. Whenever I came up on the sideline, he kind of gave me the 'hey, you're done.'"

Fields, who has also had his struggles over the course of the preseason, spent a little more time on the field, starting by taking over after a fumble recovery and leading Pittsburgh 35 yards in six plays for a score. He had two completions and a couple runs on the drive, but took a sack on each of the next two possessions to close out his day, having gone 3-for-4 for 40 yards.

"They both moved the ball. They won possession downs. They were able to put the ball in the end zone," Tomlin said. "Things that we haven't done to this point sufficiently enough in the preseason."

With the preseason complete, Wilson's final stats stand at 10-for-12 passing for 73 yards in two games played after returning from his calf injury. Fields was 19 for 27 for 199 yards in three outings. Neither had a passing touchdown or an interception.

Now Tomlin and his staff will use this data and everything else they've learned over the course of the summer to decide which direction to take the offense, with a matchup with the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 8 looming.

NFL.com
__________
__________________

I was under the impression this was Wilson's job, but it doesnt sound like it just quite yet.

 

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Trey Lance played the entire game in their preseason finale against the Los Angeles Chargers. For Lance, it was a day of ups with many downs.

In the Cowboys' 26-19 loss, the former top-five pick went 33-of-49 for 323 yards with one passing touchdowns and five interceptions. While Lance was able to pick up 90 yards rushin — including a 46-yard touchdown run.

 

Kevin Stefanski “very confident” in amount of work Deshaun Watson has done this summer

Stefanski said that he “feels great” about Watson’s health and expects him to fully participate in practice this week. The coach said that other absences on offense were the main factor in deciding to keep Watson off the field Saturday and that he’s comfortable with the amount of work Watson has done to prepare for the Cowboys in the season opener.

“With Deshaun, with considerations to the guys who were out on offense — not just the offensive line — but just didn’t feel like it would be best to put him out there in this setting,” Stefanski said, via the team’s website. “Very confident in the amount of work he’s gotten to date throughout the spring and summer, and he’ll be ready to roll Week One.”

The 2024 season is Watson’s third in Cleveland and he’s only played in 12 games for the team because of a suspension and last year’s right shoulder injury.

ijn part/PFT

 

Don’t fall for it, only way Wilson isn’t the starter is if he gets injured in practice this week. There’s a reason they only had him play 1 series against the Lions, he’s been declared the starter, even if it’s only been announced in house.

 

Dammit SK, you are ruining their stealthy plan for week 1... You might be getting a phone call from Tomlin..

Click bait right now is at it's high point. These writers can't wait for actual football to start so they can write about something meaningful.

 

This wasn't click-baiting writers, this was Tomlin... isnt there a difference? Why wouldn't Tomlin just come out and say, Wilson is the starter, whats he got to lose or gain?

 

Wilson's support in the locker room.

 

Showmanship.. he’s been telling anyone that will listen since they were signed that Wilson is the starter. NOW that the season is two weeks out, all of a sudden there’s a real competition? I think he’s fucking with all th writers who keep asking the same question he’s been answering for months.

If it’s a rhetorical question, it’s clickbait imho.

 

Telling him after the last preseason game would have went a long way in doing that, BUT he may have already talked to Wilson personally. Just a thought.

 

Could very well be. Afterall, like you stated, its been asked a billion times. Either way, I believe either of the 2 of them can and will get in a grove groove (thanks, Gid, lol) when called upon and Im sure thats what Steelers Nation is hoping for.

 

Why would they be in a grove?

 

Picking oranges, of course.

 

In Pittsburgh? They better just try to get into a groove because there aren’t any groves in Pittsburgh

 

He also said 2022 was an open competition as well, no way in hell was that a true competition. Don’t know what is gained honestly, highly doubt the Falcons thought anyone but Wilson would be starting especially after Saturday. Fields likely gets a couple snaps, guessing 1-5 at most, but it will be specialized packages. This was never truly a competition, Wilson was the starter the instant he put pen to paper. Pretty much why Pickett requested the trade, there wasn’t going to be a real competition unless Wilson flat out fell on his face.

 

It is.

 

What does he have to gain by announcing? If the Falcons spend all of 5 minutes preparing for Fields that's 5 less minutes spent preparing for Wilson.

 

Titans trading QB Malik Willis to Packers in exchange for seventh-round pick

Once envisioned as the potential Tennessee Titans franchise quarterback, Malik Willis is now departing Nashville.

The Titans are trading Willis to the Green Bay Packers in exchange for a 2025 NFL Draft seventh-round pick, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported on Monday.

With Will Levis cemented as the Titans starter and Mason Rudolph, a free-agent signee this offseason who's produced consistently in training camp, now entrenched as the Tennessee No. 2, Willis will move on in the hopes of improving the Packers' backup situation.

Currently, Jordan Love is backed up by 2023 fifth-rounder Sean Clifford and 2024 seventh-rounder Michael Pratt. Neither shined this preseason and Willis will provide, at the least, a more seasoned option.

NFL.com

 

Desmond Ridder's summer trial with the Cardinals will not extend into the fall.

Arizona is releasing the quarterback ahead of Tuesday's deadline for teams to reduce their rosters to 53, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported.