{"id":138548,"date":"2025-09-12T12:12:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T12:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/138548\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T12:12:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T12:12:15","slug":"no-preseason-was-no-problem-for-josh-allen-lamar-jackson-aaron-rodgers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/138548\/","title":{"rendered":"No preseason was no problem for Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, Aaron Rodgers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Josh Allen<\/a> and Lamar Jackson<\/a> didn\u2019t play a snap in the preseason.<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t need it.<\/p>\n

Allen and Jackson were spectacular in their first game action of the season. Jackson led the Baltimore Ravens<\/a> to a 15-point, fourth-quarter lead only to watch Allen rally the Buffalo Bills<\/a> to a 41-40 victory.<\/p>\n

So much for rust.<\/p>\n

Allen was 33 of 46 for 394 yards with two touchdown passes and two more rushing. Jackson was 14 of 19 for 209 yards and two TDs plus 70 yards rushing and another score.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s trusting, trusting our process, trusting our other 10 guys on the football field, trusting what Joe\u2019s (offensive coordinator Joe Brady) calling, and really sticking to our fundamentals and how we worked during training camp, and really just trying to pick up where we left off from last year,\u201d Allen said on the AP\u2019s \u201cOn Football\u201d podcast.<\/p>\n

The reigning NFL MVP sat out the entire preseason for the first time in his career. But Allen was sharp against a tough defense. He had 251 of his passing yards in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n

Jackson, a two-time MVP and three-time All-Pro, hasn\u2019t played in the preseason since 2021. He just steps on the field and dazzles whenever he gets an opportunity.<\/p>\n

NFL coaches have to make difficult decisions each preseason, choosing whether to rest starters or put quarterbacks in harm\u2019s way in meaningless games.<\/p>\n

Green Bay\u2019s Jordan Love<\/a> injured his hand in an exhibition game but was ready to play in Week 1.<\/p>\n

Sitting out doesn\u2019t mean guys will be ineffective. Allen and Jackson demonstrated that. So did Aaron Rodgers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Playing in preseason games doesn\u2019t guarantee success early in the season, either.<\/p>\n

Football is a team sport. There are a lot of factors that determine a quarterback\u2019s performance and whether an offense clicks right from the start.<\/p>\n

Rodgers was among the 10 starting quarterbacks who didn\u2019t get any reps in exhibition games. He was outstanding in the opener, tossing four TD passes to lead Pittsburgh to a win.<\/p>\n

Some of the others had slower starts.<\/p>\n

Baker Mayfield<\/a> was out of sync early for Tampa Bay but made clutch throws to rally the Buccaneers to victory.<\/p>\n

Dak Prescott<\/a> posted a 76.6 passer rating, though the Cowboys had several dropped passes.<\/p>\n

Jared Goff<\/a> and Detroit\u2019s entire offense had a rough time against Green Bay in John Morton\u2019s first game as offensive coordinator.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, quarterbacks who played in the preseason had mixed results.<\/p>\n

Joe Burrow<\/a> threw for just 113 yards and one TD but Cincinnati still edged Cleveland 17-16.<\/p>\n

Patrick Mahomes<\/a> lost another wide receiver to injury and needed a while to get Kansas City\u2019s offense going in a loss to the Chargers in Brazil.<\/p>\n

Tua Tagovailoa<\/a> had one of his worst games as a pro, tossing two interceptions in Miami\u2019s lopsided loss to Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

Bo Nix<\/a> threw two picks but Denver held on to defeat Tennessee.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s probably the toughest part of our position, in my opinion, is bouncing back from the negative because you work really hard, you get one shot at it, and every once in a while when you miss it, it\u2019s tough because that\u2019s what you just want to think about it, you just want to fix it so bad that that\u2019s what you\u2019re thinking about,\u201d Nix said. \u201cThe real advantage, the real edge, is when guys can just go to the next play, move on. … Glad it\u2019s Week 1, not Week 21 and make these mistakes now and learn from them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justin Herbert<\/a> played in his first career preseason game this season, and came out firing against the Chiefs. He finished with 318 yards passing, three TDs and had a 131.7 rating for the Chargers.<\/p>\n

Geno Smith<\/a> appeared in all three preseason games, and looked like he was in midseason form in Week 1. Smith threw for 362 yards to lead Las Vegas to a win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s all the time we spend together, all the time in the meeting rooms, just hearing his voice and directly from him exactly what he wants to get accomplished with each and every play,\u201d Smith said about building chemistry with offensive coordinator Chip Kelly. \u201cWhen I think about Chip, man, like he\u2019s so cerebral and such a smart coach, and he\u2019s always thinking of the next thing, the next layer to attack the defense. And that\u2019s something that I\u2019m always doing as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Week 2 could bring different results for everyone. But no preseason won\u2019t be an excuse for anyone.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

On Football analyzes the biggest topics in the NFL from week to week. For more On Football analysis, head here.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nfl<\/p>\n

Rob Maaddi, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson didn\u2019t play a snap in the preseason. They didn\u2019t need it. Allen and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138549,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[49,48,514,82],"class_list":["post-138548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138548\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}