The second day of NFL preseason action was about most of the away teams winning, including the Miami Dolphins against an Eli Manning-less New York Giants, who like the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers chose not to put their starting quarterbacks on the field. Of those who did start, Teddy Bridgewater, in a Minnesota Vikings win, probably looked best among designated starters.
Detroit Lions (1-0) 30 Pittsburgh Steelers (0-1) 17: The Steelers didn’t play Ben Roethlisberger, instead getting a touchdown pass from Landry Jones, completing 50% of his passes. Matthew Stafford didn’t do anything special in his appearance (4-for-6) while both Dan Orlovsky and Jake Rudock threw touchdown passes. Dwayne Washington also scored a kickoff return for the Lions.
Miami Dolphins (1-0) 27 New York Giants (0-1) 10: Eli Manning didn’t play, and backup Ryan Nassib was terrible, sacked four times and threw two interceptions. Ran Tannehill completed 2-of-4 passes for just 8 yards, while Matt Moore and Zac Dysert both threw touchdown passes. Isaiah Pead ran for 50 yards on 10 carries, Daniel Thomas looked good on the ground as well for the Dolphins.
Minnesota Vikings (1-0) 17 Cincinnati Bengals (0-1) 16: Andy Dalton looked sharp in his short time on the field, completing 5-of-6 passes, but it was A.J. McCarron who got a touchdown pass, throwing for 125 yards. Teddy Bridgewater connected on a 49-yard touchdown play with Charles Johnson, and C.J. Ham ran for one as well.
Cleveland Browns (0-1) 11 Green Bay Packers (1-0) 17: No Aaron Rodgers for the Packers, but Josh Callahan threw a touchdown pass and the Packers scored twice off of team safety plays (Browns did it once). Four quarterbacks played for the Browns, no one did especially well. Robert Griffin III threw an interception, Cody Kessler threw a touchdown pass.
Oakland Raiders (1-0) 31 Arizona Cardinals (0-1) 10: Carson Palmer didn’t play for a long time and didn’t do much in his time on the field, but at least he wasn’t as bad as Matt Barkley and Drew Stanton. Derek Carr was just 3-for-7 in his appearance, Connor Cook did a bit better, while Matt McGloin threw a couple of touchdown passes, while George Atkinson III ran for a couple and 97 yards, including one 53-yard rush.