Week 2 of the Pre-Season starts on Thursday and continues into Monday Night (MNF). Let’s take a look at what to watch for the NFC North pr-season Week 2 games.
Minnesota at Seattle (Friday August 18th 10 PM ET)
The Vikings travel to Seattle to take on a good Seahawks team. All eyes will be on the Vikings offensive line. They didn’t run block well and allowed Bradford to be pressured and sacked by Buffalo. Seattle has plenty of good pass rushers so the Vikings blocking unit will be tested again.
Minnesota will test their run defense as well against a strong Seattle attack. Thomas Rawls, Eddie Lacy, CJ Prosise and Alex Collins are a nice test for the Vikings run defense.
The game will be on NFL Network.
Green Bay at Washington (Saturday August 19th at 7:30 PM ET)
The Packers travel to the nation’s capital to take on the Washington Redskins on Saturday night. We will see if Rodgers plays a series but it might be the Brett Hundley and Joe Callahan show again on Saturday.
Green Bay’s first defense gave up a touchdown to the Eagles so they will look to shore things up against Kirk Cousins Redskins attack. Terrell Pryor and Jordan Reed will be fun matchups for the Packers secondary and linebackers.
Ty Montgomery is hurt (lower leg soft tissue) which opens the door for the three rookie running backs. Let’s see how Jamaal Williams does with the first team offense. Rookie Josh Jones (Safety) also has an ankle injury to watch.
New York Jets at Detroit (Saturday August 19th at 7:30 PME ET)
The Lions have their first home pre-season game. They unveil the renovations at Ford Field and take on the New York Jets. The Jets are a mess so the Lions defense should continue their dominance that they had over the Colts last Sunday.
Josh McCown will be the Jets starter but is devoid of weapons. Matt Forte and Bilal Powell could create a decent run game to test the Lions run defense. Detroit had two major injuries in the last game so they hope to avoid more costly injuries in meaningless games.
The Lions offensive line will face a good defensive line with Muhammed Wilkerson, Leonard Williams and Sheldon Richardson. Can they create run blocking holes and protect Stafford? Marvin Jones caused a costly interception last week and will look to rebound against the Jets. Rookie Kenny Golladay will try to continue his dominating performance from Week 1. Golladay had two TDs and may see some first team action against New York.
Chicago at Arizona (Saturday August 19th at 10:00 PM ET)
Mike Glennon really struggled against Denver and now will face another good defensive test. We will see if Howard can establish the run and if the Bears weapons to beat the Cardinals secondary.
Mitch Trubisky had a good first pre-season game and will continue to try and build Chicago fans’ hopes and dreams of good QB play. Let’s see if he gets any time with the first team.
The Bears first team defense had a lot of penalties and allowed a long drive by Denver. Let’s see if they can clean that up against Carson Palmer and the Arizona offense. David Johnson is a great test for the run offense and Chris Johnson and Andre Ellington provide back-up firepower.
Overall
Most starters but not all will play a few series. Let’s hope everyone stays healthy and gets ready for the season.