RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Hello football friends, and welcome to the Monday edition of the Pick Six newsletter!
The second week of the preseason is officially in the books, and I have to say, this might go down as the greatest special teams weekend of preseason football in NFL history. We got a 69-YARD FIELD GOAL from Harrison Butker , the 49ers had an 83-yard punt return for a touchdown and a rookie quarterback had to fill in as the punter. Nothing says preseason football like a rookie signal-caller being forced to punt.
Speaking of preseason, the Browns played over the weekend, and the fans in Cleveland spent half the game booing Deshaun Watson . However, it doesn't seem like those boos had any impact on the starting QB battle, which we'll get to below.
The Browns QB battle is officially over, and Cleveland fans are getting exactly what they didn't want: Deshaun Watson being named the starter over Shedeur Sanders . This means Watson will be the starting quarterback in Week 1 when the Browns travel to Jacksonville to face the Jaguars , but how much longer will he keep the job after that? Let's break everything down, starting with the boos from Saturday.
Watson didn't see any action until the third quarter, and once he stepped on the field, he got booed pretty much every time he touched the ball. To make matters worse, he actually called out the fans for booing him in his postgame press conference .
"I think the whole world knows it has nothing to do about the performance," Watson said. "It's a little bit more personal than that. So, I think it's a disrespectful thing."
This might be the least self-aware response any NFL player has ever given at a press conference. Before being traded to Cleveland, he was accused of sexual assault by more than two dozen massage therapists.
And on the field, he's been a total bust in Cleveland: He's only played in 19 games over four seasons and hasn't been good. In Saturday's game, he finished 5 of 12 for 36 yards with an interception.
Monken said Watson's postgame comments wouldn't impact his starting QB decision, which ended up being the case.
Although Sanders appeared to have outplayed Watson in Cleveland's two preseason games, Monken was likely swayed by what he saw in training camp. Monken is implementing a new offense in his first year with the Browns, so he was always going to give the job to the QB who's been running it better, and he seems to think that's Watson.
Now let's take a look at what this means for the Browns.
This feels like a situation where the Browns are simply trying to salvage what they can after making the worst trade in NFL history in 2022, when they gave up three first-round picks along with a third-round pick and two fourth-round picks to acquire Watson from Houston.
As part of the deal, the QB landed a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract that expires after this year. The Browns are on the hook to pay Watson $46 million this season whether he plays or not, and that could be why the organization is giving him one more chance.
If you want the full story on the Browns' QB decision, we've got that here .
The second week of the preseason is officially in the books, and like we do every week, we have some winners and losers. Garrett Podell and Zach Pereles teamed up for this week's list.
Here are two winners and two losers from Week 2:
If you want to see our full list of winners and losers, be sure to click here .
Everyone on the internet loves to overreact to things, and that's especially true when we're talking about the NFL. With that in mind, Carter Bahns decided to take a look at several things that happened during the second week of the preseason to decide if we're all overreacting.
A week after he racked up seven catches for 63 yards in San Francisco's preseason opener, Stribling tied with KhaDarel Hodge for the most catches (four) and yards (46) of any 49er in Week 2.
Importantly, three of those catches came on connections with starting quarterback Brock Purdy . The two were on the same page from the get-go in the rout of the Chargers and strung together three completions on the opening drive. Stribling then hauled in a 21-yard grab from Mac Jones on the team's second possession.
Stribling, the No. 33 overall pick in April's draft, saw his Rookie of the Year odds spike. Per DraftKings , his +1100 odds are the fifth-shortest behind only Jeremiyah Love , Jadarian Price , Fernando Mendoza and Carnell Tate .
The Packers' search to find a successor to Mason Crosby since his departure in 2022 has been anything but smooth. It appears that they finally have an answer, however.
They were the only team to use a draft pick on a kicker in 2026, and it looks like an astute move. Sixth-rounder Trey Smack has been a preseason standout. In Week 1, Smack drilled a 58-yard field goal and matched that distance on a kick that was ultimately waved off for a defensive penalty. He went 3-for-3 in his professional debut.
That was just the start of it. He was even better this week by making all four of his field goal attempts, with two coming from more than 50 yards out. His longest was a 59-yard blast.
Tagovailoa's grasp on the starting QB role is tenuous. The threat to Tagovailoa is twofold. First, he has been underwhelming in camp. Second, Michael Penix Jr . has been cleared for 11-on-11 work and figures to make a run at the job. This always figured to be a two-man battle, and now that Penix is healthy, he has about three weeks to make up ground and potentially leap past his fellow southpaw.
There are plenty more overreactions from the second week of the preseason, and if you want to check those out, you can do that here .
For the second straight week, we're breaking down how each rookie quarterback looked during the preseason.
Carter Bahns was in charge of handing out these grades, so let's check out one good grade, one bad grade and one ugly grade.
Breakdown: After Tommy DeVito played the first half, Morton took all the second...
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