{"id":76910,"date":"2025-08-18T07:47:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T07:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/76910\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T07:47:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T07:47:12","slug":"nfl-pre-season-results-review-ashton-jeanty-caleb-williams-jaxson-dart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/76910\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL pre-season results & review: Ashton Jeanty, Caleb Williams & Jaxson Dart"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AshtonImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, <\/p>\n

Ashton Jeanty was a real handful for the Las Vegas Raiders<\/p>\n

Paul Higham<\/p>\n

BBC Sport journalist<\/p>\n

The second week of pre-season in the NFL means a few more plays from the sport’s biggest stars and more reps for our budding rookie sensations under the bright lights of the big league.<\/p>\n

We had a few more clues as to which teams might thrive in the coming campaign and who may struggle, and glimpses of who the star performers will be.<\/p>\n

Here’s what caught our eye this week.<\/p>\n

Raiders rookie Jeanty looks real deal<\/p>\n

\"LasImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, <\/p>\n

Ashton Jeanty took two tacklers with him during a bruising run<\/p>\n

Rookie running back Ashton Jeanty could be a big problem for opposing defences this season judging by his bruising cameo for the Las Vegas Raiders against the San Francisco 49ers.<\/p>\n

The sixth overall pick of the draft left the field after taking a big hit, but returned to score a touchdown and showcase his talent with a brutal 13-yard rush that saw him flatten two would-be tacklers.<\/p>\n

Jeanty’s physical style is similar to former Raiders rusher Marshawn Lynch, and had his quarterback Geno Smith beaming: “He’s going to be a special player.”<\/p>\n

Head coach Pete Carroll had Lynch while in Seattle, and had some typically forthright praise for the rookie, saying: “Jeanty looked tough as hell.”<\/p>\n

Dart hype builds in New York<\/p>\n

Jaxson Dart is becoming the talk of pre-season with another eye-catching outing for the New York Giants’ rookie quarterback.<\/p>\n

Dart replaced veteran Russell Wilson mid-drive and went on to score a passing and rushing touchdown against the New York Jets to continue the Giants’ impressive pre-season.<\/p>\n

Even more impressive is the Giants’ offence clicking without star receiver Malik Nabers, who will likely miss all three pre-season games with a back injury.<\/p>\n

But Dart is the big story – drafted as the long-term franchise quarterback, another display like this will have many wondering if his time will come much sooner than expected.<\/p>\n

Top pick Ward shows glimpses of ability<\/p>\n

\"TennesseeImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, <\/p>\n

Cam Ward completed five of eight passes as the Titans lost 29-7 to Tampa Bay last week<\/p>\n

Number one overall pick Cam Ward only completed two of his seven passes for 42 yards, but showed much more promise than the stat line suggests.<\/p>\n

He had a nice 35-yard completion on the run and also produced possibly the best throw by any rookie quarterback this pre-season – only to see it dropped by receiver Van Jefferson.<\/p>\n

Ward missed a couple of throws, but pre-season is all about showing promise and that one throw alone to Jefferson gave Tennessee Titans head coach Brian Callahan confidence his guy can make an impact in the NFL.<\/p>\n

“I’m very encouraged,” said Callahan of Ward. “That ball that was dropped was an incredible throw. He’s shown all the things we need to see from an operations standpoint.”<\/p>\n

Williams looks sharp in Bears shutout<\/p>\n

It was only against the Buffalo Bills back-ups, but Caleb Williams looked great in his first pre-season action for the Chicago Bears – who enjoyed a 38-0 shutout victory.<\/p>\n

Williams was clinical from the start, when he led a 97-yard touchdown drive with a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3.<\/p>\n

The Bears failed to score a single touchdown on their opening possession last season, so the 2024 number one overall pick has already broken new ground to start his second year in the NFL.<\/p>\n

Gabriel gets his shot with Sanders injured<\/p>\n

\"ClevelandImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, <\/p>\n

Cleveland drafted Dillon Gabriel with the 94th overall pick, then Shedeur Sanders with the 144th<\/p>\n

The Cleveland Browns quarterback situation is fascinating, with Shedeur Sanders enjoying a fine debut<\/a> last week but out injured this week – giving fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel his chance in the spotlight.<\/p>\n

Gabriel had a mixed performance, completing 13 passes for 143 yards but also throwing a pick six and losing a fumble.<\/p>\n

The third-round draft pick was efficient early on, but struggled when forced off script, leaving head coach Kevin Stefanski with more questions than answers.<\/p>\n

Stefanski will make his quarterback decision before next week’s final pre-season outing, with veteran Joe Flacco set to start but a big choice to be made on his back-up.<\/p>\n

NFL pre-season notebook<\/p>\n

Travis Hunter missed the Jacksonville Jaguars’ 17-17 tie at the New Orleans Saints with what the team says is an upper body injury.<\/p>\n

Hunter was due to step up his work on defence as he looks to play on both sides of the ball this season, so missing the game will be a setback.<\/p>\n

The Dallas Cowboys could be in the hunt for a new back-up quarterback to Dak Prescott after two muddling displays by Joe Milton.<\/p>\n

Dallas hoped Milton could show more as they’re not keen on their other option Will Grier, so they may have to dip into the market for another back-up.<\/p>\n

One back-up who can play is Denver’s Jarrett Stidham, who threw another two touchdowns to continue the Broncos’ impressive pre-season.<\/p>\n

Sean Payton has assembled a deep roster with Stidham looking a solid back-up to Bo Nix, with 376 yards and four touchdowns in just over three quarters this pre-season.<\/p>\n

NFL pre-season – week two results<\/p>\n

Buffalo Bills 0-38 Chicago Bears<\/p>\n

Jacksonville Jaguars 17-17 New Orlans Saints<\/p>\n

Arizona Cardinals 7-27 Denver Broncos<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Buccaneers 17-14 Pittsburgh Steelers<\/p>\n

New York Jets 12-31 New York Giants<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Chargers 22-23 Los Angeles Rams<\/p>\n

Baltimore Ravens 31-13 Dallas Cowboys<\/p>\n

Kansas City Chiefs 16-33 Seattle Seahawks<\/p>\n

Tennessee Titans 23-20 Atlanta Falcons<\/p>\n

Carolina Panthers 3-20 Houston Texans <\/p>\n

Cleveland Browns 22-13 Philadelphia Eagles <\/p>\n

New England Patriots 20-12 Minnesota Vikings<\/p>\n

Green Bay Packers 23-19 Indianapolis Colts<\/p>\n

Miami Dolphins 24-17 Detroit Lions<\/p>\n

San Francisco 49ers 22-19 Las Vegas Raiders<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Ashton Jeanty was a real handful for the Las Vegas Raiders Paul Higham…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-76910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}